Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Reading "The Lottery" will help you better understand South Park. No joke. Season 12, Episode 2 of South Park, entitled "Britney's New Look," directly parodies "The Lottery." In the episode, Britney is chosen as a sacrifice to ensure a good corn harvest. Several characters from Jackson's story have analogs in this South Park episode, including Old Man Warner and Mr. Summers. Certain lines from the episode are taken word for word from Jackson's story, such as "Let's finish quickly" and "Come on, hurry up." Instead of stoning Britney to death, however, the community takes photo after photo of her, which eventually proves to be fatal. (Source)
"The Lottery" was partly inspired by Jackson's experiences living in North Bennington, Vermont. (Source)
Shirley Jackson knew Ralph Ellison, the author of Invisible Man. Go check out Shmoop's coverage of Invisible Man. (Source)