The Lottery

Lottery is often perceived as a dishonest and seedy project that can create serious social problems including economic distress and gambling addiction (Clotfelter and Cook, 1989, 37).

It is thus natural for lottery to be hotly debated, sensational, and controversial. It actually makes the society divided on its acceptance whether legally or morally. Despite these facts, let it be stated that a state lottery is the best way to raise money for education.

To begin with, it is ideal to state that those who advocate that state lottery is not the best way to raise money rely upon two assumptions. They say that by doing so shall be impractical and immoral to the eyes of society. First of all, they believe that state lotteries are not designed or created for the purposes of supporting education. And second, receiving money to educate children from such a means like gambling or lottery does not seem ethical and proper.

To refute these assumptions, let it be stated that state lottery is actually a practical and feasible way to fund education.  The truth is that even as early as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, state and municipalities held legally sanctioned lotteries to finance public projects such as roads, bridges, canals, courthouses, hospitals and schools (Blanche, 1950, 71; Kaplan 1984, 92). They believe that it is a very efficient to fund such projects the government is not capable of fully doing so.

It is actually admitted that state lottery has a dark and immoral reputation having graft and corruption inherent parts of it. People have been saying that state lottery is a bad image for funding education. However, people do not realize the fact that funding education is a good image for lottery. People have a perception that lottery is all about winning the jackpot.

However, lottery as a legal means to an end is socially acceptable. Records show that in 1992 that the only reason sales in lottery increased is because of the Common School Fund Law which grants a large percentage of state lottery profit for education (Illinois State Lottery 1992, X). This is not using education to increase sales but rather, it is the means for education to flourish.

In conclusion, state lottery is the most efficient and productive way to raise money. This is because the government has already been doing this legally for a long time. The government has been doing this not only for education but in other aspects as well. And also, despite its negative image, state lottery has already been socially accepted in society.

WORKS CITED

1)      Blanche, Ernest E. Lotteries, Yesterday and Tomorrow. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 269 (1950): 71–76.

2)      Clotfelter, Charles T., and Philip J. Cook. Selling Hope: State Lotteries in America. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1998.

3)      Illinois State Lottery. 1992 Annual Report. Springfield: Illinois State Lottery, 1992.

4)      Kaplan, H. Roy. The Social and Economic Impact of State Lotteries. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 474 (1984): 91–106.

OUTLINE

I.                   Introduction :

Thesis – A state lottery is the best way to raise money for education.

II.                Body

A)    State lottery is impractical and immoral in the eyes of society.

B)    State lottery has been used in the past to fund schools and other projects.

C)    Funding education is a good image for state lottery.

III.             Conclusion

–          State lottery is the most efficient and productive way to raise money and is socially acceptable.

Many of the seemingly innocuous details throughout “The Lottery” foreshadow the violent conclusion. In the second paragraph, children put stones in their pockets and make piles of stones in the town square, which seems like innocent play until the stones’ true purpose becomes clear at the end of the story. Tessie’s late arrival at the lottery instantly sets her apart from the crowd, and the observation Mr. Summers makes—“Thought we were going to have to get on without you”—is eerily prescient about Tessie’s fate. When Mr. Summers asks whether the Watson boy will draw for him and his mother, no reason is given for why Mr.

Watson wouldn’t draw as all the other husbands and fathers do, which suggests that Mr. Watson may have been last year’s victim. Jackson builds suspense in “The Lottery” by relentlessly withholding explanation and does not reveal the true nature of the lottery until the first stone hits Tessie’s head. We learn a lot about the lottery, including the elements of the tradition that have survived or been lost. We learn how important the lottery is to the villagers, particularly Old Man Warner. We go through the entire ritual, hearing names and watching the men approach the box to select their papers.

But Jackson never tells us what the lottery is about, or mentions any kind of prize or purpose. She begins to reveal that something is awry when the lottery begins and the crowd grows nervous, and she intensifies the feeling when Tessie hysterically protests Bill’s “winning” selection. And she gives a slight clue when she says that the villagers “still remembered to use stones. ” But not until the moment when a rock actually hits Tessie does Jackson show her hand completely. By withholding information until the last possible second, she builds the story’s suspense and creates a shocking, powerful conclusion.

In both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, the authors write to emphasize the sanctity of life through the conflicts endured by their main characters both implicitly and explicitly. Both stories deal with the topic of the taking of human life.

“The Lottery” implicitly delves into the thought processes and ritual of a society where the taking of a life is ceremonial. However, the reader is left to wonder the purpose of this seemingly ageless tradition. “The Most Dangerous Game” on the other hand, is much more sinister in nature.

Human life is also taken in a systematic way, with rules that must be followed, but also a chance that the target may earn his freedom. In this explicit way, the reader fully comprehends the evil surrounding the Game and is confounded by killing as a means of entertainment.

What first struck me as I read both stories was the similarity in the development of the characters. Both stories had an executioner and a victim that were seemingly interchangeable. In “The Lottery,” Mr. Summers was the presider of the ceremony and he fulfilled his duties with an aloofness that gave the reader a false sense of security throughout the story.

The crowd encircled him. He knew one would die; in fact he himself was not exempt. Yet, he wistfully remembered a time when the Lottery had more pomp and pageantry. General Zaroff in, “The Most Dangerous Game” also felt a longing for a time when the Game was more exciting.

He had a crowd of contestants in his training area that he scorned for lack of skill and wisdom. Mr. Summers and the crowd felt the same way about Mrs. Hutchinson, who was so lackadaisical about the Lottery that she was late.

In a matter of life and death for her family her excuse for being tardy was a sink full of dirty dishes. In “The Most Dangerous Game” Rainsford is also quite flippant about his situation and about taking lives as he brags to his associate about his hunting exploits.

Rainsford dismisses the fear he is surrounded with upon the mention of dangerous waters. In this way, both authors exhibit their theme of the importance of the sanctity of life in the reactions of both victims, Mrs. Hutchinson and Rainsford when they realize that their lives are the ones in peril unexpectedly.

When Rainsford finds himself washed up on what the other sailors called “ship trap island” the reader hears gun shots and the author creates a further sense of foreboding as he introduces Rainsford to General Zaroff. No detail is left unnoticed by the reader as the butler Ivan opens the door and Rainsford is met at gunpoint.

At first Rainsford is impressed and flattered by the General who recognizes the expert hunter. Soon, however, the finery of Zaroff’s compound is negated by the savagery of the Game he describes and nonchalantly intends for Rainsford to approve of and participate.

Conversely, the warm springtime setting of “The Lottery” is misleading. In modern society a lottery is a much sought after prize. People choose to play and pray to be selected for vast sums of money.

However, in this story there is an undercurrent of caution and masked fear in the crowd as they take their turn to draw slips of paper. “The Most Dangerous Game” is much more of a thrill ride for the reader as we hide with Rainsford in the tree as he is purposefully hunted in the Game.

We cheer for him as he eludes General Zaroff and changes his mind about hunting as a sport. Ironically, Rainsford can now empathize with his quarry after becoming the hunted himself. The same cannot be said of “The Lottery. ”

Mrs. Hutchinson’s change in demeanor is heart breaking. With her outbursts and contention that the Lottery had been run unfairly, the reader realizes that her life is soon coming to an end. The irony of her situation is that she claims to have forgotten all about the Lottery earlier that morning.

Now she fights to challenge its outcome and the reader is left to wonder why people of this town die at the hands of the Lottery in the first place. Though their style of writing is completely different, in both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, the authors engage their readers into battling along with their main characters for their very lives. We challenge the seemingly pointless rituals of the Game and Lottery. Inevitably we agree with the authors that lives are not to be toyed with by an unfeeling society.

On the morning of June 27th, a tiny town of about 300 people, meet in the town square for a tradition they call “the lottery. ” The kids come first to the square, straight from school, then come the fathers, and then the mothers after they finish the housework. They all stand waiting as they call the names of all the fathers in the families to the front to pull a wood chip from a black box, and the family with the black dot on their wood chip will participate in “the lottery.

” Each member of that family will draw a piece of paper hoping is doesn’t contain a black dot.Whoever gets that specific piece of paper will be stoned to death by the whole town. This intense story comes to life in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” written in 1948. This is a very trying story that has a huge impact on the town, and ends with a stoning. This small town has become accustomed to this tradition that will not be let go. After studying the story, Shirley Jackson presents the theme that, People are reluctant to reject outdated traditions, ideas, and/or practices. According to dictionary.

com, Traditions are beliefs or customs taught by one generation to the next, often orally.These traditions are maintained usually by societies and government’s, and share history, customs, culture, the teaching of language, and sometimes education. Traditions are a part of our society today, and some traditions date back to past generations. Us as individuals may have our own traditions in our own family, usually being annual traditions. Government and city traditions are different that family traditions, in the way that, throughout the years traditions may need to be altered or changed depending on the times, as generation change. However, this doesn’t always happen. The lottery,” is a tradition in this town that is not even a thought when it comes to change.

Some people in the town feel that there was a reason this tradition was started, and it should be continued. It has caused a lot of tension and a lot of ideas on whether or not this tradition should be kept. Many people in the town feel this is a harsh way of exiling someone from the town, and feel it is very unnecessary. Traditions become a big part in this story and present the theme throughout the story. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny. . .

. . The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank around ten o’clock,” (Jackson 586).This passage that opens the short story presents the setting, but also shows the audience that the setting is a part of the tradition of “the lottery. ” Every year in June this routine of coming to the square to participate in “the lottery” becomes second nature to the town, and they soon realize that this is a tradition that will continue. Jackson not only discusses that the setting is a tradition, but also presents that even the materials that they use are traditions as well. The black box now resting on the stool had been put into use before Old Man Warner, the oldest ma in town, was born,” (587).

The box is the item that is used for the drawing, which by this point, as old as it is, needs to be remade. “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one like to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box,” (587). Traditions in this town will not be easily let go. This box does need some serious work, but Jackson goes on to say that they just tape it up and it’s ready to go for the next year.Cummings Study presents “This box is used as a symbol to present that this town is stubborn and doesn’t want to give up their traditions, even a simple item is something they can’t get rid of. Everything needs to be the original.

” Traditions are even kept in the process of performing the lottery. Mr. Summers, on of the main characters in the story and presides over the lottery states, “Now I’ll read the names- heads of the families first- and the men come up and take a paper out of the box.Keep the paper folded in your hand without looking at it until everyone has had a turn,” (589). This is the process of the lottery and it shows that even this hasn’t changed. Jackson goes on to say that the people of this town had heard this speech so much that they half listened. She also says that most of them were quiet and frustrated with what was about to happen.

“The lottery has become very frustrating to these people, and after so many years participating in the lottery is enough,” states Brothers Judd, a review of the story.So how many years has this been going on? Old Man Warner, a character in the story, says “Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery. Seventy Seventh time,” (590) which shows the audience that this tradition has gone on a long time. At the event there was even talk between two of the characters Old Man Warner and Mr. Adams on the fact that over in the North Village are talking about giving up the lottery, and Old Man Warner comes back and says “Pack of crazy fools. Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them.Next thing you know they’ll want to go back to living in caves, nobody work anymore, live that way for a while.

Used to be a saying ‘lottery in June, corn be heavy soon’. . . . . There’s always been a lottery,” (590). With strong feelings Old Man Warner shows that the lottery is here to stay and it always will be.

It is the town history and is part of their culture. The stubborn attitudes of some people in this story have caused a problem in this town when deciding on whether or not to keep the lottery. Jackson is trying to get across that even though this is an old tradition it needs to be kept around.Keeping these traditions are not always the best thing to do. Looking at America’s history, we had several traditions that we have had, that have had negative impacts such as, slavery, Salem Witch Trials, and Voting, that had they not been changed our country would not be where it is today. Some of the characters in the story realize that change is good and the traditions should be looked at more to see if this is actually worth keeping, while other characters don’t care what others think and are strict to following the tradition.Jackson shows the audience of the story that traditions are there for a reason, but also shows that change is always good.

People are reluctant to reject outdated traditions, ideas, and/or practices. We need to be open to new ideas. America has in its history and following the same traditions isn’t always right. Overall this was a great story and would defiantly recommend it. Jackson presents many more ideas than what I have mentioned and I think every reader should experience it themselves.