The Lottery - Research Paper Example

Introduction “The Lottery” is the story of a town that holds an important lottery every June 7th. A date that is very special to the people in the town because it coincides with their crop season and unless the lottery ritual happens every year, the townsfolk feared that they would have a very bad crop season for the year. That is the main reason why the lottery happens every year although not everyone truly looks forward to it. This research paper takes a critical look at this story to establish how the writer uses imagery and other devices to communicate the central theme of the danger of blindly following customs. These exposes underlying backwardness and hypocrisy with which the administrative authority run its affairs (Hattenhauer, p.171). It goes further to draw comparisons and contrasts between Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Jane Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” focusing on the main characters that are both females living in a male dominated and conservative societies. They symbolize change as they are the ones out to change how things happen by their actions and words. “The Lottery” The friendly tone that Jackson uses to write the story and the way that she describes the days’ events leading up to the lottery draw actually manages to initially hide the darkness that is actually represented by the lottery (Smith, p.170). No doubt that not a single person in the town ever looked forward to the lottery draws every year because nobody wants to end up being pelted to death with stones just because your name was drawn out of a box. Before we establish the kind of lottery to be done, the preliminary preparations does not depict any kind of violence to give the image of a typically organized society. The man in charge of the process is very shabby and carries a black box that has been used for a very long time without being replaced; this depicts this tradition as an old custom that has no place in the modern society. According to Smith (p.117), the lottery as a practice feeds the blood lust of the villagers and the hypocrisy of the practice. In fact, it could also represent a study of the human psyche that shows how nobody truly knows his neighbor and how mundane activities could actually hold an evil intention behind it. The event is organized in a very shambolic manner with pieces of paper used to write the residents’ name for selection purposes. These events were organized in order to connect with the gods and ancestors for favour of blessings and abundant harvests. The writer however punches holes in the exercise even saying that these people did not even have an idea why they were taking part. They preserve this archaic tradition because it was passed down generations but no factual explanation of when and how it was started. According to Showalter (p.411), the lottery practice in the town itself presents society’s weakness and their ties traditions that they continue to practice even though everyone has already forgotten why the tradition started in the first place. Never mind the fact that they continue to practice legalized murder just because the society is afraid of what might happen if they actually stop the practice of murdering a person from the town every year as an offering for an excellent harvest. I find it hard to believe that nobody in the town questioned the reason for the lottery and its outcome. Even harder to fathom is why the townspeople pretend to be excited by the lottery when it is not something that normal thinking people would look forward for annual participation (Duffield, p.62). It can't just truly be all about not wanting to ruffle any feathers when it came to townspeople participation in the event. Why would somebody be afraid of being rejected by their neighbors for not wanting to participate in a bloodbath year after year? No. This was a town that rejected change and the disruption of traditions for some reason. The lottery ends in murder committed annually in a very inhuman way; the writer uses children as part of the crowd that stones the one chosen for the sacrifice to show just how rotten the society was. Children should not be part of such scenes as they grow up violent and very rebellious. They are the ones collecting stones within the town square in preparation for the exercise. This blind resolve to continue the tradition has allowed murder to be committed in the town without realizing it being a social vice; they lack the motivation and the power to stop this tradition as the ruling class is very tough on dissent. This is a characteristic of an authoritarian rule where laws are made without public participation; society’s will is thus suppressed. Comparisons and contrasts between the two stories Ms. Glaspell's story telling highlights the differences between the sexes (Glaspell, Bryan, and Carpentier, p.179). This is done by portraying women as more observant and having a resolve to see the society change for the better; they symbolize the new era. Solidly portraying the women as better detectives because they are able to solve the murder of a noted male member of the community and discover the identity of the murderer. The lady in “The Lottery” tries to communicate with the crowd but her voice is suppressed by the noise of the majority. The men in the story come across as arrogant characters that cannot see anything truly useful in a murder investigation. While the women see everything relevant but, upon understanding that one of their own would be punished for the crime, a crime that most of them understand, they decided to cover up the crime and protect the murderer. In terms of characters, I have chosen to compare and contrast the two lead female characters from “A Jury of Her Peers” and “The Lottery” in order to show how the writers each developed their female leads in such a manner that both female characters actually embodied a different type of school of thought pertaining to the way that society viewed women at the time (Kaplan, p.97). Starting with “A Jury of Her Peers” we can see that Ms. Glaspell wanted to create a somewhat strong female character in Mrs. Wright. By showing us the strengths of her character while she was a young, single woman, we come to understand that she was an independent thinker who needed to know that she was being heard by her husband. However, when she proves otherwise she decides to attack her husband. She was never meant to be a typical housewife and she was being forced to act as one. It was killing her spirit and her enthusiasm for life. Due to all the hardships that she suffered at the hands of her husband, one cannot blame her for wanting to end it all. Since the women of the time understood where she was coming from they decided to cut her some slack and help her go free after she is accused of the murder of her husband. According to Kaplan (p.83), “The Lottery” on the other hand, is a study on the practice of deception that men choose to use in order to make them seem more enthusiastic than they actually are. In this story, we meet Mrs. Hutchinson who, even though she acts like a typical housewife of the era, knows that she has her own voice and that it must be used to help her get her sentiments across to other people. Her reaction when her name was pulled out from the lottery box tells shows how she is defenseless against the crowd. Her protests seem to have gone unheard even as she tried to protest and protect her life when the people finally gathered upon her in order to pelt her to death. In the story, Mrs. Hutchinson embodies the typical housewife of the era. She tends to the children, feeds the livestock, and keeps house for her husband. She does not have much to say in terms of anything. But she does take great pride in having a presentable house at all times. Conclusion Traditions have always been part of societies as they are what define us. However, the people need to be given an opportunity to drop those that are out rightly detrimental to the society as is the case with “The Lottery.” This is a tragedy ending in the death of the supposed heroin; even though her life is cut short, she tries to pass her point across though the crowd has made its resolve (Both, p.83). In the end, both stories are about the survival of the female species and how our society has always held women in a traditionally submissive and cooperative role. The main difference being that Mrs. Hutchinson had the women of the town turn against her for being a “problem wife” because she refused to silently accept that her life was about to end in a very violent manner. Mrs. Wright found herself being supported by the women of her town who went to great lengths to protect her knowing very well that she was guilty of the crime that she was accused of (Kaplan, p.139). Works cited Hattenhauer, Darryl. Shirley Jackson's American Gothic. New York: State Univ. of New York Press, 2003. Print. Both, Lori. "Analysis of "The Lottery", a Short Story by Shirley Jackson." Analysis of "The Lottery", a Short Story by Shirley Jackson. N.p., 21 Nov. 2005. Web. 6 May 2013. . Showalter, Elaine. A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Print. Kaplan, Carla. The Erotics of Talk: Women's Writing and Feminist Paradigms. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Internet resource. Smith, Nicole. "Analysis of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson." Article Myriad. N.p., 24 Nov. 2011. Web. 6 May 2013. . Duffield, Brainerd. The Lottery: A Play in One Act. Chicago: Dramatic Pub. Co, 1953. Print. Glaspell, Susan, Patricia L. Bryan, and Martha C. Carpentier. Her America: "a Jury of Her Peers" and Other Stories. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2010. Internet resource. Read More