The Lottery (Short Story)

It’s not the way it used to be... people ain’t the way they used to be.

The Lottery is a short story by Shirley Jackson, published in the year 1948 in America. The story is set in an unnamed village, where people are gathering in the evening for the annual lottery. Every villager has to be present at the annual ceremony at all costs.

The story is an extremely disturbing account of keeping up with the old traditions. It deals with the ideas that how mindlessly following the traditions could lead to disaster, people’s adherence towards violence and luck. Nobody would even question the obscene rituals. Practicing things which are no longer useful just for the sake of keeping up with the rituals is barbaric. It’s basically about Individual versus Society. The only explanation regarding the savage practice was that it has always been that way.

“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.”

I wouldn’t want to spoil the mystery for you. It could be read in a single sitting and would only take about 20-25 minutes to read it. Disturbed me to the core.

“It isn’t fair, it isn’t right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.”