In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, a tradition-obsessed town annually sacrafices one of their own. Old Man Warner's saying "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" shows the town believes this sacrafice is necessary for the corn harvest, and therefore for the good of all. This idea of sacraficing a life for the good of all has been explored continuously throughout film and literature. In C.S. Lewis's adventure The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the main characters Lucy, Edmund, and Prince Caspian stumble upon an island in which the townsfolk regularly sacrafice a boat full of people to a mysterious sea monster in order for the island to remain fruitful. Another modern popular culture reference occurred on the television series Supernatural. Within the episode, Sam and Dean Winchester fight to stop the supernatural creature that a town in Ohio sacrafices young women to, in order to provide abundantly for the town.
This popular idea raises many moral questions among audiences. Is the greater good more important then the individual? If the sacrafice insures a fruitful harvest, fending off famine and starvation, one could argue the loterry would save more lives than it would cost. This is certainly what the townspeople think. However, if the village banded together in unity all the time just as they do for the tradition of the lottery once a year, then they could insure everyone is adequete, without the loss of life.
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