After the first publication, the audience had perceived “The Lottery” negatively, but later, this art piece obtained an appreciation. Tessie Hutchinson, the protagonist of the story, is a contradictory character who tries to find justice and save herself. The analysis of Tessie Hutchinson’s physical attributes and conflicts this character arises will show human weaknesses in her nature and reveal essential lessons readers can learn from her actions.
Tessie Hutchinson shows a variety of behavior patterns throughout the story, which characterize her from various sides. She is a woman with a family, as she has a husband and three children. The author emphasizes the lack of commitment in her character by describing her late arrival at the lottery. The mentioned fact also reveals Tessie’s careless attitude and positive thinking, indicating good fortune in her background (Jackson, n.d./1948). However, it is possible to state that Tessie is morally strong and takes care of her family members in complicated and dangerous situations. It is proved by her trying to avert the ritual of stoning to death by arguing against the event’s fairness (Jackson, n.d./1948). Tessie may be considered a hypocrite since her attitude changes toward the conditions of the situation. This character shows weaknesses and typical human traits, which arise from the desire to live and protect one’s family.
Tessie Hutchinson and her family are the event’s victims, which is the primary conflict she experiences. Tessie does not show the fear of being chosen and, according to the ritual’s provisions, sacrificed, and even jokes about it, saying, “wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink?” (Jackson, n.d./1948, p. 26). This pleasantry clearly indicates that the lottery for her is a game with little chance of affecting her. On the other hand, Tessie changes her behavior once it reveals that her family is chosen to be victims. She immediately tries to prevent the ritual of stoning to death by attempting to convince others that “it wasn’t fair” and does not succeed (Jackson, n.d./1948, p. 29). Tessie did not overcome that conflict because this character is intended to show human traits of nature, such as hypocrisy, but not unexpected salvation.
Tessie Hutchinson may be considered as an image of a regular, careless human being, a loving mother, and a hypocrite. She did not show her intentions to prevent the lottery’s conduction but tried to avoid the ritual of stoning to death (Jackson, n.d./1948). The main outcome of her behavior is the advice not to perceive potentially dangerous events thoughtlessly. It is possible that Jackson attempted to show that fate chose Tessie’s family to be victims because of her initially careless attitude toward the deadly ritual.
The Lottery is Shirley Jackson’s literary work that shows the conduction of an annual ritual of stoning to death the family chosen through casting lots. The protagonist of the story, Tessie Hutchinson, does not believe that she will be affected by the lottery and does not respect it. It is likely that the author showed that her behavior provoked the fate to punish the family by forcing her husband to pick the unlucky paper. Tessie attempted to prevent the murder but did not succeed. Readers were shown a transformation in her behavior after the casting lots, proving she is a hypocrite. However, she tried to protect her family, while no one did the same. To conclude, the evidence shows Tessie as an ordinary human with such weaknesses as inconsistent behavior and particular traits, as, for example, the will to protect and survive.
The story The Lottery continues to bring forth heated debates since its publication. The story touches the nerves of people as they try to interpret its meaning. The focus of this paper will be on a Marxist criticism of the story.
Kosenko (1985) posits that the story employs Marxist undertones. According to him, the story symbolises an attack on capitalism. The story attacks the ideology and social order of the town. One Marxist explanation for the story lies in the symbol of the black dot made on a paper for the lottery. The black color of the dot represents evil that is linked to business, which in turn stands for capitalism.
For example, Mr. Summers who draws the dot is involved in the coal business. He represents the powerful class in capitalism that has the control of the town both politically and economically because Mr. Summers also administers the lottery (Kosenko, 1985).
Moreover, the location of the lottery at the town square between two buildings- the post office and the bank represents the political and economic power of the government and those in power such as Mr. Graves and Mr. Summers. The common people stand no chance against the capitalist order.
The lottery is an old tradition that represents the rigidity of a capitalist society. The ritual of the lottery has been in the town for so long that the people no longer know its origin but continue to practise it annually. When some people suggest that other towns have abandoned the ritual, the Old man rebukes them and says that the ritual must go on because it is tradition.
The old man represents people in a capitalist society who opt for maintenance of the status quo. They are afraid of abandoning the way they do things to continue benefiting at the expense of the majority. The people are deluded by the lottery that the society is democratic hence they will not criticize the ruling class.
The people in the society are made to believe that the lottery is democratic and anyone stands an equal chance of selection. There is a possibility that Summers knows the paper with the black dot and his family members are safe from being stoned at the lottery. Thus, we can say the lottery is an election for the powerful but a random selection for the common people.
The story also depicts the social order in a capitalist society in which few powerful individuals control the rest of the society. For example, the powerful people in the lottery are Mr. Summers, Mr. Graves the postmaster and Mr. Martin the grocer respectively. These three individuals are powerful in the small town due to their position.
To illustrate this point when the lottery is picked it is asked who has picked it, was it the Watsons or the Dunbars. The two families mentioned are not powerful in the town. Why did they not ask whether the Graves or the summers had it? This shows that the powerful are in control of the lottery and have no chance of being victims of stoning.
In addition, the women in this society are low in status. They have no power and only the men in their families can pick the lottery for the families and if the man of the family is absent, his son represents him instead of the wife. Just like in a capitalist society, people who have no power have no say in the affairs of the society, which is left to the powerful few.
Finally, the author of the story seems to criticize a society that oppresses the weak and depends on outdated practices to maintain discriminative social order. The lottery helps the powerful to continue to control the town in other words capitalism goes on to enable Mr. Summers and his likes remain in positions of power.
Reference List
Kosenko, P. (1985): A Marxist-Feminist Reading of Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery.’ New Orleans Review, 12, 27-32.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson tells the story of a village that practices an old ritual on 27 June every year. The ritual brings about all the members of the community together who participate in the ritual and the winner gets the prize of death. The villagers kill the member of the society by stoning him or her. On the other hand, is the poem Mending Wall by Robert Frost, which gives us the story of two neighbors who constantly mend the wall between their properties. The two literary works depict individuals and society. This paper will compare what they have to say about the individual and the society.
Mending Wall and The Lottery are similar because they tell us about individuals and society. The setting of both stories is in the countryside. In The Lottery, the setting is a fictional village and we see young boys collecting stones for use in the violent death of one member of the community who will pick a marked paper from the black box in the lottery. The community gathers before lunchtime to conduct the ritual because to them it is just a normal activity annually. They will finish killing and go back to their houses for lunch. The society accepts the ritual and perpetuates it even though they do not understand its origin. This practice has to be fulfilled without questioning just because it is a tradition that has been in the village for a long time. Similarly, in Mending Wall, the two neighbors engage in mending the fence annually because the fence has always been between them. They keep repeating this activity by putting the stones back to repair the broken fence. One wonders why they cannot just do away with the fence instead of repeating this activity that they put a lot of commitment into every year.
When one neighbor questions the need for the fence as he does not understand what they are walling in or out as his orchard has apples and his neighbor’s pine, which would not harm each other as, they cannot cross over. His neighbor tells him not to talk about fences because good fences make good neighbors. He seems to enjoy the barrier that separates them. Likewise, in The Lottery Mr. and Mrs. Adam question the lottery as they feel it is not necessary because even other villages had abandoned the practice. The Old man Warner tells Mrs. Adam that the practice cannot be abandoned because it ensures a good harvest unless they are willing to risk hunger. These individuals in the two stories are willing to question the customs of the society but the society does not give them a chance as it insists that the practices must go on. The neighbor and the old man Warner represent tradition.
In both the poem and the story people do not form meaningful relationships due to the old practice. For example, in The Lottery Mrs. Delacroix was too wiling to kill her friend Mrs. Tess Hutchinson just because the tradition said so. In Mending Wall, the neighbors do not form meaningful relationships as they only thing that bring them together is the wall that also separates them. Ironically, each mends the fence from their side thus; they do not even cooperate fully in mending.
The contrast is that in The Lottery, the tradition brings about physical harm to one unlucky villager every year but in Mending Wall, the weather breaks the fence. The tone used in the Lottery is detached and we do not see the feelings of the community members while in Mending Wall the tone is lighthearted as shown in the conversation of the two neighbors who see the mending as an out door game. Humor contributes to the tone as we see the neighbor shifting the stones one by one to repair the fence. The author of The Lottery used the third person while Mending Wall first person.
Finally, the two authors address the issue of a tradition that can hinder a society from moving forward. They challenge people to reexamine their practices and discard those that hinder progress in creating meaningful relationships amongst people and for the greater of society.
Shirley Jackson’s “the Lottery” was first published in the June 26, 1948 edition of the New Yorker, resulting in a deluge of letters beings sent to the publisher from various readers who were either outraged by the content or curious as to what the story actually meant. When going over the reactions of the various individuals who wrote to the New Yorker regarding the story, their main reasoning for sending letters to the publication was simply due to the relative “strangeness” of the story (Franklin 1).
It was something that most of the readers had not encountered before, and due to the content, it was even considered “shocking.” Going over the statements of the readers, their reactions are not all that surprising given the relatively conservative nature of American literature at the time. Compared to the present, themes related to sexuality, abhorrent behavior, or outright murder without sufficient justification were simply not common back then and, as such, this ensured that when “the Lottery” was published, it was almost certain that it would create “waves” so to speak.
It is also important to note that since the story was published in the New Yorker, one of the most widely circulated publications during the 1940s; this ensured that it would reach a wide audience of potential readers. In the end, many readers threatened to cancel their subscriptions over what they described as a “deplorable piece of literature” and many did, however, a vast majority of the responses were simply empty threats with many readers simply being interested in the background behind the story’s creation.
When it came to misconceptions surrounding the story, there were some that believed that it was a piece of the social commentary of an event that actually occurred. On the other end of the spectrum, there were people who thought it was a story of blatant murder. While such misconceptions are understandable, given the lack of commentary by the magazine and the author, the fact remains that the story seems to be more of a form of social commentary.
The opinion of the Story
When going over the story and the premise of characters continuing a barbaric tradition, it seemingly appears to be a critique of old traditions, practices, and beliefs that society continues to follow at present despite the fact that there is little in the way of sufficient justification as to why they should still be in use. For instance, many people believe that wearing a tie with a suit is a mark of professionalism, yet, they fail to answer why exactly this practice makes a person more professional.
The exact origins behind the use of ties in suits are rather vague, and just because a person wears a tie with a suit does not make them any better, from an intellectual standpoint, than a person who does not. This particular example is similar to the way in which the townspeople apparently forgot the exact origin of the lottery, what it was for, and why they had to do it. It is from this perspective that this paper believes that “the Lottery” acts as a form of social commentary wherein it points out that there are many practices today that continue to be implemented despite the fact that the original reason why they were put in effect in the first place has been lost to time.
Works Cited
Franklin, Ruth. “The Lottery Letters.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 2013. Web.
Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is a short fiction story. It is about a lottery draw held in the summer season annually in an unknown American Village. The main purpose of the Lottery draw is to offer sacrifice to the rain god. This is done to ensure that the rain god grants them enough rain in the planting period. This would ensure that they have an adequate harvest in the next season. The story is based on misguided believes that by sacrificing one of their own villager by mob stoning, it could appease their rain god and hence ensure there is enough rainfall for their crops. This same aspect can be compared to Hitler way of ruling where the Germans were misguided on believe that by mob lynched the Jews good fortune would befall them.
The plot of the Lottery begins on the fateful day of June 27th where the young village boys are actively collecting stones and pilling them “Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix-The villagers pronounced his name “Dellacroy” – eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the rids of the other boys” (Jackson 256). The irony is that the reader is not given a hint of the main purpose of the stones as it seems like a child’s play. This is because the boys are collecting stones in a happy mood. It is depicted by the sounds they make while picking up the stones. The girls seem to be happy and they are standing on the side talking in low voice tone.
The early morning mood of the village is calm as the villagers busy themselves with their daily activities. To the villagers the lottery seems like a common routine, it does not call for any excitements and it seems like a routine often practiced. The whole ritual of lottery drawing does not call any excitement as it takes very few hours. This is evident where the author states: “The whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner” (Jackson 255). The children are the first to gather at the town square. They are later followed by the parents and the grown up arrive reluctantly without any hurry at the village square.
The event begins at the town square where the lottery draw is held yearly. All the villagers from the young to the old are gathered there ready to take part in the activity. The civic leader Mr. Summer is late and he arrives later carrying an old wooden box. His arrival is closely followed by the post master who comes carrying an old stool. After some pleasantries the civic leader announces the start of the lottery draw. All the villagers start to pick the slips beginning with the elder man in their respective family. Mrs. Tess Hutchinson is late to arrive in the square. She swiftly pushes her way through the crowd to where her family is located.
After a while the slips placed in the black box are all picked. The dreaded black slip is picked by the Tessie Hutchinson. She becomes hysterical and starts protesting on the method of drawing the slip. He stresses that her husband was not given a chance to pick the slips properly when she says “You didn’t give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn’t fair” (Jackson 259). No one is interested to listen to her instead they concentrate to know who has picked the marked slip with the black mark.
It is later found out that Tess Hutchinson had picked the black slip. No one comes to her aid even after trying to complain of the method of drawing. We see her husband being at the front line to sacrifice her to the crowd:
“Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summer had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up and there was a stir in the crowd.” (Jackson 231-232).
The morning that the author had described as “clear and sunny, with fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass richly green” (Jackson, 225) Turned out to be a homicidal day when Tess Hutchinson is stoned to death. Nothing can stop the villagers including her close friends and relatives from stoning her. They are very quick to finish up her without a second thought in order to go back to with their daily routine. It is clear from the story that the villagers had forgotten about the lottery ritual. One thing that had not left their mind was the use of stones. This barbaric act was done without the villagers inquiring the legality of the matter. They blindly followed an outdated tradition ritual without questioning the outcome.
The story is set in a small but steadily growing village. The setting is in a serene and peaceful village where violent and crime is unheard of. The lottery draw is also held in a warm day where children, the youth and the old are enjoying the summer weather. Despite the civilization of the neighboring villages the people of this village are adamant and could not change. (Kirszner and Mandell 56). They have failed to embrace the civilization and tend to follow the footsteps of their fore fathers. This is evident when the author states: “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered the use of stones.” (Jackson 232). This is a clear indication that they had forgotten how the ritual was conducted but they still wanted to tie themselves to an out dated habit.
The mob mentality practiced in the lottery story can be connected with the barbaric act that was practiced by the Germanys towards the Jews. The Anti-Semitism which is referred to as the hatred of the Jews was practiced in German in the 19th century. The Jews were despised due to their culture, ethnic and religious believes. Early in the 19th century, the Jews were less regarded by the whole of European countries. They were overlooked as inferior and this brought the aspect of excommunicating them from the other countries.
Their faith and beliefs were not acceptable by the other Europeans countries. This led to their excommunicated and later evicted from the European countries. England was the first country to evict them followed by Spain, Portugal, and later in Nazi Germany (Hillgruber 15). Since time in memorial the Jews were forced to live with frequent attacks from other groups of people. The attacks rendered many suffering to the degree of being lynched by a mob. The Jews suffered without questioning the faith they believed in.
Despite the harassment and torture they passed through they did not give in but continue to practice their culture and religion. The strong beliefs that the Jews held on their culture and religion can be compared to the strong belief that the villagers in The Lottery had on the lottery draw ritual. No matter how much they suffered they could not discard the outdated practiced. They believed that it was their way of life and nothing and no pain could separate them with their beliefs.
The worst of mob mentality against the Jews happened in Germany during the Adolf Hitler Holocaust era (Downing 33). After the Second World War in 1945, German had lost in the battle and the outcome infuriated Hitler that he had to avenge the loss. He ordered the mass massacre of the Jews who where located in Germany and other European countries. The ultimate death number exceeded six million where one third of them were children. This cruel act was not based on the Second World War but the cruelty and hatred that Hitler had for the Jews. According to Hitler the Jews were the main cause of the misfortunes that the Germany had suffered.
Hitler’s way of ruling can be compared to the way the villagers in the story The Lottery were governed. In The Lottery the villagers were made to believe that they had to sacrifice one of their own in order to appease the rain god and hence ensure they had a bumper harvest. This scenario can be compared to the way Hitler had brainwashed the Germans. They were made to believe that the Jews were the solely responsible for the misfortunes that had occurred to them. They blindly followed without questioning the legality of the issue. Instead, they went ahead and performed the mob lynching just as they were told to do to keep up with the ritual.
Hitler had many concepts and among them also was the race cleansing. He believed that by offering a cleansing sacrifice he would cleanse his race. This was the murder of children who were disabled and with disabilities in their growth. The act was cruel. The people were forced to kill while the where the innocent children suffered in the hands of a ritual. Hitler had forced the Germans to practice an outdated ritual without their contest. Free will was unheard of during his reign and this was the same aspects that had happened in The Lottery. In the village there were those who opposed the act of sacrificing their village mate and felt it was wise to discard the habit. The majority who were the old men in the village could not part with the ritual. Their demands fell on deaf ears as the ritual was to be carried on for as long as they lived:
“They do say,” Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, “that over the north village they’re talking of giving up lottery. Old Man Warner snorted” Pack of crazy fools,’ he said, “Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they, they will be wanting to go back and live in the cave, nobody work anymore, live that way for a while. Used to be saying about lottery ‘lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’ First thing you know, we’d eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There’s always been a lottery.”(Jackson 229).
The same scenario is seen with the Germans. For Hitler to gain power and support to dominate he had to gain the confident of the majority. He made a plan where he could use the more versatile group that was less regarded by many. His target to the Jews was a scapegoat where by invoking hatred towards the Jews who more venerable he would unite the Germans and the other European nations hence, get the support of the mass for his movement to progress. The movement core aim was to ensure that he dominated over all the nations in Europe. This was the main reason that Hitler came up with the idea of race cleansing where he would ensure that he wiped all the Jews in German and other neighboring countries.
The German soldiers and residents were made to believe that racial cleansing of the Jews was a ritual that they were bound to perform to be cleansed of bad omens. They agreed and without questioning went ahead to massacre the Jews. Hitler ensured that he had brainwashed the Germans to follow blindly to his command (Overy 102). Despite the fact that some Germans were against the ritual, their outcry would not stop Hitler from undertaking his missions on the Jews. The power he held over the Germans was unquestionable. This administrative power can be compared to the authority that the old men in the Lottery held to the villagers. Hitler who is the protagonist in the German realm, acted on the same ground as Old Man Warner, Mr. Graves, Mr. Summer and the villagers who stoned Mrs. Tess Hutchinson.
The massacre of the Jews and the publishing of the short story The Lottery happened just after the Second World War. The themes of the story and the happening in German were more or less related. The story and the incidents depict the evil that people harbor within themselves. These evils are hidden in the inside while the on outside they are as good, decent people just like Hitler. In The Lottery, the villagers were portrayed as good people who lived peaceful and violence was unheard of in their small village. It is after the lottery draw that the true identity of the villagers is revealed. They act without remorse and second thought. Everyone is eager to finish up the task of stoning Mrs. Tess Hutchinson to death. The Germans on the other hand did not question the massacre of the Jews. They acted without any regrets not considering that the Jews were people with rights to life.
Works Cited
Downing, David. The Nazi Death Camps. New York: World Almanac Library of the Holocaust, 2005. Print.
Hillgruber, Andreas. England’s Place in Hitler’s Plans for World Dominion. Journal of Contemporary History. 9 (1974): 14–15.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. X.J. Ed. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Longman, 2002. 254-261.
Kirszner,Laurie, and Stephen R. Mandell. Compact Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing, 7th Ed. New York: Wadsworth Publishing, 2009. Print.
Overy, Richard. “Misjudging Hitler.” The Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered. Ed.Gordon Martel. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1999. 101-102.
Upon reading the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, one cannot help but realize that it is seemingly a critique of the age-old traditions, practices, and beliefs that we continue to follow without sufficient justification behind their continued use. Evidence of this can be seen in the way in which the townspeople seemingly forgot the exact origins of the lottery, what it was for, and why they had to do it in the first place. It even reached a point where the people associated the lottery as a necessity towards controlling uncontrollable natural events, as seen in the phrase: “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” This was similar to the case of the ancient Aztec civilization wherein human sacrifices were utilized in order to bring rain and bountiful harvests. Yet, in either scenario, there is no natural correlation between having a human sacrifice and there being a bountiful harvest. It should also be noted that in the story it was indicated that the lottery was actually being stopped in other villages, with several people within the village commenting that stopping the lottery was a bad idea since it was a tradition that dated back for a long time and was part of the village’s cultural tradition.
This type of argument is quite similar to what is seen in the present wherein various religions such as Islam often espouse practices such as a woman wearing a headscarf or that women do not need to be educated further than what is appropriate. The inherent justification behind such practices is the supposed necessity of conforming to age-old beliefs as taught by the Qur’an. It should also be noted that the mid 1900s was a time of great civil unrest associated with the African American Civil Rights Movement. It is during this period of time that many practices within the U.S. were questioned, and, as such, I believe that writing this story was a way in which the author attempted to showcase the inherent problems with sticking to age-old practices that made little sense when placed within a modern-day era. For me, this is the primary reason why “The Lottery” has become a timeless short story classic due to the proliferation of instances where various societies still continue to stick to old practices and traditions that have no place within the modern world. The best way of surmising the entirety of the story is from this single quote, “”It’s not the way it used to be.” Old Man Warner said clearly. “People are not the way they used to be.” People have indeed changed from the way they were in the past, and it is based on this that the message of the story becomes clear: “it is necessary to move on from the past rather than repeat the same tragedies and mistakes over and over again.”
Society and societal occurrences, in general, are the ink upon which various writers draw their inspiration for works that may get adored for their grounded nature and tackle many issues that one can easily relate to or infer as a societal occurrence. Hence, having life and life’s occurrences as a primary inspiration enables many literary works to be weaving fabrics of storylines that share several attributes. Consequently, through an in-depth look into various works, one can draw parallels between particular works that make for a fascinating discussion as they share in the fundamental trait of having its writers expose various life happening, such as the ethical challenges faced by individuals in given situations. In this case, Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis has the protagonist Gregor in a great position of having turned into the monstrosity of an adult-sized bug which sets forth challenges in the impacted salesmanship job and the challenges of acceptance and care by his family and community members (Kafka). On the other hand, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery equally establishes a community practice and occurrence which would be difficult to imagine and enormously harsh if it happened in actuality.
The Lottery‘s plot revolves around the small townspeople meeting annually to conduct balloting in which the winner of the drawn dotted paper is the determinant of the individual who would lose their life to stoning by the community members (Jackson). Both readings have various parallels which lean heavily on exposing dark societal occurrences and how the compromised morality that individuals possess may give way to dark actions and occurrences. In essence, The Lottery and The Metamorphosis are expository on misfortune as triggering alienation and unsettling the harmony of life to which one’s community and family weaken in their duty of care and protection and consequently have the subject party the subject to the empowered community’s violence and cruel treatment.
Despite the non-discriminatory nature of misfortune, The Lottery and The Metamorphosis, its occurrence causes disturbance in familial and societal dynamics. In The Lottery, there is a consensus by the townspeople that any individual who draws up a dotted paper has unfortunately been randomly chosen as the individual who would face stoning. Moreover, through other times, the townspeople carry about with their affairs and daily engagements in harmony. However, in the instance that Bill Hutchinson, who had arrived late to the annual ballot, draws out the dotted paper, Mrs Hutchinson is distressed and seeks to draw the empathy of the community members that the process is flawed and that her husband’s lateness compromised his situation on the ballot picking. However, Mrs Hutchinson’s pleas fell on deaf ears as they approached the ritual just like any other that the Hutchinsons had also been participants in through the years (Jackson). In essence, through the misfortune that befalls the Hutchinson family, the family is the focal point of scrutiny by the community members who alienate the family significantly.
Mr Hutchinson is the most alienated figure as he is to be stoned, which the community members are to do in unison. The random ballot selection dictates a change from having a community with a typically very healthy dynamic to one alienating to the subject individual befallen by the misfortune. On the other hand, one’s family members and not the community can be the first parties to express alienating tendencies toward an individual suffering misfortune. For instance, Gregor in The Metamorphosis is suffering the misfortune of turning into a horror, whereby his family is naturally positioned to anchor love and care through the moment of hardship. Moreover, it is necessary that Gregor’s family works through monumental necessity to overlook his appearance and keep in mind who they knew and saw before the metamorphosis. However, Gregor attains the realization that even his sister finds him intolerable, “From this, he realized that his appearance was still constantly intolerable to her and must remain intolerable in future…” (Kafka, P 49). Gregor attains the realization that who he is and is as an individual is underappreciated in light of the dominant occurrence of his altered physical presence.
The Lottery and The Metamorphosis highlight how integral it is to be happy, which only arises from having established a positive relationship with others as a natural inclination by people. However, in the instances where there is discord between the self and others, such as with friends and community members, that is triggered by the misfortune as exhibited in both stories. Consequently, the trouble in identifying with one’s family and community is an excellent source of unhappiness as the relationship one typically enjoys with the community and family crumbles (Hobday 12). In essence, the occurrence of misfortune in one’s life can be regarded as an unfortunate and random occurrence but one that is bound to alter the life of the unfortunate subject monumentally. Through misfortune, the community has an easy time turning its back on the pleas of the suffering and one’s family- even with the love and care shared through the years, still falters in the moment of misfortune whereby the primary agenda is to alienate the subject individual.
A more ethically desirable occurrence is one in which individuals stick by each other through thick and thin, but the harsher reality indicates a low tolerance to be associated with misfortune. Gregor reiterates that despite his new situation of being a hideous being, his being a family member is all the criteria needed to ensure that he is cared for and loved regardless of the circumstances. “Gregor was a member of the family, something one should not treat as an enemy, and that it was, on the contrary, a requirement of family duty to suppress one’s aversion and to endure—nothing else, just endure” (Kafka, P 66). Gregor states that the most desirable fate concerning his circumstances is a peaceful acceptance by his family to endure the circumstances and to always be by his side.
The Lottery tackles the same predicament of the necessity of enduring misfortune but at the community level. “Tessie Hutchinson was in the centre of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her” (Jackson, P 13). Tessie Hutchinson’s realization of her husband’s impending death after the ballot makes her have an elevated sense of right and wrong and the brutal nature of the community stoning. Despite Tessie’s pleas, the community members have numbed themselves to the community ritual level and thereby have such a low level of tolerance that they are overwhelmingly motivated to get over with the practice as has been the tradition. Both community and family members’ shockingly low tolerance levels for individuals’ misfortune highlight the lack of social justice.
The fundamental action of pursuing and preserving flourishing humans highlights social justice. In essence, under social justice, there is an understanding that every individual in the right situations and with the proper support and tools can grasp and be the best versions of themselves. Moreover, as a society, there is a need to understand that social justice in its most basic form is fostered by the relationship among individuals whereby individuals have the interest and needs of others at heart (Williams). However, the highlighted instances in the stories highlight the commencing of the misfortune as having one’s community and family members overlooking the needs and want of the concerned subject and thereby not tolerating the affected members. Hence, in the boldest ways and instances, The Metamorphosis and The Lottery highlight in the boldest ways and instances that suffering misfortune should never be a stamp of one’s diminished humanity and is an occasion of needing other individuals to step up and stand by the individual in question.
In instances where community and family members feel at a critical juncture in their interaction with the individual suffering misfortune, they establish cruel treatment and violence as an easy go-to fostered by the strength of the masses. Shirley, a member of the town, goes about the ritual like any other occasion as she is indifferent to Mr Hutchinson’s plight, such as quickly arranging stones ready for the stoning process (Jackson. In essence, Shirley, just like other members of the community, has the perception that her involvement is negligible as it is a participatory community event and thereby will not have her consciousness tainted with murder as it would be the case that it would be committed by one individual (Finkel et al., P 144). On the other hand, the approach to individuals identified as bringing and having misfortune can take less drastic measures in the form of cruelty and banishment of the concerned individual.
For instance, Gregor had earlier been privileged to have great support from his sister through the early instances of having transformed into the creature. However, over time, perseverance turns to resentment and the resolution of eliminating the problematic individual. “I will not utter my brother’s name in front of this monster, and thus I say only that we must try to get rid of it. We have tried what is humanly possible to take care of it and to be patient. I believe no one can criticize us in the slightest” (Kafka, P 84). Gregor’s sister has come to be indifferent to the creature that she is to regard as her brother, whereby she expresses that the family had done all that it can, but they are in their rights to give up and abandon the process of taking care of and sheltering Gregor. As a society, when individuals are pushed to the wall in terms of what is expected of their performance, having a weak or twisted belief of right and wrong establishes cracks in one’s character to reveal the true face of frustration and resolution to rid oneself of the burden at hand through rough measures. Consequently, in such instances, the unity amongst the individuals who feel aggrieved lightens the challenge of putting corrective measures to rid themselves of the misfortune individual, as is the case with Hutchinson and Gregory.
In its best essence, creative writing is having the writers express their observations of life’s happenings and package them neatly into given plots and characters whose world is as accurate as ours in terms of the unfolding of the events. Moreover, the unfolding events in the plotlines, the interactions between the characters in action and conversation, and the broader societal and community happenings within these storylines highlight the authors’ intention of exposing and covering various themes and topics in giving light to the audience. The Metamorphosis and The Lottery reveal that misfortune is a primary basis of one being set aside by community and family members. Through the happenings of misfortune, one essentially attains a mark of being befallen by the unfortunate event, which is the most prominent message to them to consciously alter their interaction with the said individual and thereby alienate the figure.
Consequently, the community and family members are more perceptive of one’s misfortune and the inconveniences it causes, and they establish a very low tolerance for the suffering individual. In essence, through being a victim of misfortune, one’s family and community regard the individual’s fate as at the point of no return to pre-misfortune position and thereby regard them as a lost cause for any efforts to being friendly or gentle towards these individuals as exposes in The Metamorphosis and The Lottery. Lastly, violence to the subject individual is traditionally the go-to process of a shortcut that goes through the individual suffering misfortune to reclaim an older and better life. Despite the grimness linked with coming to the resolution that the family and community members should rid themselves of the misfortune, it becomes an easier burden to bear and affect as they assume the mob psychology of being violent towards an alienated community member.
Works Cited
Finkel, Steven, et al. “Community Violence and Support for Violent Extremism: Evidence from the Sahel.” Political Psychology, vol. 42, no. 1, 2020, pp. 143-161.
Hobday, Alexander. Alienation and Dwelling: The Pursuit of Happiness in Late Eighteenth-Century Literature. 2022. University of Cambridge , PhD dissertation.
All people who feel oppressed in the society should strive to fight for their rights rather than wait for some help (Ta 270). The truthfulness of the statement is analytical from the events in human life especially with the interactions within their social institutions. This work will, therefore, discuss the fact that the two stories; Fight Club and The Lottery both address our mainstream culture and its relationship with our social institutions. There is a need to consider such aspects of our lives because they are an element of the contemporary society where people fights for their rights. The pieces of literature chosen for this analysis have their contextual backgrounds in the modern cultures in which individuals have to fight for their rights. The rise of activist groups around the world is a way that makes the rulers aware of the importance of observing equity and fairness. The events of the stories outlined in the succeeding sections of this work justify the formulation that our mainstream culture determines the achievements that we make in life.
Fight Club is a story that depicts the need for determination in life especially in fighting for what we want to achieve. The story reflects the frustrations of American workers, especially the male characters who feel that they have the obligation to work for their rights (Eilperin 46). The people in the story think that the government offends them by regarding them as second-class citizens. They feel that the best way out is seeking for a chance to fight. For instance, they require a better health care system and not from the perspective that they are slaves (Vacker 23). The people feel that there should be something that defines them better than their bank accounts and their salaries.
The story could still be representing some of the frustrations that exist in the contemporary society. The relevance of Fight Club is, therefore, applicable to both the past, the present and the future of the lives of Americans and the rest of the world. The story addressed the thematic concerns of our mainstream stream culture; a society that is always fighting and pushing to meet the demands and the challenges of life. The battles experienced in America and across the globe result from the fact that people realize that the best way to let the governing institutions understand their obligations is to fight (Schuchardt 67). The resistance that the male characters of the story meet in their struggle for change reflects in the present society, which could be because the demonstrations and strikes across the globe.
Additionally, The Lottery is also a story that explains the fact that tradition has an effect on what people do. For instance, the author of the story attempts to make the story an element that mirrors our culture in the way we act (Shirley 67). The truthfulness of the statement manifests in the character of Old Man Warner. The mentioned character has traditional forces against change even in the circumstances that the change is a preference. He considers that any actions that may result in change are wrong because they have the potential of taking people back to their cave ages (Lusting 108).
The story also links the action of human sacrifice to better harvest, which is a form of tradition that the people in the old days believed. In such a context, there is a need to understand that change comes only as a result of the spirited fights that the people who pursue it contribute. The story hints that people need to determine the importance of change and the relevance of traditions (Ronis et al. 702). The understanding that change affects the social institutions of the society means that the story interprets the relationship between people and their social set ups. Just like Fight Club, the story describes the idea that change in the society results from hard work of persons. There is an understanding that the resistance to changes in the society is the source of all the evils.
In conclusion, change is an element of the society that is almost inevitable. The two stories analyzed in this work depict the idea that changes that emerge in the society are a product of the fights that people put in. There is also an understanding that people react to the changes in different ways. Another fact is the concept that human tradition is a determinant factor in the perceptions that people have towards change. In most cases, the proprietors of change have to fight the opposing forces that exist in the society because of the tradition that their culture impacts on them. In both accounts, there is a justification for the thesis that the events of the stories outlined in the preceding sections of this work justify the formulation that our mainstream culture determines the achievements that we make in life. Tradition prevents people from realizing the need for change, which is the cause of the friction that people who seek to change the society meet in their efforts.
Works Cited
Eilperin, Juliet. Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship Is Poisoning the House of Representatives. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Print.
Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 2008. Print.
Lustig, Richard. Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2010. Print.
Ronis, David L., Ranald D. Hansen, and Virginia E. O’Leary. Understanding the meaning of achievement attributions: A test of derived locus and stability scores. Journal of Personality and Social psychology 44.4 (1983): 702.
Schuchardt, Read M. You Do Not Talk About Fight Club: I Am Jack’s Completely Unauthorized Essay Collection. New York: BenBella Books, Inc., 2015. Print.
Ta, Lynn M. Hurt so good: Fight Club, masculine violence, and the crisis of capitalism. The Journal of American Culture 29.3 (2006): 265-277.
Vacker, Barry. Slugging Nothing: [fighting the Future in Fight Club]. United States: Theory Vortex Experiments, 2009. Print.
The Lottery, a short story by Shirley Jackson, exposes humanity’s brutal and inhumane actions through different characters. Set in a rural village, the plot highlights how traditional customs and practices can lead to the acceptance of cruel behavior. The Lottery literary analysis essay discusses the dangers of blindly following tradition and the need to question and critically evaluate social norms. It is an important summary of the destructive nature of blindly following rules. The Lottery analysis essay also explores the theme of tradition and its impact on society.
Basically, ‘lottery’ in this story is a yearly occasion in which an individual in the town is chosen at random to be stoned by hi/her allies and family members. Notably, the atmosphere created by Jackson in presentation of the sureness and the norm of the practice of lottery within the village is quite convincing that, this practice was readily welcomed.
The ultimate fate of all the practices presented in this short story is marked by ‘death’, perceived as redeemer for many evils people commit against each other. This paper presents the tools of characterization and the setting of the short story “The Lottery”.
One of the most outstanding tools of characterization in this short-story is actions. Though this story is not dominated by many actions, characterization is well defined by the few actions the characters are involved.
For example, Mrs. Delacroix is brought out in the story as being highly determined and quick tempered lady. This is reflected by her action of selecting a large stone ‘so large that she had to pick it with two hands in anger of ….” (Shirley 76).
More so, the unfolding of events in this short story seems as if Jackson is revealing the hypocrisy and evil-nature of human kind. As stated in the story, “They greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip…manhandling each other without a flinch of pity…” (Shirley 281). Though the reader of this short story expects the practice of lottery to be beneficial to the villagers in a way, nothing of worth is gained form such practiced of lottery.
It should be noted keenly that, this short story portrays extreme evil committed in just ordinary manner, which implies an underlying evil of man. This quite evident in the way such evils presented in this short story are happening in just friendly atmosphere, reflecting the camouflaging nature of humans.
Despite the short story being not insidious until near its end, the author seems to be foreshadowing this notion of deadliness as brought out through M. Summers, who is in charge of lottery, and his colleague Mr. Graves. The picture brought out of Mr. Summers in this short story makes him seem a respected man as he coordinates various social activities.
This humble nature of Mr. Summers, yet a very dangerous one is reported by Shirley (282) that, “Mr. Summers was very good at all this ….. with one hand resting carelessly on the black box, he seemed very proper and important as he talked interminably to Mr. Graves and the Martins”. Such activities may seem normal with regard to the village norms, but they reflect high degree of human rights violation.
The main characters used in this short story depict the mood of the actual events in this short story. For instance, the name ‘Summers’ symbolizes the fundamental theme of the story, and ultimate outcome of the entire events (Marshall 3).
Further, the name of Mr. Summer’s colleague, Mr. Graves, who happens to be his assistant in activities of lottery, prefigures iniquity of ordinary people. Basically, imagery is clearly brought out in this short story by having the author give the names of the main characters portray the entire theme.
Together with hypocrisy, ‘lottery’ in this short story presents the weak nature of human nature. Considering that this act of lottery had been a routine in this village for many years, no one seems to question its negative impacts in the general human welfare.
As reflected in Shirley (282), “There’s always been a lottery and no one has been nervous about it…everyone goes on with it…” reveals how hypocritical the people in the village were.
According to Hyman (35) no one had expressed fear of disgust of the act, despite it being depriving human nature of their human rights for survival. The kind of evil and malevolence presented in this short story goes beyond human violence since all is done calmly and in unity.
As Marshall (3) suggests, the use of protagonism in this short story is a real reflection of how people are deeply engraved in hypocrisy and wickedness. Ironically, Mrs. Hutchinson, who emerges to protest and rebel against lottery, emerges as the victim of the act of lottery the day she was going to protest against it.
This retracts all acts of rebellion against the act of lottery, and everything goes on as usual. Though before drawing from her fellow women to face her fate she seems happy, Mrs. Hutchison she is brought out to be happy to leave to see the way her fellow humans are mistreated (Hyman 46).
This reveals the way oppressive norms and cultures deem hopes of liberalization from such oppressive cultures. Particularly, the death of Mrs. Hutchison marks the continuity of evil nature of human kind eternally, despite their facial appearance seeming friendly.
Conclusion
Generally, the unfolding of the short story reflects the way humans mistreat each other, presumably in conformation to cultural beliefs and practices. Since the act of lottery as presented in this short story seems to undermine human nature, people seem to condone such evils with less regard on their negative impacts.
As the story ends, the ‘light of hope’ for liberalization, Mrs. Hutchison, dies which implies the unending nature of human wicked nature and evil. Generally, the short story reflects the societal malpractices committed by mankind to each other, as though they are ordinary events.
Works Cited
Hyman, Stanley. The Presentation of Evil in “The Lottery”. New Jersey: Bantam Publishing Co., 2000.
Marshall, Garry. Analysis of “The Lottery” a Short Story by Shirley Jackson. New York: Lori Voth Publishers, 2003.
Shirley, Jackson. The Lottery. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers, 1948.
Short stories are a common form of fiction in American Literature. The prose writing that is usually employed in short stories depends on how the author organizes and presents his/her work of literature. The length of short stories is not relevant to their quality. The American literature portfolio features some renowned masters of this craft. Some of the greatest short-story writers include Edgar Poe, Jack London, Mark Twain, and Stephen Crane.
Literary Elements in “The Lottery”
A good short story has to have a combination of five elements. These elements include plot, setting, character, plot, conflict, and theme. The quality of any short story depends on how well these elements have been employed. An example of a short story that successfully employs these elements is “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. “The Lottery” is a story about human atrocities that happen within a village. Although when the story was first published, it received massive criticism around the world, today, it is regarded as one of the greatest stories in the history of literature (Hattenhauer 43). This paper explores how the elements of a short story are used in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.”
The setting of “The Lottery”
The setting of “The Lottery” is a small town that resembles most American small towns. The village is consisted of about three hundred residents who are both excited and terrified by the idea of an annual ‘lottery’ ritual. The ritual takes place on a beautiful summer day in June (Jackson 234). All the villagers, including children, are obligated to participate in this ritual. The setting of “The Lottery” is synonymous with the setting in most small towns of the 1930s. When the book was published, most of the protests against it came from such towns (Oppenheimer 32). The author was able to capture the readers’ attention by presenting them with a familiar setting.
The plot of “The Lottery”
The plot of “The Lottery” revolves around a ritual known as the lottery that is performed in villages everywhere. The ritual is meant to ensure that the sins of the village are forgiven so that the annual harvest is not compromised. When the villagers are preparing for the ritual, one of them quotes a local proverb that says that “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson 234). The lottery ritual involved each family drawing lots from a box. The family that draws the lot with a black spot has to sacrifice one of its family members.
The man running “The Lottery” is Mr. Summers, a man who carries out several duties on behalf of the village. The ritual ends with the chosen person being stoned to death by the village mob. The plot in the story is well formulated to include an introduction, a climax, and an ending. Jackson’s story provides the reader with a sensational climax where one of the villagers is picked for elimination. The ending of the story also leaves the readers in awe because most of them had thought that somehow the sacrificial human being would be spared.
Сonflict in “The Lottery”
The element of conflict is used reservedly in the story. At the beginning of the story, it seems like there is no conflict as the villagers gather in unison for the annual lottery. The only hint of conflict at this time is the rumor going around that some villagers are considering abandoning the lottery ritual. One of the villagers, Mrs. Adams, even claims that the lottery is no longer practiced in some villages, but she is opposed by the Old Man Warner (Jackson 235). There seems to be an internal psychological conflict because most of the villagers do not seem supportive of the lottery even if they engage in the ritual. However, the conflict becomes physical and external when Tessie Hutchinson begins protesting her execution.
Characters of “The Lottery”
The element of character is well implemented in the story, with the main antagonist being the lottery itself. The protagonist in “The Lottery” is the human will. The villagers represent the will of human beings to continue with a tradition they dislike. Most of the characters in the story conform to this battle of the human will, and finally, the ritual goes on as planned.
“The Lottery” Themes
There are several themes in “The Lottery,” but the most prominent theme is the danger of blind tradition. The villagers do not question the relevance of this tradition, and their only reason for not doing so is that it is a tradition. The author shows the absurdity of this concept by presenting people from all lifestyles in a single united front. The other main theme in this story is family unity.
Conclusion
In the lottery, it is every family for itself. However, as the lottery proceeds, family members are forced to turn against each other. The fact that a family has to lose one member for its own benefit complicates matters even more. In the 1950s, the issue of family unity was a popular topic in America, and that is probably why Jackson chose this theme (Oppenheimer 223).
The author of “The Lottery” has successfully used all the elements of a short story. This usage results in a story with strong themes, great characters, an exquisite setting, and an easily understandable plot. The ensemble of these elements makes this story interesting and relevant to its readers.
Works Cited
Hattenhauer, Darryl. Shirley Jackson’s American Gothic, New York, NY: SUNY Press, 2003. Print.
Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery and Other Stories, London, United Kingdom: Penguin, 2009. Print.
Oppenheimer, Judy. Private Demons: The Life of Shirley Jackson, New York, NY: Putnam, 1988. Print.