Shirley Jackson's Piece
This piece by Shirley Jackson was interesting through and through. Taking into consideration that this was written more than half a decade ago makes me think that it probably was so ahead of its time because it was set up in some kind of alternate apocalyptic world where people were chosen to be killed and it wasn’t a big deal for anyone.
Upon reading the text, at first I thought that the “Lottery” pertained to something good that whoever “wins” it will become very happy. Because it’s true today, when people hear the word lottery there is usually a feel of excitement because people today relate this concept with winning huge amounts of money – which is something positive. But, when I reached the end of the story it somewhat left me in a disturbed state when the people started throwing stones at the lottery winner.
I believe that this piece tries to point out how people blindly follow traditions without question. It was mentioned how other villages were stopping this tradition of The Lottery, and then someone who appeared to be the village elder denied the possibility of stopping the lottery on the basis that it was tradition. That showed me that the piece depicts reality in an exaggerated manner and almost feels like satire trying to attack some issues which the author finds the need to emphasize on.
It depicts reality because sometimes that is the case. In more conservative nations people probably still follow sayings and traditions not realizing moral implications. And at the same time, the piece also tries to attack that reality by saying “we don’t have to stick to tradition simply because it is tradition.”
