Today is Lottery Day. How did the lottery go in your village?

[trackfan]

THE LOTTERY BY SHIRLEY JACKSON

The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock. In some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 26th, but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.

Complete text here:

http://www.etni.org.il/literature/lottery/Lottery.htm

I remember reading this in school.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. The stoning didn't live up to past years, but the barbecue was OK.

[trackfan]

5. The fireworks display is usually good too.

[Ravenseye]

20. I'm gonna miss Mrs. Hutchinson's beans

It just isn't a post-lottery barbeque without em.

[Patiod]

2. Fortunately, the Reps had disenfranchised all the Dems

So only Republican names were put into play.

So the outcome was okay by me.....

[trackfan]

3. Next year Diebold gets the contract.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. Eh, I only got one good whack in.

Missed the head, caught him in the neck. Lame.

[trackfan]

6. I hate when that happens.

[anarch]

7. I WON!!! I WON!!! Ow! Hey, wait a minute...

stop throwing those...OOWW!!!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. Famous last words: "What do I win?" LOL

:rofl:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

9. This topic brings to mind other horrifying/shocking short stories:

Maybe none so subtle as "The Lottery" but here goes.

Ray Bradbury "The Jar" (if anyone remembers this one)

Stephen King "Children of the Corn" (forget the lameass B movies) and "Quitters Inc.", and, maybe, "I Am the Doorway".

[trackfan]

10. I looked through various short story anthologies to

see if I had any of these - and I didn't. Later in the evening we were lingering over drinks, so I didn't watch the Alfred Hitchcock Presents hour as I often had been recently at the 8:00 hour. I happened to go over to the TV to see what was on, and the half-over Alfred Hitchcock Presents was "The Jar" by Ray Bradbury!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

21. Much better as a short story... your mind can do a lot more with imagining

what's in the jar, and how it got there...

[BigMcLargehuge]

12. Other good ones -

Graveyard Shift - Steven King (I like the movie too, even if the last third is way different than the story).

A Lamb to the Slaughter - Roald Dahl (I haven't eaten lamb since)

Midnight at the Quick n' Save - James Reilly (in the magazine City Slab)

[sarge43]

14. Oldies

Faulkner "A Rose for Miss Emily"

Hawthorne "Young Goodman Brown"

[6000eliot]

11. I got stoned and missed it.

[BigMcLargehuge]

13. It was a fiasco

... and let me make this perfectly clear, even if they do say Jehova!

[meegbear]

15. It was HER! HER! HER!

HIM! HIM! HIM! HIM! HIM!

[NewWaveChick1981]

16. OMG, I read that story in school too, and it totally creeped me out

:scared: Some lottery, eh? :eyes:

Didn't win a damn thing, sad to say... NC just got Powerball, and I have yet to win... :P

[xmas74]

17. I'm safe this year.

Who knows about next year.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

18. That is SUCH a creepy fucking story.

:scared:

[rockymountaindem]

19. I don't get it

What's the purpose of the lottery? Why stoning? Plus I thought it was sort of given away in the first few lines when they talked about the pile of stones. Lessee... piles of rocks + lottery + unhappy people = stoning. I thought this story was kind of weak.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

22. The idea is that the society actually adheres to a primitive ritual of

human sacrifice. The reasons? Who knows. No doubt shrouded in antiquity. Perhaps a sacrifice to some vengeful hungry gods, to safeguard the harvest or whatever.

[Xithras]

23. Actually, the point is much simpler than that.

It's an illustration of the illogicality of holding onto sometimes destructive traditions for traditions sake. It's intent is to demonstrate the wisdom of examining your own ingrained beliefs and traditions to determine whether or not they still have any relevance in modern society.

Nobody in the story knew why they had to kill one of their own every year. They just did it because they always had.