” ‘It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,’ Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon
her.” (About Jackson 2)
When a writer composes a short story, some may have a meaning and others may
not. With the ones that have a purpose, it is usually a very profound, easily understood
meaning that is developed within them. The quote is taken from ‘s, The
Lottery, which is one short story the has a very difficult meaning to be understood. From
this one quote alone, a person should be able to tell that this story is supposed to show
what is right and what is wrong.
It is with this in mind that Jackson writes the story to
show us all some kind of meaning.
Shirley Jackson was born December 14, 1919 in San Francisco, California (About
Jackson 2). She lived in San Francisco for twenty-one years until she entered Syracuse
University (Bentley 1). While attending Syracuse, she met and married Stanley Edgar
Hyman, who ironically was a critic that later became her editor (Bentley 1). The Lottery
was written in 1948, seven years after Shirley Jackson wrote her first short story, My Life
with RH Macy (About Jackson 2). She then went on to write The Road Through the
Wall, The Hang saman, Life Among the Savages, The Bird’s Nest, Raising Demons, The
Sundial, The Haunting of Hill House, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle between
1948 and 1962 (About Jackson 2).
August 8, 1965, three years after her last short story
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson died (About Jackson 2).
The Lottery was set in a small village where people began to gather between the
post office and the bank around ten o’clock in the morning on June 27 th (Lottery 1). The
children assembled first, where the feeling of freedom settled around them
uneasily (Lottery 1). The men gathered soon after, looking at there children and chatting
about the usual, the women coming shortly after their husbands to exchange bits of
gossip until the lottery started (Lottery 1).
The lottery was conducted by Mr. Summers,
and assisted by the postmaster, Mr. Graves (Lottery 1). The black box used for the lottery
had been put to use even before oldest, Old Man Warner, was born (Lottery 1). There
were the Martins, Bill and Tessie Hutchinson, their family, Mr.
and Mrs. Adams, and all
300 or so people from the village (Lottery 1). Mr. Summers brought the black box down
and set it on a stool Mr. Graves had brought (Lottery 2). The called each head of the
family down to draw from the box, which was filled with slips of paper (Lottery 2).
After
all had drawn, Mr. Summers told them to look at their slip of paper (Lottery 2). There
were murmurs and people trying to find who had got it (Lottery 2). It was Bill
Hutchinson. his wife, Tessie, started complaining about it not being fair. Bill told her to
shut up.
Mr. Summers took there slips of paper, five in all from Bill, Tessie, and their
children Nancy, Bill Jr. , and Dave (Lottery 2). He put the slips into the box and had them
all draw out again (Lottery 2). On command they opened their papers (Lottery 2).
Someone opened Dave’s for him, it was blank (Lottery 2).
Nancy and Bill Jr. opened
theirs at the same time and laughed because they were both blank (Lottery 2). Bill
unfolded his, and it was also blank (Lottery 3). Mr. Summers told Bill to show everyone
Tessie’s paper (Lottery 3).
It had a little black spot on it (Lottery 3). Mr. Summers told
everyone to hurry up and finish it quickly (Lottery 3). Thought the villagers had
forgotten the ritual and had lost the original black box, they remembered to use stones
(Lottery 3). The children had stones already, and someone gave little Dave a few pebbles
(Lottery 3). Tessie was in the center of the cleared space now and kept saying it was not
fair (Lottery 3).
A stone hit her in the side of the head. “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” Mrs.
Hutchinson screamed and then they were upon her (Lottery 3).
This short story of Shirley Jackson has caught much attention from the literary
standpoint of critics. One thing that all the critics have in common on their view of The
Lottery is their opinion of the scapegoat. The scapegoat archetype is transferring ones
sins to persons or animals and then sacrificing them to make people believe their sins
were eliminated (Jackson’s Lottery 2).
Shirley Jackson uses this, along with seasonal and
life-death archetypes, to build on mans inherent need for such rituals (Jackson’s Lottery
2). To show balance she juxtaposes Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves by having them share
the responsibility of the ritual: Life brings death, death brings life (Jackson’s Lottery 2).
Mr. Summers and Mr.
Graves are opposites, Mr. Summers is a jovial man and sets tone
with his name and mannerisms, and Mr. Graves name hints a dark undertone (Jackson’s
Lottery 2). The picnic-like atmosphere betrays the serious consequence of the lottery, for
like the seed, a sacrificial person must also be buried to bring forth life (Jackson’s
Lottery 2). The people used the scapegoat to make themselves feel better about their
won personal sins and wrong doings, just like the atmosphere was there to make them
feel better about what they were about to do (Jackson’s Lottery 2). At one point, the
lottery represented a grave experience and all understood the profound meaning of the
tradition (Jackson’s Lottery 2).
As time passed, villages began to take the ritual lightly.
They endured almost as automatons- “actors” anxious to return to their mundane, work
day lives (Jackson’s Lottery 2). Another well none criticism is ideological mechanism.
It serves to reinforce the village’s social order by instilling the villages with a
subconscious fear that if they resist they might be selected in the next lottery (Kosenko
2).
While creating this fear, it also reproduces the ideology necessary for the smooth
function of that social order (Kosenko 2). What is surprising is that The Lottery has
never been identified as Marxist because of the way the social order and ideology are
essentially capitalist (Kosenko 2). Critics have also identified The Lottery as an
allegory (Shirley Jackson 3). An allegory is the representation of a subject in a story,
play, or picture, using the people or events portrayed to illustrate deeper or more general
truths (Readers Digest 54). It is obvious that the short story is an allegory, according to
critics.
The Lottery presents conflicts on more than one level (Conflicts 1).
the most
important conflict is between the subject matter and the way the story is told (Conflicts
1). Shirley Jackson gives us the feeling of being in an idyllic rural, which she does to put
us at ease an to distract us from the horror that is to come (Conflicts 1). With this she is
trying to depict the horrible secret which show the hidden horrors in our daily life
(Conflicts 1). Jackson uses Tessie Hutchinson to comment on the sacrificial role that
women play in American society (Conflicts 1).
Tessie Hutchinson is a house wife, raises
children, takes care of home, and accepts her role in society up to a point (Conflicts 1).
She rushes her husband to hurry up and draw, but when he gets the black dot, she
complains he was rushed (Conflicts 1). Until the reality of the situation set in she was
ready and willing to fulfill whatever role her social group set for her (Conflicts 1). When
she sees the danger she faces she is aware of the unfairness of the situation, “It’s isn’t
fair, it isn’t right,” she said after she notices the unfairness (Conflicts 1) (About Jackson
2).
The villagers are glad to have the normal ritual that the community followed, though
(Conflicts 1). Tessie is no longer a member of the community (Conflicts 1). This is
shown by her insistence that a married daughter should participate in the household
drawing (Conflicts 1). She is willing to endanger her child in order to increase the odds
of her survival (Conflicts 1). The rules no longer matter to her because she feels she is
already outside of that community, and though she has given up the rules of the
community she appeals to them in an attempt to save her life (Conflicts 1).
It is as if she
would allow the community to accept her back in (Conflicts 1). Her protests upset the
community because it conflicts with the basic fairness of the process (Conflicts 1).
Theoretically, the lottery is fair but the system of human sacrifice in order to ensure a
good harvest is not (Conflicts 1).
Jackson conveys two main messages in The Lottery. First is the rural life we
idolize in America has terrible secrets, secondly she is illustrating the sacrifice of women
throughout history (Conflicts 2).
Because of her society was one that depended on
women for their work, it influenced her writing (Conflicts 2). It demanded a sacrifice of
herself and ambitions- besides raising family or to God of Domestica lity (Conflicts 2).
The story portrays the sacrifice that has been part of the lives of all women, which could
be and has been said about the lot of women in past WWII America (Conflicts 2). when
Shirley Jackson wrote The Lottery in 1948, Americans were listening about as much as
the townspeople listened to Tessie Hutchinson before stoning her to death (Conflicts 2).
In Conclusion, The Lottery is full of historical relic and symbolic language.
According to critics, people would not have understood the meaning of the lottery if not
for the critical analysis of the story behind it. Because of her surroundings, the story she
beautifully wrote has portrayed to longings of women in America in the 1940’s and the
sacrificial way people use women to get around in life. As to whether I agree to this or
not I am not sure because most all the critics had conflicting views on her story.
I’m not
really sure how to go about agreeing with which one or not, I just know the story had
some meaning on a deeper level. So I guess I do agree with its being an allegory, as for
the rest you ” ll have to figure that out yourself.