Summary
Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is one of the most well-known and culturally significant short stories in the history of American literature. It provides an insightful and horrifying look at the comfort people take in passively accepting horrifying events as long as they are part of the accepted stability. Set in a small and seemingly idyllic town, The Lottery touches on such topics as scapegoating and the role of a sacrificial lamb, inner demons, the power of traditions and, ultimately, human nature. Indirectly, it argues that modern civility is a direct result of restricting social rules and that, if allowed, people could and would eagerly commit crimes against each other.
Idyllic Premise
The short story premise is presented as beautiful, sunny and unthreatening, with every resident of a small town enjoying their sunny day. The duality of the narrative lies in contrast to this sense of joy and the hideous nature of the lottery everyone is getting ready for. It is revealed at the very end of the short story that the annual lottery randomly selects which member of the community is to be collectively executed. The sentence is brutal not only in nature but in form, with townsfolk throwing rocks at the chosen.
Hence, the aforementioned beautiful backdrop of a sunny day contrasts strongly with the final scene’s horrors. The technique of foreshadowing is used to highlight the importance of rocks in the story, but at first, the reader does not recognize them being used. When the boys begin gathering stones, it appears to be a usual, fun activity, and readers could believe that everyone has gathered for something nice like a picnic or a parade. This seemingly peaceful opening sets a tone that contrasts with the story’s horrific conclusion. Early elements, such as the light and flowers, all have positive meanings and help to create the subject of peace and conflict.
Foreshadowing
The reader may not think that gathering stones is intended for anything aggressive because it resembles children’s normal play. However, the phrase “raids” instills a sense of violence and conflict into the children’s harmless activities. The reader is similarly lulled into a false feeling of security by the adult villagers’ quiet and harmless occupations and subjects of conversation. The entire piece is based on the false sense of security with the hints of underlying tension crippling from behind. Such, if one was to pay attention, it would have been easy to identify the subtle signs of a ritualistic, extremely divided society from the town’s scenery. To specify, all the residents are strictly divided according to their gender, including children.
The phrase “lottery,” which generally indicates something pleasant for the winner, might make us expect something positive, much as nice weather and family reunions do. It’s all the more terrifying to learn what the “winner” actually receives when we were expecting the opposite. The locals’ laid-back demeanor as they make small talk—some even cracking jokes—belies the impending bloodshed, just as the beautiful environment does. The narrator’s point of view appears to be identical to that of the villagers. Thus events are described in the same matter-of-fact, daily tone as the people. And yet they smile at each other’s jokes rather than laugh, unable to prevent each other from feeling uneasy at what is about to begin.
However, when the lottery itself is about to begin, the atmosphere changes and becomes unusual for a prize draw. The lottery’s procedures appear routine, but the crowd’s reluctance to participate is a first indication that the event is not necessarily a positive experience for the participants. It’s also apparent that the lottery is a long-standing custom and that the villagers are adamant about sticking to it—even if it’s something as little as the black box used in the proceedings. For those who know the final twist, this understanding is indicative of the long-present, casualized evil. For those, who are yet to see what is about to unravel, the mentioned hints combined create a sense of subtle dread.
Theme: The Sacrificial Lamb
The most interesting and challenging thing to discuss in relation to this short story is the cause of the titular lottery being a long-standing custom in a seemingly safe, boring town. One of the most crucial choices in the tale is the author’s decision not to explain this, leaving readers to create their own context for themselves. Most of the researchers agree that scapegoating can be identified as the key theme of the narrative and that it lies behind the random sacrifice orchestrated (Shields, 413). The concept of a scapegoat has been around since the beginning of Judaism, although the actions it depicts are likely to have been committed prior to it. In ancient religion, the victim was truly a goat, but the notion has been employed symbolically to sacrifice a single individual for the sins of society.
Beyond the literal idea of being sacrificed for the crimes of others, represented within scapegoating, there is a broader notion that people need someone to blame or despise. The notion is that by dumping all of their rages on one person, they would be able to avoid having to deal with it for another year. Whether any of these statements are correct or not, the author’s uncertainty about the lottery’s motives is one of the story’s most essential themes because the fact that the residents of the town are unaware of the lottery’s purpose is crucial to the story’s thesis.
Theme: The Inner Demons
As specified above, it is evident to an attentive reader that the lottery is not a one-time event orchestrated in response to an unknown threat or disturbance. The ritual execution occurs every year; no resident is safe from it, and everyone is forced to participate. One might compare the lottery to the ancient sacrifices delivered to the pagan gods or spirits of nature, which were seen as acts of cleansing for the collective consciousness. Since the town is this idyllic and calm, it is not a reach to speculate that, in a way, the lottery allows the residents to transform their repressed frustrations and anger into action (Paramitha, 112). The town comes together in the act of collective legal violence, and thus the perpetrators are then free of their inner demons, ready to keep going for another year.
This balance, however, is hypocritical and fragile, as it relies on the torturous murder of a completely innocent person. Ironically, one of the town’s people compares the potential canceling of the lottery to going back to living in the caves (Jackson, 292). In his eyes, the lottery is a ticket to civilization and equilibrium, to a sense of internal and external safety. And while there are no reasons to question the validity of his words within the given context, it is undoubtedly a chilling thought. Thus, the story touches on the topic of inner monsters and the lengths to which people go to keep them at bay, while in reality, these ways might be monstrous themselves.
Theme: The Power of Tradition
Traditions form the backbone of every culture and almost every community, creating the shortcuts in daily lives that are accepted and perceived as fundamental. Traditions are not questioned easily since their presence is important to the sense of security people prefer to feel when in their home environment. And yet the power of these rituals might have horrifying consequences: it allows the people involved to easily absolve themselves from guilt and individual responsibility. It is likely that the lack of explanation behind the lottery is deliberate, as is the sacrifice. Other well-established dystopian stories, such as Those Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula Le Guinn, often utilize scapegoating tropes in their original and ancient meaning. In those cases, the people are content to look away from the suffering of another as it grants them comfort and privileges.
The situation in The Lottery, however, is entirely different: the murder is likely, and absolutely pointless since the author gives no indication of the event’s true significance. Jackson’s story illustrates how the existence of customs alone might be enough to significantly shape a person’s actions, occasionally without them even noticing the change. The story may be interpreted as a warning to those who follow the traditions blindly and without questioning. The accepted parts of the current society might still prove to be horrifying and inhuman. The lottery’s ancient status made it a part of the mundane reality for the residents of the nameless town, leading to their complacency and desensitizing them to violence and harm it caused.
Human Nature
In The Lottery, Jackson explores the fundamentals of human nature, questioning whether or not all individuals are capable of violence and cruelty and how society may hide channeled or accentuate those innate impulses. Philosophers have pondered the underlying nature of human character throughout history: are people essentially good or evil? How would people treat one another if there were no rules and laws? Are people fundamentally different from animals in possessing unique self-restraint and moral compass, or are they guided by their instincts just the same?
Through its picture of an ordinary community capable of exceptional violence, The Lottery poses these same issues. Numerous elements in the text demonstrate the nameless town’s underlying normalcy, which is purposefully meant to appear ageless and universal. Jackson is bringing the reader’s attention to the universality of the concepts she analyzes by having this town exist in so many different locales and historical periods. If this kind of violence can occur anywhere, as Jackson claims, it must be due to some inherent feature of human nature. Additionally, an argument can be made in favor of deeming people inferior to animals, who are generally less likely to display deliberate cruelty within the same species. It would, in turn, override the common moralistic narrative of humans as the kings of nature, forcing the reader to take an honest look in the mirror.
Overall, The Lottery touches on some of the ugliest aspects of the human experience, typically concealed behind the established social norms. These laws by which most people regulate their daily lives are supposedly designed to prevent violence and harm toward everyone within the community. And yet, just as in the short story in question, it is not uncommon for them to instead harm the very same people they are supposed to protect, often through the hands of their peers.
Works Cited
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” The Lottery and Other Stories, (1991), pp. 291-302, New York: Farrar.
Paramitha, Novalita Pradnya. “Social Domination and Marginalization in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery: Critical Discourse Analysis and Appraisal Study.” Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics 6(1), (2021), pp. 111-124. /dx.doi.org/10.21462/jeltl.v6i1.499.
Shields, Patrick J. “Arbitrary Condemnation And Sanctioned Violence In Shirley Jackson’S “The Lottery”. Contemporary Justice Review, vol 7, no. 4, 2004, pp. 411-419. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/1028258042000305884.