The binaries that arise in “The Lottery” involve the concepts of light and dark, chance and fate and addiction and corruption. The lottery is a metaphor for the role of chance in one’s life. The lottery started out as something fun and innocent it caught the attention of many of the townspeople. At first there was no risk to the lottery and people quickly lost interest. To reel them back in the stakes were raised and fines and jail time was imposed for “unlucky” draws. People again were drawn to the lottery with the excitement of something more, that someone would have to pay a price. This too quickly ended when people stopped playing by the rules and creating their fate by not paying the imposed fine. The lottery then went to the extreme extent where people are risking their lives on this lottery. People formed such an addiction to the lottery that they were risking their lives. The addiction even corrupts the church, “the members of the priestly class gambled heavily, and so enjoyed all the vicissitudes of terror and hope”. Here we see time cycling people are interested then become bored so the stakes are raised and they are once again intrigued then people didn’t obey the fines. So the stakes were raised yet again to the price of people’s fate, the risking of their lives. We also see the cyclical timing with light and dark. We start out with the lottery representing hopefulness and light, it was harmless. .” The lottery “determined each man’s destiny until the next drawing”. People had initially put all hope into this lottery, into this thought of chance. We then see the lottery progressively become corrupt and turn into a dark time, a time revolving around deception and corruption and people begin to question if the Company itself is too corrupt. In response to the talk of favoritism and of corruption of the company, it was “pointed out doctrinally, that the Lottery is an interpolation of chance into the order of the universe, and observed that to accept errors is to strengthen chance not contravene it.” Then the story comes full circle at the end and the last sentence gives the reader a sense of light. “Another, no less despicable, argues that it makes no difference whether one affirms or denies the reality of the shadowy corporation, because Babylon is nothing but an infinite game of chance
The binaries that arise in “The Lottery” involve the concepts of light and dark, chance and fate and addiction and corruption. The lottery is a metaphor for the role of chance in a person’s life. The lottery started out as something fun and innocent and it caught the attention of many townspeople. At first there was no risk in the lottery which caused people to quickly lose interest. To reel them back in the stakes were raised and fines and jail time was imposed for “unlucky” draws. People again were drawn to the lottery with the excitement of something more, of someone having to pay a price. This too quickly ended when people stopped playing by the rules and started creating their fates by not paying the imposed fines. The lottery then went to the extreme extent where people began risking their lives on this lottery. It became corrupt. The addiction even corrupted the church, “the members of the priestly class gambled heavily, and so enjoyed all the vicissitudes of terror and hope”. Here we see cyclical time, people are interested then become bored so the stakes are raised and they are once again intrigued and reeled back in and it is only a matter of time before they again become bored. So the cycle begins again and the stakes were raised again. We also see a cycle of light and dark. We start out with the lottery representing hopefulness and light, it was harmless, “The lottery “determined each man’s destiny until the next drawing”. People had initially put all hope into this lottery, into the thought of chance. We then see the lottery progressively become corrupt and turn into a dark time, a time revolving around deception and corruption. People begin to question if the Company itself is too corrupt. In response to the talk of favoritism and of corruption of the company, it was “pointed out doctrinally, that the Lottery is an interpolation of chance into the order of the universe, and observed that to accept errors is to strengthen chance not contravene it.” Then the story comes full circle at the end and the last sentence gives the reader a sense of light. “Another, no less despicable, argues that it makes no difference whether one affirms or denies the reality of the shadowy corporation, because Babylon is nothing but an infinite game of chance.”
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