As I read this story I could not help but wonder over and over again: what is the purpose? Why have a lottery at all? It is obviously not a population control sort of thing. Is it a game? Some sort of random punishment that falls on one unlucky person each year? There is no distinction among the villagers as to age, gender or race (although race is never mentioned).
The first paragraph in the story was a bit shocking "...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" (Jackson 216). How cold! Go stone someone to death and then go home and eat lunch like nothing ever happened. The mentality of the villagers is incredibly complex and very dark.
Having said all that, I actually enjoy the story very much. I'm just not sure why exactly.
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