“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Analysis
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

The Lottery is a 1948 story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about a small town in the United States that maintains a lottery tradition every year. One resident of this town is chosen randomly by drawing lots, and the rest throw stones at him (Jackson). The first publication of this work caused a broad resonance among readers. In this small work, several urgent and severe societal topics are raised at once – this is the search for a scapegoat, herd feeling, and blind adherence to traditions.

Analysis

Among the town residents, there is an opinion that the person who “won” the lottery pays for all the evil that has accumulated over the year. The power of tradition and habit stands above the common sense of every inhabitant, except for the victim. Fatal consequences and the settlement of justice takes place with the help of a gambling drawing of lots. The author wanted to show that the strength of the crowd, coupled with a strong sense of habit and tradition, so much clouded the mind that only the victim, left alone against the entire crowd, can realize all the injustice and cruelty of such a tradition.

The work raises questions about how faithful to follow traditions in general and when they need to be revised. Of course, cruelty is brought to the absolute in this story, but the question remains relevant. The society in work is not taught by experience that one randomly taken person can pay for the crowd’s mistakes. The relief that residents feel when they stretch out an unmarked paper completely stops all thought in the direction of injustice. Perhaps a momentary fear of a moment when nothing is known yet would cause a revision of traditions (Nebeker, 101). However, society has gone so far that even the pain of the victim does not stop them.

Conclusion

The work touches on a vast number of topics that project society’s ills, elevated to hyperbole. The heavy and resonant acceptance of this story by readers only proves its literary power. An individual or society as a whole cannot be recouped by randomly drawing a scapegoat. The strength of the crowd must always be regulated by common sense, which is sometimes spoken by the mouth of the victim of the crowd.

Works Cited

Jackson, Shirley. The lottery. Harvard University Press, 2013.

Nebeker, Helen E. “‘The Lottery’: Symbolic Tour de Force.” American Literature 46.1 (1974): 100-108.

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“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

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