The Lottery by Shirley Jackson - Essay Example

Section/# “The Lottery An Analysis With regards to the ultimate allegory that Shirley Jackson is attempting to represent, it is the belief of this author that she has a twofold representation that she attempts to acquaint the reader with. As the topic of her story is concentric upon the sacrificial offering of an individual before what can only be described as an ordered but cold-hearted crowd demanding a sacrifice to be made in order to fulfill some type of a quota, the reader can quickly infer that the allegorical nature of the story adequately represents those of ancient sacrificial rites that were oftentimes conducted in order to secure fertility or a bountiful harvest for early civilizations.

Yet, this is not the only purpose of such a story as it is the belief of this author that the drawing and subsequent lottery that took place was allegorical with regards to the nature of the draft that existed and typified the times that Shirley Jackson lived in. The evidence for the first interpretation is rife throughout the story as numerous mentions are made of the fact that although such a practice is observed, it has been observed for such a long period of time that scarcely anyone remembers the specific reason why.

In this way, the villagers engage in a type of blind practice that only serves to perpetuate itself utilizing the same tools and procedures that have defined it for several generations (Jackson 4). As such, the very strong allegory of the ritual sacrifice is brought to the reader’s attention in a powerful and convincing way. Yet more than a ritualized sacrifice, the author seeks to portray the action as endemic of the cultural and societal forces that have acted upon her own generation and the current reality which she experiences.

However, what is interesting is the fact that the author also incorporates strong elements of sociological understanding with regards to the current society that Shirley Jackson lived within. At the time the short story was penned, the draft was in effect for all military aged men. As such, the allegory of the drawing and the lottery can be seen as a type of ritualized system of sacrifice in which the nonsensical nature of violence and death continued to permeate modern society long after the absurd nature of a literal sacrifice from ancient cultures died away.

Moreover, the author is able to draw a clear line of connection between the two seemingly disjunct understandings of society, human nature, and history. Rather than merely typifying the draft, Jackson went on to engage the reader with the fact that generation after generation was participating in this sick sacrificial game. As such, the cycle of human violence, war, and bloodshed is able to be understood under such a lens of analysis. Due to the fact that the holocaust and other factors had shaped the world in which the author lived, it is easy to see and understand how a host of factors affected the overall interpretation of the short story.

Asked in subsequent interviews regarding some of the causal reasons why Shirley Jackson wrote the short story, she identified that although there were a number of reasons why she did so, the one overarching reason is the understanding that humanity continued to repeat the very same cycles of violence, death, and destruction that have for so long typified an anthropological and sociological view of the species. In light of this view, Jackson noted that the world was in many ways regressing into previous interpretations of the cycle of death, violence and destruction that had for so long typified the nature of humanity.

With the evolution of the atomic bomb, and the highly sophisticated mechanized warfare that existed during the Second World War, Jackson was even more aware of the means by which humanity was working in a seemingly repetitive cycle to effect destruction and death upon itself. Furthermore, with the onset of the Cold War and the introduction of the threat of broad nuclear war, the level to which this realization struck home within the author was brought to a new heightened sense of awareness. As the American society began to accept the realities that the past few years had effected on the culture and the national character, as well as the prevalence of the draft and how it related to the story, Jackson sought to portray each of these realities within her short story.

Work Cited Jackson, Shirley. The lottery. New York: Fawcett Popular Library, 1975.