In her short story “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson
describes a pleasant summer day in a small town, whose citizens hold an annual
lottery. Jackson portrays the lottery as
an integral part of the town’s history that has been done since the founding of
the town many years ago. Everyone in the
small town participates. Each male head
of household draws a piece of paper from an old, worn, wooden black box. During the lottery in this story, Mr. Bill
Hutchinson pulls the paper with a dot, indicating his family is the lottery
“winner.” His wife, Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson
immediately argues over the fairness of the drawing. Everyone in Mr. Hutchinson’s immediate family
then comes forward and draws a slip of paper to determine the final “winner” of
the lottery. Mr. Hutchinson’s family
includes Mrs. Hutchinson, Bill Jr., Nancy, and little Dave. Mrs. Hutchinson ultimately draws the slip
with the black dot and “wins” the lottery.
Mrs. Hutchinson continues to protest the unfairness of her “winning” the
lottery. As the story comes to a close, someone throws a rock at Mrs.
Hutchinson and hits her in the head. The
townspeople urge each other excitedly to hurry so they can get it over
with. The story ends with the
townspeople surrounding Mrs. Hutchinson and Mrs. Hutchinson pleading “It isn’t
fair, it isn’t right,” as the people “were upon her” (Jackson).
Jackson manipulates the reader into a
false sense of security by vividly describing the beautiful aspects of the season
and the historic black box used in the lottery, while slowly unfolding the strange
apprehension of the characters throughout the story. Jackson is deliberately
misleading the reader with the superfluous description of the appealing town
and the words and actions of the characters.
The character’s strange behavior doesn’t seem evident until the reader
understands the reality of what the lottery actually entails. Jackson depicts a small town with perfect
weather, playing kids, and community involvement. The town seems idyllic, but it is rooted in a horrible
superstitious tradition, that affects the lives of all of the characters in the
town. The old black box and Old Man Warner signal how the lottery has been
carried on for many years and is part of the town’s culture and history. Jackson uses setting and characters to set
the eerily dual tone for this story. Jackson
describes a town of old fashioned, hard working people in a serene country
setting whose citizens participate in a cruel and horrific annual murder. The irreverence for the loss of a family
member or friend Jackson illustrates is alarming. Jackson uses the seemingly peaceful town and
characters along with the very concrete symbol of the black box to lure her
readers into the sense that they will be reading a sweet turn of the century
story. Instead, Jackson demonstrates to
the readers the worst of what society can be.
Jackson’s message to the reader epitomizes a moral dilemma of how many people
have a hard time standing up in a crowd of people for what is right, especially
when everyone, including the leaders, are doing wrong.
Jackson uses the beautiful setting of the summer
and an old country town to lull the reader into thinking they will be enjoying
the story of the wonderful life of the characters in this story. “The Lottery” is set in the square of a small
town on June 27th, a little after 10:00 a.m. “between the post
office and the bank” (Jackson). Jackson depicts
a beautiful scene, where the grass is so green, “the flowers were blossoming
profusely,” and the children were laughing and playing (Jackson). Some of the children collect stones in their
pockets, while a group of boys make a large pile of stones in a corner and the
girls are chatting with each other. Some
of the boys take great care in finding “the smoothest and roundest stones”
(Jackson). At first glance, the men in
the town seem happy, standing around and talking with each other about everyday
farming issues, while the women gossip amongst themselves. Jackson further normalizes the townspeople
with talk of washing dishes and getting back to work after the lottery. Jackson begins the story by using imagery to
invite her audience to imagine a small, old fashioned, charming town on a
beautiful sunny summer day, all the while she knows the true meaning of the
lottery. Jackson deceives her readers by
creating a setting where nothing appears ominous at first. The atrocities committed in the town are in stark
contrast to the sweet scene Jackson builds at the beginning of the story.
Jackson underscores the importance of the
lottery as a custom in the town by giving special emphasis to the paraphernalia
surrounding the lottery. The old black box
used in the lottery is made of wood. Some
of the wood is believed to be from the original box. The black box was very old and some of the
pieces are worn with age. The box is set
on a specific stool during the lottery which is carried into town with the
box. Mr. Summers, a local business man, officiates
the lottery every year. Mr. Summers
talks of making a new box after each lottery but the people in the town don’t
want to change the black box because of the irrational superstitions
surrounding the lottery. When one of the townspeople talks of abandoning the lottery,
the character Old Man Warner sees this as heresy. Old Man Warner alludes to the belief that
having a lottery each year is the reason for the town’s prosperity, reciting
the saying “lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson). One interesting thing Jackson writes is even
though the characters in this story blindly follow the ritual of the lottery,
the characters don’t even remember all the protocols involved in the lottery. The
black box is the only tangible artifact Jackson produces. The details of the black box are all ominous;
the box is old, black, worn, and stained.
The black box was stored in different locations each year, hinting to
the fact that no one in the town wanted to hold onto the box for more than they
had to and no one wanted to move it once it was placed somewhere. The negative connotation of the black box in
stark contrast to the scenery Jackson so vividly describes should signal the
ominous tone of the story to the reader, but it is not immediately apparent
upon the first read of the story.
Jackson demonstrates the lottery as a part
of the town’s heritage, similar to community festivals and dances. Everyone in the town participates in the ritual,
including young children. The characters
in this little village are portrayed by Jackson as faithful followers of an
outdated and horrifying custom. Jackson
slowly and deliberately reveals the true nature of the characters in “The
Lottery.” Upon the first reading of the
story, the characters seem normal, polite, and even playful. The children are running and playing and the
adults are joking and laughing. Jackson illustrates
the strange uneasiness of the crowd by having the farmers stand far from the
stone pile and telling jokes, but not actually laughing at them. Jackson
portrays Mr. Hutchinson as very detached from Mrs. Hutchinson, saying phrases
such as, “my daughter” and “I’ve got no other family except the kids,” not
verbally acknowledging his wife as part of his family (Jackson). Mr. Hutchinson even tells Mrs. Hutchinson to,
“Shut up, Tessie,” when she argues the fairness of the drawing (Jackson). The Hutchinson children are relieved and
happy they were not chosen, even though they know one of their parents will be
killed. Mr. Adams, one of the
townspeople, says in a private conversation how the next town over is talking
of stopping the lottery, but Mr. Adams doesn’t mention the possibility of
stopping the lottery openly to the crowd or officials. Even Mrs. Hutchinson appears to be okay with
the lottery until her husband draws the paper with the dot. The true essence of the characters only
begins to become evident after Mr. Hutchinson draws the paper with the black
dot and Mrs. Hutchinson begins to protest the drawing as unfair. None of Jackson’s characters other than Mrs. Hutchinson,
the current year’s victim, are willing to adamantly challenge the status
quo. Of course, Mrs. Hutchinson didn’t begin
to openly object to the lottery until her husband drew the “winning” slip of
paper. Even Mrs. Hutchinson’s “friends”
don’t appear to show any sympathy for Mrs. Hutchinson, telling Mrs. Hutchinson
to “be a good sport” and “all of us took the same chance” (Jackson). The townspeople are normalized to the lottery
and desensitized to its effects. Jackson’s
characters in “The Lottery” don’t address their own wrongdoing over the years
by participating in the lottery.
“The Lottery” is a chilling story,
reminding us the evil possible within societies willing to submit blindly to
authority and tradition without trusting their own moral compass. At the
beginning of the story, Jackson invites the reader to a lovely town on a jovial
summer day. Jackson starts the story
with how nice the weather was, how green the grass was and how beautiful the
flowers were. Even the historical
significance of the lottery seems nice at first. Jackson portrays the characters to be normal
small town country people. By the end of
“The Lottery,” the story feels more like a medieval horror show. There may also be fear on the part of the
characters about retaliation for speaking out against the lottery, possibly causing
them to be the next lottery “winner.” Jackson
hints the lottery may not be as fair as it appears to be on the surface, as Mr.
Hutchinson doesn’t seem to care for Mrs. Hutchinson. It seems as if Mrs. Hutchinson sensed this, which
would explain her actions before and after her husband “won” the lottery for
her household. Jackson starts the
pattern of ill will towards Mrs. Hutchinson as soon as she appears in the
story. When Mrs. Hutchinson arrives to
the lottery, she is late. Members of the
crowd announce her arrival, drawing more attention to her tardiness. Mrs. Hutchinson attests she forgot about the
lottery. Mr. Hutchinson refers to the
children as his, and not theirs. Jackson
demonstrates Mrs. Hutchinson’s desperation as Mrs. Hutchinson suggests Don and
Eva be included in her family’s drawing, even though she knows “daughters draw
with their husbands’ families” (Jackson).
Jackson’s characters, Mrs.
Delacroix and Mrs. Graves, who at first appear to be Mrs. Hutchinson’s friends,
have no sympathy towards her plight.
Jackson uses these foreshadowing events to show Mrs. Hutchinson’s
impending doom. The characters in “The
Lottery” are unable to form close, loving, and intimate relationships, even
with immediate family due to the uncertainty of knowing what person will be
stoned in the next lottery. The
townspeople’s hearts are hardened to not feel the burden of grief or guilt from
participating in the death of someone they know each year. Jackson illustrates the villagers are taught
and participate as very young children in this atrocious tradition of
violence. Jackson makes it clear the
townspeople have seen victims in the past and are immune to having feelings or
emotions for the them. Jackson portrays
the people in “The Lottery” as having seen the annual lottery happen and having
participated for so long, they just don’t care about what is going to happen to
Mrs. Hutchinson. Every character in the
town is involved, and therefore complicit in the murder of a villager each
year. The characters do not show any
regret and do not appear capable of grieving at all.
In “The Lottery,” Jackson’s readers are
left to conclude what happened as the townspeople “were upon” Mrs. Hutchinson in
this vile story of human sacrifice (Jackson).
What is particularly disturbing about “The Lottery” is Jackson places the
apparent murder of Mrs. Hutchinson square on the shoulder of the reader. Because Jackson doesn’t actually kill Mrs.
Hutchinson in the story, Jackson turns the reader into an accomplice to Mrs.
Hutchinson’s murder. The murder doesn’t actually
happen outside the imagination of the reader. The reader is left with a nauseating feeling
of bystander guilt. The burning question
for the reader now is – if you were in this story, could you or would you have
done anything to stop the murder of Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson? We can all integrate Jackson’s haunting message
into our own lives. We must to stand up
for what is right. When we do nothing to
stop horrendous things from happening, we are just as guilty as the
perpetrators (Jackson).
Works Cited
Jackson,
Shirley. "The Lottery." The
Middlebury Blog Network, 1948, sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2010/09/jackson_lottery.pdf.
Accessed 17 Sept. 2018.
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