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When Old Man Warner says, "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon," what does that tell you about the original purpose of the lottery?

Old Man Warner's comments suggest that the Lottery ritual may have started as a human sacrifice to the gods of the harvest and fertility. He seems to tie the labor of farming and cultivated crops with the better lifestyle the community has enjoyed since they stopped, as he puts it, living in caves. But he insinuates that giving up the Lottery could thrust the community back into poverty and starvation, into the days of eating "stewed chickweed and acorns." Such a diet would signify a hunter-gatherer type of society rather than an agrarian-based culture. When other people mention that some neighboring villages have discontinued the Lottery, or are contemplating discontinuing it, Old Man Warner insists that is "foolishness" and "nothing but trouble." He seems more tightly connected to the superstition that keeps the Lottery in place than some of the younger townspeople. That superstition is that bountiful harvests depend on the sacrifice of one randomly chosen human each year.

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