Shirley Jacksons 'The Lottery - Essay Example

? Shirley Jackson’s’ The Lottery’ is a well-known short story marked for its extraordinary themes and depiction of characters. It appeared first in New Yorker and acclaimed a lot of criticism worldwide. The story is based on a false belief of people who belong to Northern England that by giving the blood of one among them will prosper in life. The writer successfully draws attention to the brutality, the society exhibit in the name of tradition and beliefs, through the characters and their dialogues. A close analysis of the story discloses the following main themes in the story. The blind adherence to conventions: The forceful might behind the action of killing is the blind adherence to traditions and conventions. The Lottery is the annual celebration of the village. It ends in the brutal murder of someone. The tone of the story is quite flexible and soft. The reader’s never getting a clue about what is going to happen at the end of the lottery. This clearly conveys that the lottery and the related events are part of the life of the people. They are not even thinking about what they do through the lottery. Somebody says “We have always had a lottery as far back as I can remember. I see no reason to end it “. It conveys the mind-set of the whole people. They are not willing to change. In the support of tradition and belief the villagers move to the extreme end of humanity. The easiness and the mood with which the people of the village move to the square are amazing. The children are gathering stones even when they risk their life. The strong sensation towards such a pitiless act is only the power of tradition and conviction. The inactiveness of the society towards the sufferings of human being is another prominent theme in this short story. The villagers kill Tessie Hutchinson in a normal way. It is clear that she is innocent. The only mistake she had done is, she took the black doted paper. This is illogical. But since the action is that of a mob- we cannot say, violent, attacking people- driven by a common belief, the responsibility of the death of an innocent person is unquestioned. Tessie is given up by her relatives and the near and dear ones. The present day society also moves easily based on some such belief. Reason plays no role. The killing or ‘The Lottery’ is part of natural life. The death of a person or any such brutality taking place in the normal life also evokes equal consciousness in people. This is highly dangerous. The normalcy with which they execute this action is well delineated through the dialogue. Jackson says “The whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’ clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner. Well now, Mr. Summers said soberly, guess we better get started, and get this over with, so we can go back to work. “ . Towards the end we meet the whole family drawing their destiny. Nancy Hutchinson and her brother Bill laugh when they escape smoothly form the lottery, leaving the chance of death to their father and mother. Without any sympathy her husband also pulls her to death. Another significant theme in this short story is the mob mentality. In this story nobody questions the origin of the Lottery. It is decidedly unrealistic to think that the people can anticipate a prosper life by killing one among them. Still they do this because everybody does. Letting their friends and relatives to die for them, in the name of tradition, myths and conviction is purely selfishness. Attributing the sins of a society on one person and making him/her a scapegoat for the issue is another prominent theme of this work. Peter Kosenko observes this in the cultural background of story. He scrutinizes the devilish influence of individual powers, both economically and politically, in the life of common man. . Through the e use of symbols the author makes an attempt to question the existing social customs. The story powerfully uses the symbols like black box, the lottery, stoning, black dot etc to show the absurdity of danger. The lottery is the symbol of commonness of the incident. The name of the story itself gives the readers a pleasant experience, a hope for a change. The author makes his readers feel that the lottery is a turning point in the life of the natives by relating it to myths and believes. This can also be an idea, a custom or an act of convention. The villagers blindly go after this because it never arises a question of insecurity in them. It is part of their life and rituals. Jackson says “Lottery in June , corn be heavy soon .“ The consequence of the Lottery is that everyone becomes part of a cruel murder without even being questioned .It is a reminder also to all the readers that the chance goes equally to all to become the scapegoat for somebody else. Black box is another symbol which shows the tradition. Jackson says that the box is dirty and faded away.” The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color and in some places , faded or stained .” The worn out box represents the cluttered mind of the villagers who do the cruelty. They still seem to believe the emotional story behind it. It was traditionally handed over to the present generation exactly like the principle. The use of this damaged black box is a symbol of the solid belief of the villagers and their unwillingness to change. The black dot we see on the paper again is a symbol of death. “It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil.” The black box is placed on a stool. Or it has te support of a stool. According to Helen Nebeker the symbol of stool is more important than the symbol of black box. There are numerous things which support tradition. Selfishness, gain of wealth etc are some of them. Nebeker considers the stool as “that which supports the present-day box of meaningless and perverted superstation .. is the body of unexamined tradition. Stoning comes as another symbol of the religiosity of the people. At the earlier time the stone was used to kill somebody who did sins. Since they use stones, the readers can assume that she was going years back to tell you that the use of stones is unavoidable. Janeway points out that stoning keep men away from the guilt of killing, it is a community activity where there is no executioner The callousness and insensitivity of the people are only to that extent until they are attacked. The bitter experiences and isolation brighten the insight of the people. Through the character Tessie Hutchinson, Shirley Jackson delineates the fact that human being as a person is not prized and respected, but the mob with a common objective is potent. So as a human being everybody should be cautious of the veiled dangers in the society . Work Cited Jackson, Shirley,” The Lottery “, Literatue : An Introduction to Reading and Writing . EdgarV. Robert and Henry E Jacobs, New Jersey Kosenko, Peter, “A Marxist/ Feminist Reading of Shirley Jackson‘s Lottery “in New Orleans Review, Vol 12,No 1, Spring , 1985 Nebeker, Helen, The Lottery: Symbolic Tour De Force.” American Literature (1974) Jane way , Elizabeth , “The Grotesque Around Us”. The New York Times Book Review. 9 October 1966 http://researchproject123.wordpress.com/criticism/ http://usualshutterbug.xanga.com/570927856/item/ Read More