"Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves, body work any more, live that way for a while." (page 268)
One thing that I noticed throughout the story was the modern nature but traditional and ancient customs. Old Man Warner is the most traditional man in the community. In the quote above, he mentions how if the lottery is done away with, they would not be able to function as a society. It would be like they are going back to an ancient time like cavemen. However, the mere fact that they are society that sacrifices individuals by stoning them is an ancient act in and of itself. The people in the village don't really give a legitimate reason for why they continue to do the lottery. It started because they believed that sacrificing a human would produce good crops. However, the author doesn't say why the people continue to do that so it could either be that they still believe it or they don't want to break tradition.
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