What are three examples of "The Lottery" as an allegory?

An href="http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html#allegory_anchor">allegory
is a story that uses language to say something beyond the literal: title="Allegory: Collins English Dictionary; Random House Dictionary available on
Dictionary.com"
href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/allegory">allegory symbolizes
a deeper abstract or spiritual truth or moral.  The story usually uses a series of
symbols to convey the theme.  In Shirley Jackson's story, "The Lottery," the author uses
several symbols to convey through allegory her ideas about superstition and tradition,
as well as about mob mentality.

The
rocks that are being collected by the children at the start of the story represent in
small way the larger stones that will be thrown at the end of the story.  Those stones
will kill Tessie as part of a superstition-driven yearly ritual that is done as means to
ensure good crops.  The old saying, "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" is the mantra
that keeps this tradition alive.  While the people in this town have an inkling that
this traditional or ritual is going out of favor in other towns, they keep it alive out
of a sense of tradition.  The fact that everyone in the town must participate in the
eventual stoning is important as it serves to eliminate any one person from being guilty
of killing the winner of the lottery.  Sharing the guilt makes them all innocent in a
way and perpetuates the lottery.  Jackson does a great job of illustrating how this
method of killing makes it easy for the people to get caught of in the anonymity of
the mob.

Two other symbols for the allegory are the old
black box and the slips of paper that are used for the lottery.  The box is part of the
tradition, but it isn't treated with much respect anymore.  The slips of paper represent
each family, but they also represent the completely random nature of this
ritual.

Some other symbols in the story that you could
analyze in regards to their connection to the themes are: the names of some of the
characters; the "rules" such as men drawing for women; the ironic title of the story. 
Almost every aspect of this great story is symbolic of something larger, and thus
contributes to the allegory.