A lottery is a game of chance in which people purchase tickets and hope to win a prize, usually a sum of money. The game is widely used to raise funds for a wide range of public usages. It is a popular and relatively painless form of taxation. It has its roots in the biblical story of Lot and is mentioned by the Roman emperor Augustus as an ancient method for distributing property and slaves.
Shirley Jackson, in her short story, The Lottery, depicts the way people can be cruel to one another. She illustrates how blindly following tradition can be a bad thing. When the villagers participate in the lottery and sacrifice someone, they don’t think about whether it is right or wrong; they just do it because it has always been done. She also shows how family can be harmful if everyone cares only about their own self-preservation.
The Lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson that was published in the New Yorker in 1948. In this story, a man named Mr. Summers, who represents authority, brings out a black box and stirs up the papers inside of it. After the stirring, a boy from the Hutchinson family draws.
The Lottery is a very well written short story that has many undertones that make it more than just a fun little read. Shirley Jackson is trying to tell her readers that it is important to stand up for what you believe in. She is also telling her readers to be careful with small-town living.
