Short Stories: Potpourri: 1

"The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago." (265)

For this blog, I will be anwsering the fourth question after the short story, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. The fourth question asks about the significance of original box being lost and parts of the ritual being forgotten. I think that the significance of these two things is that the lottery itself is also past its prime. The fact that all of these parts of the lottery are so outdated implies that the purpose of the lottery is also outdated. The original purpose of the lottery was probably to choose who would be sacrificed to get meat into the diet of the villagers. I gathered this purpose because the story says, "First thing you know, we'd all be eating chickweed and acorns." The tradition of sacrificing a member of the village is worn out, just as the box and actual preceedings are worn out. The old box and ritual being forgotten are long gone, and the tradition should be too.