The short story Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson, covers the events of one day in a small village where residents gather for the traditional annual lottery. However, while most lotteries bring positive results to the winners, such as monetary prizes and material rewards, the story twists its original meaning. The use of the word lottery for the horrendous local tradition is not accidental. The author contrasts the usual joyous atmosphere of the lottery with the settlement’s distressful tradition to emphasize how the name of the procedure can completely distort the true meaning of the rite. This essay will analyze how the author integrates the elements common to lotteries in the settlement’s tradition to emphasize how easy it is to manipulate the opinion of the masses.
Firstly, it is necessary to consider that the story takes place in a dystopian society that may have its laws and reasons to torment one of the inhabitants every year. However, the author emphasizes that the original message of tradition has long been forgotten, and even the first lottery symbols were lost. In modern society, lotteries are accompanied by the reallocation of financial resources or rewards within the group of lottery participants. However, in Jackson’s story, it is unknown what benefits the rest of the lottery participants will receive. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the lottery will result in a bigger harvest. The villagers’ desire to participate despite the lack of guarantees for a positive result in the story is similar to the desire people experience while buying lottery tickets with the smallest chances of winning. In this sense, the author mocks human nature’s tendency to gamble in hopes of suddenly becoming rich and powerful.
Next, the story mostly focuses on describing how the villagers gather for the event and how families wait for the lottery’s results. Children are the first to arrive at the scene of the event in the story, reminding regular festivities which usually take place in the cities. The author emphasizes how children quietly gathered together before breaking into boisterous play, emphasizing how far they are from a true understanding of the subsequent lottery (Jackson, 2008, p.5). For children, there is no difference between a ‘bad’ lottery and a ‘good’ one since both involve the gathering of a large number of adults in the square. Moreover, the author points at how the children were the ones who brought the stones for the eventual stoning of Mrs. Hutchinson, reminding the reader how cruel children can sometimes be. Thus, the author conveys how the event’s atmosphere is reminiscent of the atmosphere of an ordinary lottery despite the questionable main prize.
Furthermore, the brief remarks of residents in the story emphasize the importance of the event for the village. While it is not clear why no one tries to avoid the lottery, some villagers still forget about the event or arrive late for the ceremony. Mrs. Hutchison mockingly brushes off comments about her being almost late to the lottery, arguing that she could not come without finishing her chores. Coincidentally, Mrs. Hutchison wins the lottery later in the story, making the reader wonder if the lottery is a punishment for villagers who begin to form their opinion on local statutes.
Moreover, a short exchange between Mr. Adams and Old Man Warner reveals the spreading rumors that other villages have already abandoned the lottery tradition. From this dialogue, the reader becomes aware that the lottery is, in fact, optional and has little to no use for the harvest. Similarly, in the real world, lotteries only benefit their organizers, who have a constant source of income from the lottery organization. The parallel drawn by the author brings the reader back to the question of the fairness of the lottery. Thus, if holding a lottery does not provide actual benefits, local authorities may use it to punish deviant citizens. Mrs. Hutchison even pointed at how her husband was not given time to choose a piece of paper, which ultimately resulted in the next lottery draw among her family members.
Lastly, considering the element of crowd manipulation, the lottery in the story and lotteries in real life creates tension between the winners and losers, allowing organizers to get away with everything. In the story, Mrs. Hutchison opposes the lottery results because they are unfair in her opinion. However, her arguments remain ignored by villagers who have already accepted their roles as the lottery’s real winners. Any further intervention or change of the lottery results for them may result in losing the winner’s position. Therefore they prefer to sacrifice one stranger than endanger themselves. Similarly, in the real world, lottery organizers show the lottery winners to motivate the lottery losers to buy more tickets to take the place of the winner someday.
In conclusion, this analytical essay explored how the author of The Lottery uses elements typical of real lotteries to describe one village’s terrible and inhumane tradition. The essay defined how the author implemented elements of real lotteries, such as the obscure purpose of the event, the atmosphere, people’s behavior, and the tension between lottery winners and other participants in the story. The essay also demonstrated how the implementation of lottery elements and change of tradition’s name could be used to manipulate the people’s perception of the cruel annual purge of one of the villagers.
Reference
Jackson, S. (2008). The lottery. Creative Education.