People often hold fast to their traditions without having clear explanations of why they keep them. In "The Lottery," the townspeople carry out a ridiculous tradition that they have no clear justification for other than the fact that it has always been done. They reason that without this ritual their crops will suffer, but they don't know that to be true. The townspeople don't really know what will happen if they continue their tradition; they are just afraid of what will happen if they don't. The fear of change is so great among these people that they are able to keep such an absurd ritual. .
The lottery is held on June 27th of every year, right before crop season. Plentiful crops are important to the people of this small town. They rely on the tradition of the lottery for their crops to thrive. Everyone must participate in lottery, and the person that "wins" is sacrificed to ensure a good crop season for the town. That person is sacrificed in an inhumane way, though; he or she is stoned to death. It seems strange that these seemingly civil and gentle townspeople would do such a thing. The reader is astonished by the characters" change from civilized townspeople to barbaric animals, "Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her" (79). From the way that they kill Mrs. Hutchinson, they part from the civilized and organized manner that they"re used to. The townspeople allow the lottery to control their behavior as they are too afraid to do otherwise.
It seems as if the lottery is a good thing, in the beginning of the story. The author, Shirley Jackson, leads the reader to believe that the lottery is just another harmless tradition, as she compares it to "square dances, the teen-age club, [and] the Halloween program" (4). The characters in the story also sway the reader away from believing that the lottery is a terrible thing. As they gather to participate in the lottery, they talk about everyday things as if the lottery is no big deal.
