The lottery is a system in which people buy tickets and win prizes if their numbers are drawn. This is a common way to raise money for public goods such as roads and schools. In the United States, state lotteries are a huge industry and a popular form of gambling.
Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” portrays the capacity for cruelty and brutality that exists within human society. It also illustrates the dangers of blind adherence to tradition and ritual without questioning its underlying principles. Jackson uses the setting of a small village to show how a lottery, which has been a part of life there for generations, can become a tool for control and manipulation.
Mr. Summers, the man who represents authority in this story, begins the lottery arrangement by putting together a list of the big families in the town. He then prepares a set of lottery tickets, one per family. The tickets are blank except for one that has a black dot on it. The slips are then folded and put in a large, black wooden box.
The first recorded lotteries for material gain were in the 15th century in the Low Countries, where towns held lotteries to raise funds for town fortifications and help poor citizens. However, making decisions and determining fates by casting lots has a much longer record in human history—including several instances in the Bible. The modern lottery is a multibillion-dollar industry in which players pay to have their names entered into a drawing for a prize, such as cash or goods.
