Ficciones Chapter Summary & Analysis - Part One, The Garden of Forked Paths, The Babylon Lottery Summary

Part One, The Garden of Forked Paths, The Babylon Lottery Summary

There was once a group who decided to begin a lottery. It began with barbers who gave bits of bone or decorated parchment in exchange for money. There would be one winner who would receive money in return. Later, someone had the idea that, because a lottery caused the sponsors to lose money, that there should be an adverse outcome as well. With this idea, one winner would receive a good prize and one would be forced to pay a fine. However, when this began, many people would refuse to pay the fine. As a result they would be taken to court where they were given the choice to pay the fine or spend time in jail. Many would chose jail in order to defraud the men running the lottery, the Company. As a result, the Company stopped imposing fines and would simply send people straight to jail.

When the...
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