Population Control In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson, author of the short story “The Lottery”, portrays population control as the purpose of the story. For instance, after the narrator states the amount of time the lottery took place in other villages, it continued saying, “... in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours…” (1) The period of the lottery in other towns was prolonged, but in this village, the lottery goes by quickly. The village kept a consistent population, and the population has never increased more than three hundred. In addition, Mr. Summers argued that he will need to use something sturdier than pieces of paper “... now that the population was more than three hundred and likely to keep on growing...”
(2) Currently, the village has more than three hundred people, and Mr. Summers will need something sturdier to include all names of the people in the black box. The lottery is a form of system to diminish the population back to exactly three hundred people. Next, after Old Man Warner states an old saying, he continued saying the village will be eating “stewed chickweed and acorns.” (3) The lottery is more than a traditional event; without it, there wouldn’t be enough food for everyone. The lottery is necessary to feed its population and preserve food. To conclude, the lottery is organized to control the population of the community.