The Lottery

The Lottery is a short story by Shirley Jackson in 1948. It's a story describing a small town which hold an annual 'lottery' in order to pick someone to become that year's 'sacrifice' in order for the town to have prosperous crops throughout the year. They pick the person by families, where the head of each families pick a piece of paper from a black battered box; the person who picked a paper with a black dot on it will have their family pick from the box again and the person who picks the paper with the black dot will then be selected to be stoned.

The Hutchinson's were chosen, and being there only one family in the Hutchinson's, all the members; Billy Hutchinson, Billy Jr., Nancy, little Dave and Tessie Hutchinson had to pick from the box, in which Tessie was selected to be stoned. Tessie demanded her stoning was unfair, shooting, "It isn't fair, it isn't right". 

History

Shirley wrote 'The Lottery' with her hometown North Bennington, Vermont as the inspiration for the location of the town in the story. Initially, the story received backlash and readers continually sent her hate mail during the summer of when the story come out.

• People mostly demanded an explanation for the story
• People were either; bewildered, speculated about the story and 'plain old-fashioned abuse'.  
• Her parents didn't like it either saying: "Dad and I did not care at all for your story in The New Yorker" "...Why don't you write something to cheer people up". 

Scapegotism - stoning Tessie Hutchinson in order to purge the town of the bad and make way for the good.  "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon."

Appearance in Popular Culture 

The Lottery has appeared in different mediums such as radio and T.V

• It was used as a reference in 'The Simpsons' episode 'Dog of Death'.
• In 1969 Larry Yust produced a short film 'The Lottery' as part of Encyclopedia Britannica's 'Short Story Showcase' series. It had adapted an atmosphere of 'naturalism and small town authenticity'.
• In 1996, Anthony Spinner produced a TV film loosely based on the story, also called 'The Lottery'

Socio-cultural Links 

• Mob Psychology (Mob Mentality) - the story hints references people acting cruelly when in groups and often abandon reasoning purely because they may feel that it's more reasonable to act the same as everyone else in a setting. 
• Traditions - the story also hints about how people often follow ancient traditions without actual thinking about the consequences of those traditions. 
• *Similar to The Ones Wh Walks Away From Omelas.