The Lottery by Shirley Jackson - Book Report/Review Example

Brutal Ritual, Backed by Tradition as seen in "The Lottery" "But no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box" says Shirley Jackson in her short story, "The Lottery", indicating the point of the macabre story. When The Lottery was first published in the New Yorker in 1948,the writer, Shirley Jackson received a lot of hate mail, and the short story was banned in some states. It was only later that it was anthologized. In this short story with a startling ending, Shirley Jackson attempts to convey the violence and inhumanity present in some of the traditional rituals.

The story is set in an ordinary American village of three hundred inhabitants, who are apparently friendly to each other. Happening on a beautiful summer morning, June 27 to be exact, which the author describes vividly, it does not portend the violence that is to come later. She describes the villagers who start gathering in the square for the event which would take about two hours, enabling them to have their dinners at noon. . The children who have started their summer break, play boisterously at first, then start the unusual activity of gathering stones, making great piles.

The author describes Mr. Summers, the coal business owner, who conducts the event as jovial and energetic. She tells us that he also conducted the square dances, the teen club and the Halloween program, making it sound as though what was about to happen was of the same order as these traditional community events., so that when the truth dawns on the reader, he is doubly horrified. The villagers draw small pieces of paper from the traditional black box , on one of which is a black dot. The person drawing the black dot is stoned to death by her own friends and relatives.

This gruesome deed is done as a sacrificial offer to ensure a good crop .As Old Warner says, "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" The exact time of the story is not clear, although we can infer that it might be sometime in the early twentieth century. The author builds up the mood to the climax from one of slight uneasiness, to that of anticipation. After Summers gives the order to open the papers, "for a minute, no one moved, and then all the slips of paper were opened. Suddenly, all the women began to speak at once, saying 'Who is it, 'Who's got it' "Mrs.

Hutchinson who, in the beginning, does not express any qualms about the lottery, becomes vociferous when it is evident that it is her turn to be the victim. The others take part in the brutal rite without a protest. The only protest comes from Steve Adams, who, in the end, is "in the front of the crowd". Jackson shows the mindless following of "tradition" throughout the story. The present black box had been made from the pieces of the broken original one "That had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here.

" That the barbaric rite had been going on since a long time in this and in many other villages is evident when the author says, "In some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days" .Although the people had "forgotten or discarded" much of the ritual, they still followed the barbaric ritual of stoning the victim to death. The custom had no horrors for them because they had been doing it for ages. ""The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions." Mrs. Delacroix, who had exchanged some friendly words with the victim just a while back, "selected a stone so large she had to pick up with both hands.

" Blind following of tradition can make people insensitive and inhumane. While people may change minor matters, they might cling to old and barbaric customs, which is portrayed in the way they had forgotten the songs which accompanied the ritual, but not the stoning itself. That people are reluctant to change a custom, even if it is violent and inhuman, is well brought in "The Lottery". Works cited Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html. viewed on 22 Feb 2009.