Question

Read the passage from "The Lottery."

The children assembled first, of course. School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play, and their talk was still of the classroom and the teacher, of books and reprimands. Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix—the villagers pronounced this name "Dellacroy”—eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys. The girls stood aside, talking among themselves, looking over their shoulders at the boys, and the very small children rolled in the dust or clung to the hands of their older brothers or sisters.

What is the most likely purpose of depicting how the boys are collecting the stones?

to show that children enjoy playing outdoors
to show that children often disobey rules
to suggest that children are taught to behave in certain ways and rarely question it
to suggest that children consider the lottery a game and do not understand it

Answer 1

to suggest that children consider the lottery a game and do not understand it

Step-by-step explanation:

According to the passage from "The Lottery", the narrator describes school being over for the summer and how uneasy the children were feeling about their liberty.

He describes Bobby Martins and some other boys picking up the smoothest and roundest stones and gathering them in a pile and guarding them.

Therefore, the most likely purpose of depicting how the boys are collecting the stones is that to suggest that children consider the lottery a game and do not understand it