A lottery is a method for distributing prizes by chance. It has a long history, beginning in biblical times when the casting of lots was used to distribute land and slaves. Later, in colonial America, it was often used to raise money for public projects such as roads, canals, churches and colleges. It was also used to fund military expeditions, including the 1758 Academy Lottery that funded a militia for defense against French raids. In the 1740s, John Hancock ran a lottery to help build Boston’s Faneuil Hall and George Washington sponsored one in 1767 to finance a road in Virginia over a mountain pass, though the project failed.
In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson depicts a small American village dominated by tradition. This story reveals how much tradition can influence our lives, especially when it is so deeply ingrained in our psyches that rationality can no longer override it. Explore how gender roles are depicted in this society as well, as women are often forced to play the role of the victim.
The underlying theme of this story is that the state uses its power to manipulate the population through the lottery. The state claims that it is a great way to raise money for schools and other public services, but it is important to look at the specifics of these revenue sources. It is not clear that the amount of money raised by a lottery is worth the trade-offs to people who lose large sums of their hard-earned income in order to participate.