Author Biography
Shirley Hardie Jackson, born December 14, 1916 and passed away
August 8, 1965, was an American author, who’s influential story of which this
site is about, made her a popular writer for her time. Her Husband, a literary
critic named Stanley Edgar Hyman, wrote in his anthology of her work that
"she consistently refused to be interviewed, or to explain or promote her
work in any fashion. She believed that her books would speak for her clearly
enough over the years. Her work was extremely controversial, and would give her
a sour name in the English literature community. Jackson may even have taken
pleasure in the impact of her work, as evidenced by her husband’s statement
that she "was always proud that the Union of South Africa banned 'The
Lottery', and she felt that they at least understood the story".
Why was it written?
Shirley Jackson wrote her novel "The Lottery" as a modern piece highlighting the things we consider to be traditions, and why some of them should be rethought, as they are factually considered unethical or unworldly. She wrote it as a type of fable, and the idea came to her randomly as she was on a walk with her daughter. She never intended to change anything due to peer pressure, and stuck by her work throughout her career.
Synopsis of "The Lottery"
The villagers of a small town gather together in the square on June 27, for the town lottery. Village children, who have just finished school for the summer, run around collecting stones. They put the stones in their pockets and make a pile in the square. Mr. Summers, the man in charge of the lottery, mixes up the slips of paper in the box containing the names of the townspeople. Tessie Hutchinson joins her husband and children at the front of the crowd, and people joke about her late arrival. Mr. Summers reminds everyone about the lottery’s rules: he’ll read names, and the family heads come up and draw a slip of paper. No one should look at the paper until everyone has drawn. Mr. Summers finishes calling names, and everyone opens his or her papers. After they drew the dotted paper, the Hutchinson family redraws from the box, with a slip for each family member. When they open their slips, they find that Tessie has drawn the paper with the black dot on it. Mr. Summers instructs everyone to hurry up. The villagers grab stones and run toward Tessie, who stands in a clearing in the middle of the crowd. Tessie says it’s not fair and is hit in the head with a stone. Everyone begins throwing stones at her, and she continues to be stoned.
Most Interesting Character
While there are not many deeply seeded storylines that are carried throughout the story, one character that stood out in the story was of Mrs.DDelacroix. In the story, Mrs. Delacroix selects a stone "so large she had to pick it up with both hands". This tiny bit of detail demonstrates Mrs. Delacroix's eagerness to stone her former friend Tess Hutchinson, and how primitive and savage that this society is.
Symbols
One of the most obvious symbols in the story, is the lottery system itself. It represents any action, behavior, or idea that is passed down from one generation to the next that’s accepted and followed unquestioningly, no matter how cruel, or insane. The black box is also one of the most profound symbols, as it describes an old decrepit box that is part of a continued traditon, not because there is outstanding logic but because it is something that has been passed down as an accepted form of societal interaction.
Theme of "The Lottery"
The lottery highlights a bizarre ritual that suggests how dangerous tradition can be when people follow it blindly. Tradition is one of the main values to small towns, a way to link families and generations. Shirley Jackson explains that the villagers try to keep a tradition alive, not because they know the purpose, but just because its what they've always known. The villagers seem to fear change, and have a blind acceptance to the ritual murder. They don’t have a reason for doing it other than the fact that they’ve always held a lottery to kill someone. The theme is that we should rethink traditions for more than just historical value, but for logical sense as well.
Significance of the title "The Lottery"The title is pretty self explanatory, it describes a system of chance which the citizens believe to be logical, when in fact it is bizarre and primitive.
Literary Element in "The Lottery"The Lottery is an allegory of the community, if Jackson was willing to give so many of the characters heavily symbolic names, we have to assume that she's equally careful in developing the lottery as an allegory.
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Conflict in "The Lottery"The central conflict in "The Lottery" is Individual vs. Society, showing the individual (Tessie Hutchinson) struggle against the bizarre status quo. Tessie Hutchinson refuses to accept that her family, and then she herself, have been chosen for the Lottery, but her protests are ignored and overpowered by the mob of people who have collectively accepted the idea of the tradition. Just as Tessie represents the individual, Old Man Warner represents Society, the purpose which is promoted by the village as normal. The outcome of the story shows that Society, in this case, is victorious, and there is no sign that the Individual has had much effect on other opinions.
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Literary Analysis
The names of each character hold significant meanings to the lottery. Jackson uses symbolic names to indicate and foreshadow what will come to be after the lottery is conducted happens. The name “Dellacroix” (Jackson, 2) is the meaning of “Of the cross” in French. “Summers” (Jackson, 4) is the sir name of the conductor of the Lottery. The lottery happens during summer, and Mr. Summer’s assistant is “Mr. Graves” (Jackson. 4). This hints that there will be a “Grave” during “summer”. The author uses names to augur the winner’s prize: a violent stoning from the townspeople.
The objects in the story also represent religious and symbolic meanings to the lottery. Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones;” (Jackson,2) shows that young kids were picking up smooth stones. The reason they were picking up the smoothest stones because jagged rocks would most likely kill someone much faster, but with smooth stones, it would grant someone a slow death because of the flat surface and round edges. Jackson indicates that the children find normalcy in this murderous event, and that the children easily follow their elders.
The two objects used to in the lottery, are both religious. The black box is used to draw pieces of paper for the lottery, and it rested above a three-legged stool. The black box holds the key between life or death for every single one of the townspeople, and embodies the evil acts that have been executed in the past and the ones to come. Even the color of the box (black) is a universal symbol for evil and death. The three-legged stool represents the Christian Trinity. Each leg represents God the father, God the son, and the Holy Spirit. The three-legged stool holds the black box of death, which is ironic because the Christian Trinity represents purity and holiness, but the black box represents sin and evilness. This is significant because they manipulate the religion to support the violence that will be done, thinking that it’s “okay” to stone someone to death because of religious reasons, and that God would have wanted the townspeople to sacrifice innocent people.
In conclusion, the use of symbolism in the Lottery is very evident, the author indirectly implicates the truth of the lottery through names, objects and the setting .In my opinion, the Lottery remains relevant in our society today because the symbols in the story were never fully explained. The story itself symbolizes tradition, unquestioned traditions that exist not just in the society of the Lottery. The Lottery strongly shows collective mentality, despite Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson being wed; Mr. Hutchinson participated in the stoning of his own wife. When in a group, people usually lose their individuality, and are often peer-pressured. The fact that Mr. Hutchinson went from joking with his wife, to killing her in a short time shows how fast people can have a change of heart. The heavy emphasis on religious traditions and symbols make the Lottery one of the darkest and most mysterious stories to date.
"The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock;"
How "The Lottery" Relates to Modernism
The story relates to modernism by having tip-of-the-iceberg effect, because there is an underlying theme and meaning to the original story. Its underlying theme of questioning traditions has to be realized by the reader.