The Lottery

The Lottery was a rather chilling story, and if not that then surprising.  I think anyone who doesn’t know the story is thoroughly surprised at the end.  I had first read it in high school and remembered having my positive feelings toward the word “lottery” shattered.  It is so normal in society now to assume winning the lottery would be amazing and bring much wealth. 

Many of the stories we read lead us to question why or how society is so openly blinded to many things that seem “normal” but are blatantly wrong.  In The Lottery, society finds no problem with killing a person based on the slip of paper they draw out of a box, merely because they’ve always done the Lottery.  That’s a scary thought.  The people have become numb to the fact that they are killing someone, though the reason for ritual itself has been forgotten.  This explores a dangerous “mob mentality” of the people.  Tessie’s friends and family all pick up stones to throw at her as well as the rest of the crowd.  An extreme form of tradition is followed yet has no grounds.

When Mr. Adams mentions that the other village just recently stopped Old Man Warner immediately shuts him down on even the thought of stopping the ritual.  How many times have we done something just because everyone else is, or that’s the way it’s always been done?  Over time that thing has been something as drastic as slavery to something as miniscule as a fashion trend.  It only changes when people begin to question “tradition.”

I think another thing shown by the story, though something not commonly taken from it is humanity’s ability to be civil one minute and primal the next.   Ironically in the story Old Man Warner says that if the lottery stops then, “Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves.”  It’s a strange comment because the stoning itself is more primitive than getting rid of the ritual.  In addition, society’s ability to turn on one of their own so quickly, without good reason is primitive as well.  Tessie laughs with her friends prior to finding out she will be killed, and once the slip of paper determines her fate even her own family is ready to stone her; there’s no hesitation.  People can change in a split second.  One minute they can be a great friend, the next they’re stoning you.  One could say it’s Tessie’s own fault because she chose the paper, but at the same time everyone else is making the decision to sever all ties in a moment’s notice.  There was no heroine moment of truth where someone who cared for her threw down their stone and refused to help kill her; to them it is just a matter of fact, it will be done, and life will continue. 

It’s a great lesson to be learned to not let the Old Man Warner’s of life stop you from questioning why things are the way they are.  The Lottery is an example of how dangerous it can be to just go along with things because they’ve always been done a certain way, and the last thing we want is another lottery.