The Importance Of Life In Dudley Randall's The Lottery

The definition of what is worthwhile to a person is inherently unquantifiable, as it relies on a return on investment that is difficult to tease out as directly related to an input. Questioning whether life's choices have meaning allows for the deeper question of if life itself is worthwhile, as life is lived through our choices. In order for life to be worthwhile, one's life must not be self-contained. This would be demonstrated by a tangible effect present after one's life. The conclusion made by society has shifted over time, but ultimately favored life as meaningful. The strongest proponent of this position is the societal institution of religion. It argues that not only is life meaningful, but god-given, and thus must not be questioned. Life's choices, however, are based in one's belief about their own life, and thus one must analyze if their investments in life give equal, and thus worthwhile, returns.

Dudley Randall continues this concern in The Ballad of Birmingham, where he shows that death’s inevitability does not necessarily mean our choices will have no effect. Contrastingly, in “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson tells the story of a community that takes part in a ritual killing, and shows how an illogical and harmful tradition can be ended through our meaningful choices in life, and that inaction is the most harmful. The ultimate fate of death is also illustrated by Margaret Atwood in “Happy Endings”, where she shows how a variety of beginnings lead to the same end, death, for all