Lottery is a way of raising money for a state or charity by selling tickets with different numbers on them. Some numbers are drawn by chance and the people who have the winning number take home a prize. It has a long history, and is often considered harmless and legitimate. There are, however, many problems with it and people should consider the consequences of participating in one.
Tessie Hutchinson’s plight shows us the destructive power of conformity and the need to question outdated traditions and rituals. She is a reminder that real progress and justice require bravery and a willingness to challenge oppressive systems.
The story begins with a bucolic small-town setting on June 27th of an unspecified year. As the narrator observes, it takes about two hours for villagers to gather in the town square for their annual lottery. Children on summer break assemble first, followed by adult men and then women. They exhibit the stereotypical normalcy of small-town life, warmly gossiping and discussing work.
A man named Mr. Summers arrives carrying a black wooden box, which he sets on a stool in the center of the square. He is the organizer and master of ceremonies for this particular lottery. He explains that the box is quite old and that it contains pieces of an even older box. The villagers respect this sense of tradition conferred upon the box and seem to be convinced that it confers some sort of mystical powers.
During the next hour, each of the villagers selects a piece of paper from the box. This is a ticket that will determine their fate. Those with the lucky numbers will win prizes, while those with the unfortunate ones will be stoned to death. It is a terrifying image, but the narrator reveals that the villagers don’t seem to see this tragedy as wrong.
The narrator then explains that the odds of winning are very low, and that only a small percentage of participants will win a prize. This is true of most lotteries, although the size of the prize varies and is dependent on how many tickets are sold. The odds of winning a large jackpot are much lower than those of winning smaller prizes.
The lottery is an ancient practice, and has been used for centuries to distribute property, slaves, and even land. It was brought to the United States by British colonists, but met with a largely negative response, especially among Christians, and most states banned them by the end of the Civil War. In the immediate post-World War II period, however, state governments needed to expand their array of services without especially burdensome taxes on the middle and working classes. As a result, they began to introduce state-sponsored lotteries, which they believed would provide them with a valuable source of revenue while avoiding the negative social effects of gambling. New Hampshire offered the first modern state lottery, and it was soon joined by others in the Northeast, before eventually gaining popularity throughout the country.