Stories throughout time have covered many topics including lotteries or sweepstakes. Often they’re about someone losing, staking everything on that one chance. But one of the more famous stories of the last century was Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’, published in The New Yorker‘s June 1948 issue.
At the time, the story gained notoriety, with people cancelling their subscriptions and sending hate mail to the author. Written post-WWII it seems many towns at the time held cash-prize lotteries to stimulate spending. It’s not indicated whether it was a free draw or if everyone bought a ticket for a set price (the more common form of lottery), and then one person’s name would be drawn.
The difference with Jackson’s story was that the town gathered for the lottery about once a year. Old Man Warner in the story says he’s 77 and been in 77 lotteries. But no one pays to enter this lottery. They only pay when they win. Slowly it is revealed that the men draw lots and if they end up with the black dot, their family members all draw again. The one with the black dot ‘wins’.
In this case, winning is losing. The winner ‘pays’ with his/her life as the rest of the villagers stone them to death. We never learn why except that it has always been done this way. An older villager says that next, people will be back living in caves if the lottery is stopped. It’s seen as a form of civilization, perhaps a sacrifice for all the good things the people have.
“The Lottery” gained much attention throughout the years, being banned in some North American schools, and in later years being the subject of many essays and discussion in classrooms.
Thankfully lotteries are not held in this style. Cash lotteries continue, with people buying tickets to win. Sweepstakes also continue, where entry is free to the contest. Jackson’s story is still worth a read, even some 60 years later.
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