Lottery is the practice of distributing property or money by chance. The casting of lots to decide issues and determine fates has a long history, with several instances in the Bible such as the Lord instructing Moses to take a census and divide the land among the Israelites and Roman emperors giving away property or slaves as part of Saturnalian feasts. More recently, the lottery has been used for military conscription and commercial promotions in which a consideration (property, work, or money) is paid for a chance to win a prize. The modern sense of a lottery as gambling is less well-established; however, it has become an integral form of political campaign financing and for the selection of members of state and local juries.
During the early era of state-sponsored lotteries, voters and politicians saw them as an excellent way to increase state services without raising taxes, especially those on the working class. Lottery revenues provided money to build American colleges, including Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, King’s College (now Columbia), and William and Mary. In addition, the lottery provided a source of painless revenue to cover deficits and pay for wars.
The majority of Americans participate in the lottery to some degree, and there is little doubt that the popularity of lotteries is on the rise. In fact, the percentage of adults who say they have played the lottery at least once a year has doubled since 1964. Many researchers have studied the reasons behind this popularity, and most find that socioeconomic status and neighborhood disadvantage are important predictors of the amount of time individuals spend playing.
A main reason why people play the lottery is because of tradition. This tradition is a belief in luck, and it is often passed down from generation to generation. One of the most prominent examples of this is Old Man Warner, a character in Shirley Jackson’s novel The Lottery. In the story, he is the embodiment of tradition, and his presence in the town makes the villagers continue the lottery oblivious to its unethical nature.
This belief in luck is often based on the theory that you cannot control your destiny and that the lottery allows for this. However, the odds of winning are actually quite low. In addition, there are many factors that can lead to a negative outcome of the lottery. These include:
The events in this passage demonstrate that humans are deceitful in nature. The villagers are shown to have no regard for each other and act in a very cold and callous manner. These actions show that human beings will do anything to obtain what they desire, even if it means hurting others in the process. These actions can also be seen as a reflection of the biologically cold and precontemplative stage of change. Only when someone has the right combination of knowledge, external pressures, and a shift in their emotions can they move from the cold state to the hot stage.