e reader discovers that ‘”Because so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that had been used for generations’”(234). While reading, the reader starts to understand the lottery tradition from which many rules and regulations disappeared for convenience reasons. This leads the reader to believe that the villagers do not truly understand the origins of the lottery. The townspeople do not ever question why the lottery takes place and they all just stand there and go through with it year after year. The “lottery” has become so commonplace that it almost seems as though it’s a natural part of their lives. Mrs. Jackson states ‘” The people had done the lottery so many times that they only half listened to the directions’”(235). In this passage, the reader learns through the nonchalant ness of the villager’s actions that an important event does not attract much attention. They don’t even need to listen to the directions because all the townspeople already know what they have to do.Another showing of ignorance is when Old Man Warner snorts, “Pack of crazy fools,” he said. “Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live that way for a while. Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’ First thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns”(236).In this passage, the reader finally understands that even though the world changed around the village, this ignorance prevents innocent villagers from living a full and rewarding Sunakoda 3life. They know no other life besides this one, and they will never be able to experience another lifestyle as long as the lotte...
