People are selfish animals. When it comes to personal benefits, they
would act upon impulse rather than reason. They would always struggle
hard to maintain their basic needs instead of yielding to other people's
benefit. Rarely do they think about sharing with other people and
showing concern for all human beings. In short, we tend to put ourselves
at the center of the world and our egotism would thus expand.
From the story, "The Lottery", we can see that some of the villagers
were beginning to have doubts about the ritual, but still, since the
ritual had been in existence for such a long time, they continued to
choose one person to be stoned to death in order to have a good harvest.
Nowadays, such a ritual may seem very absurd in our perspective, but
back then, the ritual was a sign of their fear for unpredictable things
such as bad weather, a sign that showed their uncertainty about and lack
of confidence in "human power". Thus when the lottery was in process,
every one wore a pretending smile to show that she/he wasn't afraid at
all. However, deep inside their consciousness, none of them wanted to be
the victim of the stupid ritual. That is why when Mr. Hutchinson got the
fated lot, his wife was so anxious that she almost broke the fixed rules
by immediately asking for a re-drawing. As to the rest of the villagers,
they hurriedly carried out the execution so that they could get on with
their lives as usual.
"The Lottery" demonstrates how people are going to react when it comes
to their own benefits. Mrs. Hutchinson was indeed in despair, but the
rest of the villagers did not even care about it, and none of them
defended her case, because her sacrifice would bring benefit to others.
Nevertheless, none of them--Mrs. Hutchinson and the villagers-- were
wrong. In a way, I understand their initiative-- they were merely trying
to obtain the biggest benefits within their capability. Some famous
proponents of individualism have said that every one should manage his
or her own business well, then our society as a whole would be more
prosperous and efficient. Still, in my opinion, if our pursuit of a
better life and efficiency is to be achieved through the sacrifice of
human lives, as in the story of "The Lottery", then it would be too high
a price for all of us, and such a world would be "unworthy".