“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
“The Lottery” is considered to be the best Jackson`s short story which unites sarcasm, horror, humor and philosophy – all rolled into one. This story was written in June 26, 1948. The author of the story describes the American village of that period of time and the ritual which is observed in almost every city. This ritual is called “The Lottery” and Shirley Jackson makes a reader immersed into details and peculiarities of it. This is a story with an extremely unpredictable ending, which makes the reader somehow confused and shocked. But it is the true reality, which Jackson wants to share with us and certainly she enriches the reader`s historical outlook. The thesis of this story is focused on the fact that humans by their nature are cruel and evil, they do not appreciate the life of another person, and they can easily put it in the hands of some awful and terrible ritual.
However, this description is completely sarcastic where the author hides brutality of the human nature, which was the main human trait of that period of time. In fact, the reader cannot suppose what is the sense of this strange lottery. The lottery`s aim is the “winner” who will be stoned by the inhabitants and it will lead him to death. Speaking about the title of the story it`s really ironic because contemporary people imagine the lottery winner as a person who gains some reward, prize or success. But taking this short story under analysis, the author highlights that this lottery is not based on the winners and rewards but on failures who will be punished by people. The procedure of the lottery is accepted by the readers as weird, bizarre, insubstantial and overfilled with outdated traditions. It doesn`t matter who will be murdered next time and there is no race and gender reason in singling out who will become a victim. The character of Tess Hutchinson is extremely substantial. She is late on the lottery and the first person who protests against it. She says sarcastically: “It wasn`t fair! (216).” The reader can notice that she seems to feel that she will be murdered anyway. Analyzing the social position of people we see that no one voices his or her real opinion about the lottery that is inhuman ritual to murder innocent people. The inhabitants stay patient like it`s just an ordinary day in their village. The author pays attention on the society which is dependent and limited, its outlook, intellect and way of life are narrow and primitive like in Stone Era. It`s an undeniable fact that this story is a true example that some outdated traditions and rituals should be forbidden because they do not have any sense in modern society. Even Old Man Warner voices the idea of cancelling the lottery forever: “Next thing you know, they will be wanting go back to living in cave (215).”
The short story under analysis has a great sense even nowadays. Thinking over the events of the story, we see how old traditions can influence the society and lead to the human degradation. This story has historical backgrounds which help the readers to plunge into the real atmosphere of the events due to the author`s literary and writing techniques. The plot of the story is written in a sarcastically detailed way, which presents us the real picture of the social life of people and their relations to the human values. This picture of events is very terrible and weird for the modern personality for whom personal life and independence are the most substantial principles. The most valuable thing which all individualities have is life and the opportunity to exist in this sometimes cruel world. The author stresses that people shouldn`t forget about it and do not lose his life in a lottery. People of the village were incapable not even to voice their opinion as for the murdering but to answer the questions which they asked themselves from time to time. This reality is regressive and leads to the social collapse in its all meanings. Thanks to this story and the events which are clearly described we think more about the value of life and human social and intellectual development.
Works Cited
Jackson, Shirley. The lottery and other stories. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1949. Print
Oppenheimer, Judy. Private Demons: The Life of Shirley Jackson. Ballantine books, 1989. Print
