To a Mr. O. M. Warner

"They do say," Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, "that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery."

Old Man Warner snorted. "Pack of crazy fools," he said. "Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live hat way for a while.”


What is the significance of Old Man Warner bringing up the "young folks". What role do young people play in our society?

In the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, Old Man Warner speaks of the “young folks” and how, by listening to them, it would result in a regression of society. He considers the youth in society lazy and that “nothing's good enough for them”. The significance of this to the story, though, is that it reflects on the lottery itself. At this point of the story, we do not know the actual prize of the lottery and it foreshadows that a dark reward looms in the distance for the one “lucky” individual. This is due to the fact “that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery” (-Mr. Adams ). If it is a prize that has people wanting to abolish it, then the reward must have a negative impact on the winner. Also, due to Warner's retort to this and his incorporation of the young folk, we know that this is due to the new ideas of a younger generation. As time goes by, we find the perspective of the youth in society to be more progressive and humane than the last generation. Each generation is given a new set of eyes to view the society that they live in differently than that which has already been seen. They have these crisp and vibrant eyes to see what the older generation's eyes can not see anymore. The older generation grew up with their own principals, their own customs, and were taught from a very young age what was considered right and wrong in their era. But times change and youth are given the chance to question what is put before them. By each generation that questioning is made stronger with parents passing on their own ideals – which may not necessarily agree with what society believes in at the time – to their children. Consequently, the young populace in our society are the construction workers of this building we call civilization. With each generation, new standards are met, new problems are faced, and new traditions are made. Children and adolescence look at these problems through everyday life, they look at how their elders deal and cope with the circumstances facing them, and, most importantly, they ask questions and formulate ideas and plans for the future. These questions, ideas, and plans are indeed the bricks they will use to construct the sky high buildings they need to make, the sky scrapers they must harness themselves onto to create a more advanced, more harmonious, and more equal civilization. The youth are the leaders of tomorrow, and when their own eyes grow weary of what they see, and when their own eyes start to droop and glaze over with the hardships of their lives and their generation, another more youthful group shall take their place, leading the world on. Therefore, I would just like to mention to a Mr. O. M. Warner, that his view upon society's youth is completely irrational. Listening to the young folk does not mean a regression in society, but indeed it results in an ultimate progression of life; their role in society is nothing short of being the leaders of our world tomorrow.
-Khu