To almost the end of the story, the writer does not mention about the real truth about 'the lottery'. The townspeople seem to be longing for the event, enjoying it, with such a certainty that even young children possesses. At the climax, the readers are shocked to learn that the purpose of the lottery was for choosing a person to kill, and then they can truly understand some mysterious details appeared previously -- why Mrs. Hutchinson seemed so frightened when she was selected, and why the nearby towns abandoned the lottery tradition one by one.
This story shows the power of tradition. According to the old man Warner, the lottery has been held for at least seventy-seven times. Now this tradition is regarded as such a crucial part of the townspeople's lives that they believe abolition of the lottery would lead to "living in caves, work any more, live hat way for a while". It is unquestionable that the lottery is a barbaric, gruesome practice that cannot be held among normal people; still, this nonsense is happening in this town. What is more surprising, the villagers don't really know much about the lottery's origin, nevertheless keep performing because they've always held it. Such practice of lottery, without no reasonable reason or even the root, emphasizes that tradition has power to make the most irrational event happen.
To suggest the possible origins of the lottery tradition, first guess is unity, and the second is wish for good luck. Because tradition is what almost every members of a society keeps, it is an effective means to bring together the entire community. For example, hajj, the Islamic tradition of traveling to Mecca, allows the Muslims to unite during the pilgrimage. In "The Lottery", the tradition allows "the people of the village ... gather in the square", the children "talking among themselves", the men "speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes", the women "greeting one another and exchanging bits of gossip". Although the tradition itself is cruel and meaningless, the process of the lottery allows the townspeople gather, communicate, and share a sense of unity.
Another possible reason of the lottery's origin is praying for happy occasions Thanksgiving, for example, is a traditional holiday which gratitude for a good harvest. In The Lottery, Old Man Warner claimed, "Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns." This reference shows that the townspeople perceive the lottery to accompany a heavy harvest. Considering that the story takes place in a small ("only about three hundred people"), suburban town, where farming accounts for major tasks, the lottery promising a successful agricultural life would be heavily counted and rarely doubted -- which means it would continue on, without any significant change.
Shirley Jackson, in her short novel "The Lottery", demonstrated the power of tradition via illustrating the townspeople's participation in a gruesome ritual. The story emphasizes the potency of tradition by suggesting no clear reason or origin. However, Jackson leaves slight hints about the possible sources of how tradition started -- unity, and praying. The tradition itself seems so horrible and irrational, still the procedures of performing that tradition serve the function of unity and pray. This is why the villagers first started the lottery, and maybe, why they are still preserving this tradition.
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