A lottery is a method of choosing winners in a game based on chance. Lotteries can be used to raise money for schools, governments, and charities. They can be based on drawing numbers from a hat, picking groups of numbers, or letting machines randomly spit out numbers. Lotteries can also be based on skill, in which players choose their own numbers. A player who picks all of the winning numbers is called a “hot shot,” and has a higher chance of winning than someone who selects random numbers.
Generally, human evil is demonstrated in the story by the villagers’ blind adherence to outdated traditions and customs. Their loyalty to the shabby black box is indicative of this, as they have no other reason to continue the lottery aside from it being tradition. The shabby nature of the black box also implies that it is no longer serving its purpose; however, the villagers seem to disregard this fact.
The events in this short story reveal the underlying evil of humankind, as well as our inability to see that there is such an existence. The villagers’ actions show that they are more than willing to violate the rights of others and to kill in conformity with their cultural norms. Furthermore, the way in which these actions are portrayed shows how easily it is to rationalize these atrocities. In addition, Jackson’s setting and the characterization of the villagers in general show the way in which oppressive cultures can weed out hopes for liberation.