I decided to choose two short stories for this essay: The Lottery written by Shirley Jackson in 1948 and Edward J. Delaney’s Clean. It looks like both plots and authors do not have many similarities at the first sight. Jackson was a popular American writer of her time and influenced some famous authors like Stephen King. The Lottery describes a world where villages and towns sacrifice one person a year to have better harvest. They choose the victim by using lottery and then all residents kill the “winner” with rocks. People forgot secondary aspects of the ritual, but remember and practice the main tradition. Delaney is the still-alive writer, journalist and producer of documentaries. He can be less famous than Jackson, but already got several awards for his works. Clean tells a story of three drunken teenagers who killed their fellow Barry and were not caught. It showed how this event affected the future life of the unnamed main character. The murder was an honorable tradition in The Lottery and a shameful secret in Clean. I chose these stories, because their plots look totally different, but they have hidden similarities. One of them is that characters used rocks to kill their victims. There are other things that can be compared.
Authors did not say too much about socioeconomic status of characters, but I think they were representatives of the lover middle class. They and their families did not live on the breadline, but still depended up external factors too much to be sure in future. Characters used murders to increase confidence in terms of society or one person. Events in The Lottery happened in a small village “where there were only about three hundred people” (Jackson). The author did not mention there were any factories or other objects. That means people were mostly under self-sustainment and feared to loose the source of supply. They held on old traditions that helped to save it even if their maintaining included murder. The Clean did not describe less severe case, but it had the similar pattern. Character’s family lived in a typical small town or suburb. Delaney did not write about their income, but mother’s longtime memories about the lost sheet helps to suggest it was not too big. The character did not have any mentioned basis for decent future before murder. This action could be an attempt to prove his social position of leader within friends. While there were different levels of goals in Jackson’s and Delaney’s stories, characters saw murder (accidental in the Clean) as an appropriate way to achieve it in their current socioeconomic status. Characters’ professions played a key role in this decision.
In The Lottery people used the ritual to be sure there will be a good harvest. “Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns” (Jackson). Agriculture has many changeable and unpredictable factors, and farmers’ efforts can be ineffective because of weather, pests, fungus or other factors. Character in the Clean was a 16-year-old student, which is not the profession. However, the boy’s occupation had similar amount of unstable factors as farming. People need to think about grades, future perspectives and social status between classmates at the same time. Their efforts can easily fail because of wrong decision or external factor like enmity of more popular student. This pressure combines with the wish to take part in an adult life. This union makes students think the fight is almost the only way to show their status and maturity. Traditions also played a serious role in the Clean. It is a type of “custom” for male students to fight to defend their possessive rights including girls. The character heard “this kid, Barry, was cutting in on [his] girl” (Delaney). She was not really his girl yet, but this message and the alcohol did the same thing as the belief in traditions did in The Lottery – characters decided the violence is the only way to fulfill their goal.
This decision can be treated as a result of gender behavior. Readiness for violence is a traditional part of masculinity. Men played key roles in both stories, while women unwittingly caused events by their behavior. Some experts believe Jackson condemned Mrs. Hutchinson from the beginning of the story. Woman’s delay and words “clean forgot what day it was” (Jackson) showed her unserious attitude to the event that was important for the village. Author’s attention gave her an “advantage” in the lottery, while she did not make any direct actions to get it. There was similar situation in the Clean. Character was not in close relations with the girl and did not know that the message was true, but it had its effect. Women in both stories did not cause troubles on purpose, but their behavior could cause them. There was direct and indirect link in the Clean and The Lottery respectively. Both stories also showed men’s dominance in society. Male villagers were in charge in The Lottery and Delaney focused on male character’s fate too. Women only created a background for the plot.
Jackson and Delaney did not write about characters’ ethnicity, but I think they were white. There would be the other atmosphere and the development of the action with presence of other races. The Lottery was written in 1948 when relations with African-Americans were strained. It is difficult to imagine that Jackson would create such calm and normal atmosphere between characters, if, for example, black people took part in the biting of white woman. Delaney wrote the Clean in 2012, but it described events, which happened in 1970s when the interracial conflict was still serious. The middle-class white boy would worry less, if he would kill an African-American, and, conversely, he would have much stress, if he would be an African-American who killed a white teenager. The character “appalled to consider how little [he] worried about what had happened. In fact, [he] barely thought about it at all” (Delaney). Boy’s denial of fault and blind following of the traditions in The Lottery also were more suitable for tribes than for the American society of 20th century that had direct religious beliefs.
Behavior of people in The Lottery was inhuman and unchristian, while main characters in the Clean only tried to save their lives. However, both stories have connections with religion. The lottery in Jackson’s story looked like an ancient heathen ritual. This thought is supported by author’s words that it had “a recital of some sort [and] a ritual salute which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person” (Jackson). The ancient ritual affected villagers’ behavior through centuries, even that they forgot most parts of it. Delaney did not show that religion influenced character’s life directly, but his condition can be described with the quotation from the Bible: “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mathew 16:27). Murder helped the man to start better life, but damaged his personality and supported him during the whole life. The man punished himself by becoming own judge and executioner.
Jackson and Delaney used different main themes in their stories. The Lottery shows how people can hold on horrible customs and look like a visually perfect society with good relations between its members at the same time. The possible conclusion of the Clean is that one horrible action can turn person’s fate to a better direction. The boy shaped up and lived a decent life regardless of his lifelong emotional stress. The analysis shows different stories’ topics like accidental murder and traditional sacrificing can have similar aspects.
Works Cited
Delaney, Edward J. “Clean”. Theatlantic.com. Nov. 2012. 28 Feb. 2016.
“Gospel of Matthew 16:27”. Biblegateway.com. n. d. 28 Feb. 2016.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. English.learnhub.com. 1948. 28 Feb. 2016.
