"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

This story is basically about an old tradition practiced in the village-the 'lottery'. Firstly, the definition...this lottery in the story is a ritual held yearly, every 27th of June. The head of each family (the oldest able man in the family) living in the village draws a slip of paper. The family that draws a special slip of paper with a black dot on it is the 'winner'. Then, members from this family, along with all of their sons and their own family members (daughters draw with their husbands) have to re-draw. This time, the person who draws the slip of paper with the dot will be the victim. The other villagers would then stone him/her to death.
I quite agree with the view that "The Lottery" is not so much about human cruelty than about man's conservative nature. …