George Washington, America’s very first president, used to participate in the lottery. Moses used a lottery to determine which of his flock would win a plot of land (Ugel 25). The lottery has been around for an exceedingly long time. In fact, according to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, “The first recorded lottery to distribute prize money was held in 1466 in Bruges, now Belgium, for the announced purpose of providing assistance to the poor” (Ugel 26). Even today, millions of people participate in the Mega Millions and the Power Ball lotteries. The lottery is a form of gambling. It is the selling of numbered tickets with numbers the consumer has chosen for a drawing at a later date. When the numbers are randomly chosen, rewards are given to those with the corresponding digits. This is mostly used as a way to raise money and to provide cheap entertainment. Gambling in America recently conducted a poll finding that 57 percent of Americans reported buying a lottery ticket in the past 12 months (Www.naspl.org). People with incomes in excess of $75,000 spend roughly three times as much on lotteries each month as do those with incomes under $25,000 (Www.naspl.org). With lottery sales alone, it is no shock that the United States earned $78 billion dollars (Www.naspl.org). Due to a struggling economy and an increase in unemployment, more citizens take a chance in the lottery. The lottery gives a ticket buyer the slim chance to win millions of dollars. Even though the chances of winning the lottery are 1 in 175 million (Bernard), many Americans still buy lottery tickets. Financial worries and a struggling economy give citizens the psychological motivation to participate in the lottery. American citizens, along with the eco... ... middle of paper ... ...31 Mar. 2012. Web. 9 Jan. 2014. . Ugel, Edward. Money for Nothing: One Man's Journey through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. Print. Www.albertahealthservices.ca. Alberta Health Services, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2013. . Www.naspl.org. NASPL, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2013. . Www.palottery.state.pa.us. PA Lottery, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2013. . Www.palottery.state.pa.us. PA Lottery, n.d. Web. 1 Jan. 2014. .
Hicks, Jennifer. "Overview of 'The Lottery'." Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
“Why We Keep Playing the Lottery”, by freelance journalist Adam Piore takes a very in depth look as to what drives millions of Americans to continually play the lottery when their chances of winning are virtually non-existent. He believes that because the odds of winning the lottery are so small that Americans lose the ability to conceptualize how unlikely it is that they are going to win, and therefore the risk of playing has less to do with the outcome, and more to do with hope that they are feeling when they decide to play. It 's essentially, "a game where reason and logic are rendered obsolete, and hope and dreams are on sale." (Piore 700) He also states that many Americans would rather play the lottery thinking ,"boy, I could win $100 million" (705) as opposed to thinking about all of the money they could lose over time.
Abcarian, Richard, and Marvin Klotz. "The Lottery." Literature: the Human Experience. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's, 2006. 350-56. Print.
The Lottery gains through selling tickets a massive amount of utility (money/pleasure). Much more than one person who buys a lottery
Winning the lottery is a dream most people have; it is magical thinking, believing that you, the ticket buyer will be the one defying all the odds. The only ones, from the hedonistic utilitarian standpoint whosehappiness will increase are those who actually win the lottery, a very small number from among all the players. The hedonistic utilitarian standpoint is not ethically recommendable because the lottery is only selling the dream of winning it while filling the state coffers with people’s hard earned money. (Brusseau, J. 2012)
Typically, when someone thinks of a lottery they think of something positive and exciting but contrary to this idea in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the connotation has an entirely different meaning. As the story begins, readers lean towards the belief that the town in which Jackson depicts is filled with happiness and joy. “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” (Jackson 247) We soon realize that this notion is far from the truth. As the townspeople gather in the square for the annual lottery, which sole purpose is to stone someone to death by randomly pulling a paper out of a black box with a black dot on it, it is learned
Did you know that Merle and Patricia Butler from Red Bud, Illinois and three teachers from Baltimore Maryland won the biggest lottery in American history at $656 million dollars? That means every person acquired $218.6 million dollars each from the lottery (Carlyle). Unfortunately, the citizens of Shirley Jacksons’ fantasy short story “The Lottery” were not imbursed with money, but were stoned to death by their peers. “The Lottery” is a lottery of death in which the town uses to keep the population down (Voth). The story consist of many subjects to analyze which include: irony, imagery, and pathos.
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 989.
In "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, there are a series of traditions the story revolves around. The characters in the story don't seem to follow their traditions anymore. The story begins by explaining how the lottery works. The lottery takes place in many other towns. In this town it takes place on June 27 of every year. Everyone within town would gather at the town square, no matter what age. The black box is brought out and each head of the household pulls a small paper out of it. Only one of the papers will not be blank, it will have a black-penciled spot that is put on by the owner of the coal company. The black spot will send someone, from the family who chose it, to death. This is decided by a draw. The family member who pulls out the spotted paper will be stoned to death. After a long period of time, people forget the traditions by slowly disregarding as the years pass.
“The Lottery” is a story written by Shirley Jackson. By looking at the title you may think about money prize. In this story takes the readers expectation to another level. By the two words of the title there is no way the reader did not get hook to reading this story. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson, uses symbolism, irony, and imagery.
The lottery began as a game initiated by merchants and enjoyed by the upper class of Babylon. As the Babylonian culture became bored with the game, the entrepreneurs of the lottery could not afford to continue. A new clandestine entrepreneur took over the lottery and became known as the Company. A negative aspect was instituted into the lottery; a fine was imposed on the owners of certain tickets. If the ticket holder refuses to pay the fine, he or she faces imprisonment.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Literature: A Portable Anthology. Gardner, Janet E.; Lawn, Beverly; Ridl, Jack; Schakel, Pepter. 3rd Edition. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012. 242-249. Print.
“The Lottery” was quite disturbing to read. It is an very unusual story that has an ending that will have you baffled. You will want to reread certain parts to see if there is anything thing that you could have missed. The title of the short story is also misleading. In most cases the lottery is a good thing. People don’t win punishment and lotteries don’t hurt them. But in this story it does just that. The author did a great job of telling how anyone and everyone can follow tradition blindly. It is dangerous not to have a mind of your own and to just follow the crowd even if you don’t understand on agree on why something is happening.
Study Commission showed “ that low and moderate income lottery taxpayers spend more on the lottery than do middle income taxpayers” (Analysis 3,4). In addition, this study revealed that education levels do affect how much a person spends on the lottery. The biggest spenders were
Some of us over the course of our lives, have at least purchase one a lottery ticket. We go to our nearest liquor store, we buy the lottery ticket and pray we are the chosen one. But, how often do we stop and ask ourselves, where does the money from buying a lottery ticket go? A lot of people assume it’s all for fun and games, others might say the sales of lottery tickets are put back into the community, or simply the money is kept by the state, who at the end decide what to do with that money. The fact is that, when someone buys a lottery ticket that money is collected by states lotteries, and they’re the ones who distribute the money according to state law. And if any revenue is left to spare, it goes directly into the state treasury.