“The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson, first published in the June 26th, 1948, edition of The New York Times. It’s a fictionalized account of a chilling ritual carried out on one day each year throughout villages in the “corn belt” of the United States. Everyone in each community gathers in their local square. Beneath the folksy greeting and meeting with friends and neighbours is a brooding seriousness. Some folks have talked about giving up the ritual but, as an old timer says dismissively, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” Then, each person draws a folded piece of paper from a black box. The one with the black dot “wins” the lottery, and is summarily stoned to death. Even little Davy, the son of Tessie, this year’s “winner”, is given pebbles to throw at his mother.

Jackson’s story, of course, is about a ritual fertility sacrifice, and it’s shocking because the practice is placed in a modern rather than a primitive context. But when considered as a symbolic story, the different circumstances echo with different meanings.