Shirley Jackson gained a reputation as a literary witch, which later novels brought the author. However, already in the “Lottery,” the talent for the anatomically accurate depiction of the human soul was revealed. The author has stories that can excite the reader’s emotions on the fine line between the real and the fantastic. The tale by Shirley Jackson has a powerful argument against ritual and tradition. “The Lottery” highlights that following tradition without justification could be fatal, especially when it becomes normalized in society.
Shirley Jackson’s work is a modern parable that narrates the tale of a small village that holds an annual rite known as a lottery, and the person picked is murdered. The twisted story develops around traditions and rituals as the villagers seem to be not ready to let go of their traditions (Mon 17). Published just three years after the end of World War II, the story repeats the chilling correspondence that existed in Germany during the previous decade. The basis for Jackson’s story is believed to be rooted in the author’s concerns about lingering anti-Semitism.
“The Lottery” is essentially a story about a person’s capacity for violence, mainly when this violence is expressed in an appeal to tradition or public order. Jackson’s narrator says that “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box” (Jackson 6). However, while the villagers like to imagine that they are preserving traditions, the truth is that they remember very few details, and the box itself is not original. There are rumors of songs and fireworks, but no one seems to know how the tradition began or what the details should be. The only thing that remains consistent is the violence, which gives some insight into the priorities of the villagers. Jackson writes: “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use the stone” (Jackson 7). To frighten and scare the reader, Jackson uses very sophisticated methods. The strongest and the main one is that half of the heroes reject the social contract. At these moments comes the realization of the importance of the much-unspoken contract and the horror of the consequences of its non-compliance.
The people’s blind acceptance of the lottery in the story has enabled ritual killing to be a part of their village. The villagers feel or rather do not have the power to change or even attempt to change, yet nobody is coercing them into keeping things the same. For instance, Warner says, “Nothing but trouble in that … Pack of young fools” (Jackson 6). The older man is so faithful to the rituals and traditions that he is even worried that the people will go back to primitive times if they stop doing the ritual.
The story also talks about the crowd’s psychology and mentality and the idea that people can abandon reason and act violently if they are part of a large group behaving in the same way (Mon 20). The idyllic setting of the story also demonstrates that violence and evil can take place anywhere and in any context. It also shows how people can easily and without a significant reason wind each other up.
Traditions seem to have lost meaning, and following them blindly can make otherwise normal individuals act abnormally without thinking. The village people do not have a reason for following the tradition apart from the fact that they have always held it to kill somebody. If they took time to question their actions, they would have been reasonable enough and ask themselves why they are killing these people, but unfortunately, nobody does that. For the villagers, tradition is sufficient reason, and they have all the justification they want (Mon 21). In work, examples of artfully used irony can also be found. Thus, the lottery’s generally accepted idea as something positive, the author turns it to be the main evil thing. This use of irony helps to increase the horror of the story and confuse readers.
Despite all the gloom and horror of the story, the author still cherishes some hope for change. By showing that there are still people who refused to participate in the lottery, Jackson reveals the possibility that the city will reconsider its views and take the necessary measures (Mon 18). Nevertheless, like any significant change, these measures may not be quick and will require a lot of time and effort.
In most of the author’s works, nothing fantastic seems to happen. The typical Jackson character is a middle-class character, bound by stereotypes that may sometimes seem unreasonable, or sometimes vice versa. However, all these prejudices are deliberately imposed by the environment and are not fully realized. The analysis of the work shows that the people in it were not inherently cruel. Such behavior was caused by the unthinking adherence to the ritual that primarily was the reason for their cruelty. “The Lottery” is one of the most famous works in American literature and culture. It raises several important topics, including the dangers of blindly following traditions, the mob mentality, and the inversion of some cultures’ family dynamics.
Works Cited
Mon, Thin Thin. “Exploring Actions and Personality of the Characters in the Short Story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson.” Dagon University Research Journal, vol. 11, 2020, pp. 16-25.
Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery and Other Stories. Picador, 2019.