A Closer Look at the Lottery
The lottery is a popular pastime in the United States, generating billions of dollars in revenue each year. Some people play for fun, while others believe that winning the lottery is their answer to a better life. But is the lottery really a great way to get rich? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the lottery and discover its many drawbacks.
Lotteries are state-sponsored games in which people can win money or goods through random chance. They’re often portrayed as harmless fun or a great way to increase one’s chances of winning the big prize in a game of skill, but they’re actually a form of gambling that has serious social and economic consequences. Lottery tickets are sold in every state and the money raised by them is used for everything from public works to education. This article will examine the history of lotteries and analyze how they have impacted society.
In early America, lotteries were a common method of raising public funds. Although they were sometimes tangled up with the slave trade, they also offered a rare point of consensus between Thomas Jefferson, who considered them no more risky than farming, and Alexander Hamilton, who grasped that most people would “prefer a small chance of gaining much to a large chance of gaining little”). Lotteries helped build Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, and the Continental Congress even tried using one to raise money for the Revolutionary War.
To keep ticket sales robust, state lotteries pay out a respectable percentage of their revenues in prizes. Unfortunately, this reduces the amount that is available to the state for things like education. It also obscures the implicit tax rate that lottery consumers pay. Consumers generally don’t think of their purchases as a form of taxation, so they have no reason to question the regressivity of the lottery.
While critics of the lottery argue that it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars, defenders typically portray it as a form of “taxation on stupidity.” This is not entirely inaccurate, but it obscures the fact that the odds of winning are incredibly low, and that lotteries are a very expensive way to raise revenue. In addition, as Cohen points out, lottery spending is highly responsive to economic fluctuations. Sales increase when incomes decline and unemployment rises, and the ads for lottery products are most heavily promoted in neighborhoods that are disproportionately poor or black.
The setting, characters and actions are among the most important aspects of any story. This short story demonstrates how to use each of these elements to create an engaging and believable tale. Characterization methods include showing how the main character reacts to events and describing her actions. For example, the way that Mrs. Delacroix picks up the big rock that is so hard to reach shows her determination and quick temper.
The theme of family conflict is another key element in this story. This is a topic that is relevant to many people in today’s world. Whether it is because of work or other factors, families are often divided and unable to function properly. This short story is able to explore the tensions that can cause family members to turn against each other.