A lottery is a procedure for distributing something (usually money or prizes) among people by chance. It usually involves buying tickets with numbers on them, and the winners are determined by drawing a winning number or symbol. While this is a form of gambling, it is considered to be legal in most countries. There are a variety of types of lotteries, including financial and sports. The odds of winning vary based on the price of a ticket, the number of tickets sold, and how many numbers are needed to win.
In the United States, state-sponsored lotteries raise money for various public purposes. These funds are sometimes used for educational purposes, and many people see them as a form of voluntary taxation. However, critics of lotteries say that they are addictive and do not serve the interests of society as a whole. In addition, they argue that state governments should not be in the business of encouraging gambling.
The Short Story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson Implements Literary Devices
In this short story, Shirley Jackson depicts a small village with a shocking tradition. In the past, members of this village would draw lotteries for a certain prize. Eventually, the winner of the lottery would get stoned to death. This story shows how society can pressure people into executing inhuman acts. In addition, it demonstrates that even though people may claim to have moral values, they can succumb to social pressure and a sense of impunity.
Although the story “The Lottery” is fiction, it illustrates a human tendency to be coerced into doing inhuman things. This is a theme that has been explored in other works of literature, such as Sophocles’ play “Antigone.” The story describes the struggle of an individual against the authority of her family and the community. The characters in the story use several rhetorical devices to convey the themes of conformity and powerlessness.
Historically, state lotteries have been a popular way for the government to raise revenue for its programs without onerous taxes on working families. The early post-World War II period, in particular, was a time when states could expand their range of services without having to increase the burden on the middle class and lower classes. However, the rapid growth of lotteries during this period has brought about a new set of problems.
The first problem is that the proliferation of lotteries has created an unhealthy reliance on them to raise revenue. In a bid to increase profits, lotteries rely on expensive advertising and expanding the game selection to include games such as keno and video poker. This approach is at cross-purposes with the goal of raising state revenues. In addition, state lotteries disproportionately attract players from middle-class neighborhoods and not from low-income areas. This has been a contributing factor to the growing inequality in the United States.