A lottery is an arrangement in which tokens are distributed or sold and the winner, by chance, receives a prize. Lotteries are common in government and can be used to award everything from units in a subsidized housing block to kindergarten placements at a certain school. People also use the term to refer to activities they believe depend on fate: “They considered combat duty a lottery.” Lotteries have been a feature of human society for centuries.
The short story Shirley Jackson wrote about The Lottery is a critique of the blind following of outdated traditions and rituals. The story also shows that evil can happen even in small, peaceful looking places. It also discusses how people are willing to ignore violence that is turned against them.
The story begins when Mr. Summers, a man who represents authority in the story, brings out a black box. Inside are several pieces of paper, one for each family in the village. The villagers have been preparing for this moment for a long time. The head of the Hutchinson family tries to argue with Mr. Summers, but to no avail. The lottery starts and a child from the family is chosen to draw. The villagers then collectively stone the girl to death. A number of psychological motivations drive people to play the lottery. One important factor is the tendency to overestimate low probabilities, explains Leaf Van Boven, an associate professor of psychology at University of Colorado Boulder. Known as decision weight, this cognitive bias leads people to weigh low odds much heavier than they actually are.
