When I first read the title of this story, my first thoughts were of someone who was in desperate need of money, and then suddenly won the lottery and changed his/her, life for the good and forever. I realized that I was wrong about this though, when found out what the prize of the lottery was. Everyone got to choose a piece of paper and whoever got the black dot was the winner. The prize was getting stoned to death.
The reaction of the townspeople to this kind of event is very shocking. Even though they know the person getting stoned very well, they still proceed to harm them. I cannot imagine myself and my family stoning to death one of our neighbors, or worse, our neighbors stoning one of us.
As I read further into the story, I began to wonder more and more how was it possible that this custom was still alive after this many years. No one wants to win a lottery in which the prize is death; so why continue it? Most of the time, the people of this town did not put thereselves into the winners shoes. They were so used to this custom, that they thought of it as only a matter of throwing rocks.
Overall, this story is like none other. It is very wicked and deplorable. The people of this town stone their own neighbors, friends, and even family to death. They act as though this is not a horrible act. They act with no remorse whatsoever. Not only is the prize of the lottery awful, but the reaction of the townspeople is horrible and the time this custom has lasted is impacting. It is unbelievable that this custom was still alive in this story because of the grisly and unusual prize.
Works Cited
Jackson, Shirley. “The lottery”. An Introduction to Reading and Writing. New York. Pearson Education. 2009. Print.
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