The lottery is an interesting type of magical realism that presents many different binaries such at chance vs. fate and addiction/corruption. The lottery is a huge game of chance/fate that started off much like the lottery we have today; risk a little money to win large amounts of silver coins. However the Babylonian men became increasingly addicted to playing the lottery that they began to change and eventually corrupt the way it worked. At first the lottery changed from winning to also a chance that you may have to pay a fine, if you choose the wrong ticket. This was ok, however, the people of Babylon became so corrupted that they even started to risk death when playing the lottery. The people who didn’t want to play started to get singled out and ridiculed because they were too afraid to play.
Borges writes the lottery as a good way of illuminating how society worked in that time. People would risk many of their things in order for the chance to gain some importance and power in their society. The lottery was a corrupted and inhumane way for these people to have fun and possible grow in society.
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