The Lottery

Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," displays people's ability of determining what is right from wrong.  However in "The Lottery," the people of the town choose not to stand up against the annual stoning the has been taking place for over seventy years. There are a few people who try to bring up the fact that other towns have stopped the stoning ritual, but are highly discouraged from the topic by an elderly man who firmly believes in the stoning process. For example, Mr. Adams says to Old Man Warner "over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery." Then Old Man Warner says, "Pack of crazy fools, [...] Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them." I think Mr. Adams wants to hear what everyone else has to say about quitting the lottery before he actually makes a stand for it. It always helps to have some sort of backup when you're trying to break a tradition or trying to stand up for what is right. In my small town, we have a lot of jocks who think they are invincible and that they can get away with anything. So they all came to the homecoming dance wasted and sneaking in alcohol, right in front of chaperons which so happen to be their parents. But nobody said anything. So the following Monday my brother, at this point was very popular but not a jock, went to the principal's office and told him about how the kids came to the dance drunk.The principal called in the jocks, they all denied it, their parents totally covered for them, their coaches said nothing of it, and my brother became the outcast. Those jocks then made my brother's life a living hell, it came to a point that he actually had to change schools. 
I think Mr. Adams brings up this point of other towns quitting the lottery, to get a feel for what others think. That way he can get a gang of people who want to stop doing the lottery and they can protest against it together. And he won't have to go at it alone and become the outcast that my brother became.