The Lottery

Cultural

The gamble of lottery is not always a feel of pleasant anticipation. The Lottery was originally a once-a-year tradition that was held in June of every year. The village people would pull a paper from a black box; the paper was either blank or marked with a black dot. The dot signified who 'won' the lottery. Rather a consequence than a reward, the Lottery recipient was stoned by the rest of the townspeople.

A family was selected as a whole unit, and then the individual family members were to select from a smaller box of papers. One member of the family would be the lottery winner.  A girl whispered, “I hope it’s not Nancy,” (Jackson, 143) and the sound of the whisper reached the edges of the crowd. Nancy's friend was silently wishing that her childhood buddy not be the lottery winner. The un-pleasantry of winning this lottery was a part of the culture in the village that was not an exciting time to ponder about.

Waiting an entire year, highly anticipating the day to end, June 27th is a day of lottery that the winner may agree, “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (Jackson, 144). This is one luck-of-the-draw where winning and participation wasn't an option, it was The Lottery.

Aesthetic

Lottery has its' rewards, although not always what you expect. Lottery is a event/game that is held to dwindle down a large group of participants, to only one. A village and its’ members were required to partake in the lottery drawing. The drawing consisted of all families, children included. The family that was chosen was required to draw another piece of paper from the little black box. One of the pieces of paper was marked; the lottery winner would be the individual with the marked paper. Contrary to the surrounding excitement, everyone was nervous and knew what to expect when and if they were chosen. They would be stoned by the remaining members of the village; young and old.

When thinking on the term, lottery, we automatically assume a slim chance, but the reward in the end keeps the suspense a floating. The Lottery was a slim chance, but the anticipated direction of this thought was psychologically transitioned to leave a suspenseful wonder of what was to come.

The rise of excitement, but not being too excited, suggested that something out of the ordinary was to be expected. The men tried their best to seem normal, "their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed" (Jackson, 136). The children even "tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play" (Jackson, 135). The children were even trained to feel a certain way on June 27th; the day of the lottery. They too, were participants in this ritual that didn't always leave a pleasant, yet lasting reward.

The author relied on the idea that most readers would psychologically think that the lottery was an event held to receive a reward that would provide riches. It was a lottery, just not the kind of prize one would generally have in mind.