The Lottery

" 'over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery' " (565).

Depicted in this scene of the lottery is an old man, the oldest man in town, talking with two other villagers about the lottery--how other towns are giving it up. Old Man Warner claims that this idea is stupid and nothing good can come of it, but the other villagers don't seem so sure. They aren't as quick to bash the idea. Maybe they don't see the point in it anymore, and indeed, Old Man Warner's reasoning is flawed. Based on what he says, "There's always been a lottery" (565). So then why say, "next thing you know, they'll be wanting to back to living in caves"? His argument is flawed and doesn't make sense. The people who are giving up the lottery are progressive and are moving forward, yet Old Man Warner sees them as moving backwards. No one voices their agreement with him because of this. He only makes his case worse. The only real argument he has for keeping the lottery is, " 'lottery in June, corn be heavy soon' " but we don't even know if this is necessarily relevant to their towns society at the moment. They don't seem to be that worried about food. Why do they still need to sacrifice someone for a good harvest? I think times are changing and Old Man Warner is another Emily.