Jackson wrote this story to keep her readers in suspense the whole time. One can guess "The Lottery" meant a drawing for money, but a stoning?
This story seemed to take place in the 50's because of a small town where everybody knows each other, where kids played together, all the parents were married, no divorcee, only men were allowed to draw from the box, and everybody was polite. Every character was a protagonist, starting from the kids piling the stones to the parents gathering up in a group for the lottery hearing.
What stood out in the story was Old man Warner mentioning "Old pack o…