The Cult within the Community

The fact that they even have the lottery, in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, alludes to me, that the community based in the story, is part of a cult. When I think of a cult, I think of being a part of a group or community that has control over your decisions. Does anybody is this community have a decision on if they want to participate in the lottery or not? They are all brainwashed as if they were in following Jim Jones into Jonestown, but in this case it’s Mr. Summers, not Jim Jones.
Having the lottery alone is a big reason the community represents a cult, but there are other issues as well. One that sticks out to me is how they acted when Tessie was “selected” for the lottery. All of the residents in the community physically acted as if they were possessed by something or someone when the revealing of Tessie happened. They all immediately grabbed there stones, and in my mind, started to march or run after her like a pack of zombies. Normal people do not act like this, normal people have at least some compassion or judgment to stop this.
The way the entire community displays the lottery, also hints towards how they are a cult. It’s how they act as if it is a special time of the year, and that everybody should be in attendance. The kids are having a great time, either gossiping or collecting rocks for the lottery “winner”, and nobody seems to be worried or uneven about the entire process. What really gets me is when Tessie is hurrying