A lottery is something that many people would be very excited to win. Most people think of a huge cash reward for winning a lottery. The thought of millions of dollars being awarded just because they picked your name is very exciting. In most cases, the possibility of winning one of these great lotteries is very slim; you would have a better chance of being hit by lightning. Shirley Jackson writes about a lottery that took place in a small farming community consisting of a meager 300 people. The probability of winning this lottery is good; you would have a one in three hundred chance of winning. The lottery is there to insure the season's crops. If you were "lucky" enough to be chosen, you would be sacrificed to the gods. This sacrifice would involve the townspeople directing you towards the middle of a circle and proceeding to throw rocks at you until death.

Everybody seems happy with the results of this yearly tradition until they are chosen for the stoning. Before the lottery, people are joking and gathering like it was a party. Once the "lucky" participant has been chosen their cries of compromise are let out and this has no effect on the crowd at hand. Being one of th

Nickerson, Colin. "Woven With History." The Anchorage Daily News 28 Nov. 1999,

Secondly, it is ironic that the townspeople are using stones to kill the selected person. Stones are removed from the fields and this promotes growth. It is hard to grow crops in a rocky field because the plant roots are unable to branch out. Economically it is smart to remove the rocks from the fields and make other uses of them. A fence constructed by rocks will increase the individuals land value due to the definite property lines. Economically speaking, "property rights are really the rules of our economic game. When property rights are well defined, owners of property have an incentive to use that property efficiently" (Miller 99). The fences are effective in keeping livestock from running off and it also discourages people from trespassing on your land.

The coal industry must be the top industry in the town. Everything involving the coal is put above the farms and farming community. The whole town inadvertently works for the coal-factory; by being involved in the lottery they are assisting coal production. Everything with the lottery has something to do with the coal-company, from the black box to the black marks that are made on the paper. One of definitions in Merriam-Webster's dictionary of "black" is "marked by the occurrence of disaster"(198). Bill Hutchinson discovers the paper with the "black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal-company office" in his wife Tessie's hand. She has "won" the lottery and that black mark will now put her to death (Gwynn 170).

1. A formal religious veneration 2. A system of religious beliefs and rituals also its body of adherents; 3. A religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also its body of adherents; 4. A system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator; 5. a) a great devotion to a person, idea, thing; esp: such devotion regarded as literary or intellectual fad, b) a usually small circle of persons united by devotion or allegiance to an artistic or intellectual movement or figure.(484)

"Pack of crazy fools," he said. "Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live that way for a while. Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, cone be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery", he added petulantly. (167)

Since Mr. Summers runs the coal-company and the lottery, he must have some influence on the community. Jackson writes "(t)he lottery was conducted-as were the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program-by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities"(Gwynn 164). This makes the lottery seem like another fun civic activity. Who could think that the lottery could be a bad thing if the context attached to it is "fun?" Mr. Summers has a way of controlling the community by subjecting them to some type of propaganda that encourages them to kill each year. He will receive economic compensation for his duties as the leader. If people have a good crop that summer, they will have more money to spend throughout the winter. Therefore, the community will be more willing to increase their coal usage allowing them to heat their homes more efficiently; as opposed to them conserving their money and not investing as much into the coal.

This cartoon shows BC trying to conform to the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner. The bird is aware of it place in history and is willing to accept its death proudly. BC realizes that he is unable to kill such a noble fowl, so he decides to give up on it and try something else. The ability to change allows these people to become more efficient and productive. They would have access to more technological fertilizers and more adva

Some common words found in the essay are:
Shirley Jackson, Adolph Hitler, Bill Hutchinson, Eden Thomson, , Nickerson A-12, North America, Company We're, Thomson Home, economic success, Bay Company, true meaning, cult mentality, meaning lottery, winning lottery, true meaning lottery, lottery people, square dances teenage, coal factory, controls lottery, hudson bay company, thomson 2, 300 people, dances teenage club, power money people,
Approximate Word count = 2967
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)