A lottery is a game in which numbers are drawn to determine winners. Prizes may be money, goods or services. People often use lotteries to decide who should receive a scholarship or job, a seat in a school or university, and other things that depend on chance.
Lotteries have been around for a long time. They were used in the Roman Empire (Nero loved them) and are attested to in the Bible, where the casting of lots was used for everything from choosing kings to divining God’s will. But the modern version of the lottery took off in America in the nineteen-sixties, when booming gambling profits and a state funding crisis collided. Many states that had generous social safety nets found that balancing the budget without raising taxes or cutting services was becoming increasingly difficult. Lotteries were seen as a painless way to raise funds.
In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson shows how tradition plays a big part in the lives of villagers. Old Man Warner uses a saying that “Lottery in June, corn will be heavy soon.” The people of the village follow this tradition and do not question it. The story also focuses on gender roles.
The short story is about the power of a group to control a person’s life and the lack of freedom. The people in the village are all a part of the lottery and they do not realize it. They think that they are following a tradition but the fact is that it is a harmful practice.