The Lottery

I as well as many others I am sure have heard this story before. I believe I may have even seen short movies on television inspired by this story. I have not however before read the original story. This is a story of unfortunate beliefs. A community believing that if they don't sacrifice one of their own, the crops won't grow, is to me horrific. I think that Warner is so tied up in tradition he never allows himself to once think about getting rid of the Lottery. When the fact that another community has dropped the Lottery, Warner argues on page 408 that that village is a "pack of crazy fools". Mr. Warner continues to state that quitting the lottery would cause trouble. Mr. Warner has too much say maybe because he is one of the older town folk. This story is sickening in a way. When you begin to read it, it describes a happy little growing community, yet in little pieces begins to warn what is coming such as on page 405 when it is mentioned that some of the children are already gathering stones. You have happiness and warning or foreshadowing at the same interval. Strange to me is the way the adults make small talk and joke with one another knowing what is about to come. Another strange and uneasy piece of this story is the black box. It is describes in detail of the wear and tear this box has endured. Describing that the box really did need to be fixed or replaced and every year there was talk of doing so. Every year the box was left alone as if to touch it would cause a change of tradition which this community seemed to feel was evil. I cannot stop thinking about the woman to be stoned Mrs. Hutchinson. Instead of telling the town she would not subject herself or her family to such a display of ignorance, she kept stating how unfair the drawing was and how her husband did not have enough time to draw. Why would these families subject themselves to such horror? All in the name of tradition and superstition.