By now we all know that the yearly lottery is the ritualistic stoning to death of a randomly chosen person in the village. Therefore, it’s shocking to hear the narrator so casually state that this village is small enough to finish their lottery in time for lunch. This offhand comment suggests that this is the complacent feeling of all the villagers about the lottery.
Because the lottery has gone on for so long and is done in other towns as well, it is simply accepted as a normal part of their yearly routine, just like planting, harvesting, and holidays. To them it’s simply another yearly event to get through. They even have a saying, "'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.'" They only seem to think about it on the day it occurs, and they go about it in the same ritualistic pattern every year.
The morbid nature of their attitudes is really brought home by the thought that these people will stone one of their neighbors or loved ones to death, then go home and actually eat a meal. Accepting the lottery without question is a prescriptive social value, meaning that they all judge each other by their participation and apply negative pressure to anyone balking the system. Old Man Warner demonstrates this when he calls the north village a "'Pack of crazy fools'" for considering putting their lottery to an end. It seems that blindly following tradition has erased some part of their humanity, which brings us to Shirley Jackson’s prophetic message.
We need to think for ourselves, rather than take the easy route of falling into the group mentality of societal norms. Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do. Jackson’s illustration is drastic for a reason--to shock us out of our complacent view of our societal values, so we can reevaluate through the filter of our own humanity.
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