The author presents the reflection of human kind in some very irrelevant traditions. The comparison can be made between the present world and the fictional lottery and modern barbaric acts and rituals as sacrifice as method to achieve individual or societal goals. .
The creation of "The lottery" was triggered by the misuse of tradition that the author considered as the excuse that the traditionalists use to cause harm to the people (Bloom 27). She presents the misuse of traditions in this small town in an exaggerated way to stress how barbaric human actions can be when blinded by unnecessary traditions and rituals. The people in this small town always come together every 27th day of sixth month for the annual lottery event. Interestingly, all the participants in this lottery stone the winner to death in the excuse of their traditions and rituals (Jackson 25). Jackson presents these people as highly uncivilized but still they can be matched to some people in present communities. The lottery is suggestive of the coldness and uncompassionate levels that the human race can reveal when traditions and cultural practices are involved. The author uses the people who were destroyed to death as presenting the good values while the townspeople who destroyed them represent the society.
The story shows the extent of the sacrifice of human race to attain success. In this case of the lottery, the stoning of the winner to death is a sign of hope among these townspeople of an increased harvest of corn during the next harvest period. Similarly, in the present farming practices where new technologies has enabled the use of tractors to farm and harvest, there are still some communal traditional practices that are strictly observed in some communities. In the present world, governments have sacrificed the lives of the people in the stated good for the majority (Bremmer 113). Governments have used some communities in the favor of others but significantly the poor people have been used for the greater good of the rich and influential people.
