In the beginning of the story I didn't know exactly what the lottery was all about. I thought they would win money or something of value. It didn't occur to me when the kids in the beginning were stuffing their pockets full of stones that they would be the prize. It wasn't till the end that I realized that the winner would just get stoned. I didn't understand why the lottery was such a big event every year in the village when the prize wasn't anything of value.