There is a possibility that Summers knows the paper with the black dot and his family members are safe from being stoned at the lottery. The people in the society are made to believe that the lottery is democratic and anyone stands an equal chance of selection.

The people are deluded by the lottery that the society is democratic hence they will not criticize the ruling class. They are afraid of abandoning the way they do things to continue benefiting at the expense of the majority. The old man represents people in a capitalist society who opt for maintenance of the status quo. When some people suggest that other towns have abandoned the ritual, the Old man rebukes them and says that the ritual must go on because it is tradition. The ritual of the lottery has been in the town for so long that the people no longer know its origin but continue to practise it annually. The lottery is an old tradition that represents the rigidity of a capitalist society. The common people stand no chance against the capitalist order. Moreover, the location of the lottery at the town square between two buildings- the post office and the bank represents the political and economic power of the government and those in power such as Mr. Summers also administers the lottery (Kosenko, 1985).

He represents the powerful class in capitalism that has the control of the town both politically and economically because Mr. Summers who draws the dot is involved in the coal business. The black color of the dot represents evil that is linked to business, which in turn stands for capitalism.įor example, Mr. One Marxist explanation for the story lies in the symbol of the black dot made on a paper for the lottery. The story attacks the ideology and social order of the town. According to him, the story symbolises an attack on capitalism. Kosenko (1985) posits that the story employs Marxist undertones.

Mr summers the lottery