Answer:
Tessie's obviously negative view of the lottery after she wins conflicts with the readers' previous view of the lottery as rather mundane to create suspense about why Tessie gets so upset.
Explanation:
No, "the" is not a preposition as it does not describe a place in which something is. "The" would be called an article, like "a" or "an".
The answer to your second question, therefore, is D. Joanna hid the gift behind the couch, as "behind" would be the preposition because it describes where the gift is.
I hope this helps!
