Final answer:
Many horror and suspense stories, including Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," use stereotypical characters or stock characters to quickly establish familiar roles for readers, facilitating engagement with the narrative.
Step-by-step explanation:
Many horror and suspense stories such as "The Lottery" use stereotypical characters instead of complex individuals because readers readily relate to them. These types of characters, known as stock characters, represent archetypes, which are categories of people with expected behaviors. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" effectively uses these character types to reflect universal traits and simplifications of human behavior, making it easier for readers to engage with the narrative without the need for deep psychological development of characters.
This technique is useful because it allows the story to progress swiftly, and readers can quickly understand each character's role without elaborate backstories or character arcs. Moreover, the use of stereotypes in tales like this can sometimes serve to critique social norms, exposing the darker underbellies of otherwise perceived ordinary communities, as is the case in "The Lottery" where communal violence is hidden behind the facade of tradition and conformity.