The lottery's ultimate victim is a murdered innocent... who, one hour before, had no problem with the Lottery itself and undoubtedly had participated in many over the course of her life. Should the reader pity her, or should they see it as the consequences of being complicit in a corrupt system?
We're told that some neighbouring towns have abandoned the Lottery, which prompts grumbling amongst the villagers. But does that mean that they've stopped stoning people to death, or that they've just given up picking the victims at random? Especially as a few points could be taken as subtle hints that Tessie wasn't a completely unbiased selection...
Mrs. Delacroix picking a particularly large and heavy stone to murder Tessie — proof that she actually despises the woman, or an act of mercy to kill her faster?
When the Hutchinson family is chosen, Tessie tries to put forth her eldest daughter and son-in-law to be included. Is she just trying to save herself, or is she also attempting to protect her three younger children, one of whom is a toddler?
It Was His Sled: Is there anyone who's been in American high school that doesn't know what happens to the 'winner' of the titular Lottery? (Note that this isn't the case in other countries, where the short story is much less well-known.)
Jerkass Woobie: Tessie Hutchinson doesn't protest the Lottery until it becomes clear that she's in danger. She even tries to put her daughter at risk to give herself better odds. It's easy to pity her, though, since she's an innocent victim of chance — plus she dies by being stoned to death. (It's not clear whether the townspeople throw the rocks at her or actually go up and beat her to death with them).
Misaimed Fandom: While many readers were outraged by the story, others wrote to Jackson assuming the Lottery was a real custom and asking where they could see one. Jackson wasn't pleased.
A small, all-American town murders one of its own every summer. No one calls it wrong except the victim (who is ignored). No one tries to stop it. And the 'winner' can be anyone, even a child. There's no stated reason for it except tradition, but it always happens.
Your friends and neighbors — your pastor, your fellow parishioners, your child's schoolteachers — are murderers. They've killed people you know, maybe even members of your own family, and you've let it happen without protest. If you're chosen, they'll kill you with no remorse or regret.
When her family is chosen to put up a member for sacrifice, Tessie's immediate instinct is to try to drag her daughter and son-in-law into the drawing in hopes that they might be killed instead of her. The daughter's last memory of Tessie (besides the stones) will be that she tried to get her murdered so she could live another year.
Vindicated by History: At its publishing, The Lottery was met with vigorous criticism. Today, it's taught in school literature classes and considered one of the best American short stories ever written.
2014 TV series
Too Good to Last: Sadly despite having a relatively interesting plot and that the final episode ended with the possibility of a second season, it was not renewed for one.
and the coining of the "bystander effect," the Stanley Milgram obedience experiment