Analysis of The Lottery Story written by Shirley Jackson - Essay Example

Short Story Essay: “The Lottery” Introduction The story called “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson describes many myths of the society of a tiny village where people had few lazy activities to pass their idle time. The men folk would gather around a meeting place in the village and gossip about the plantation, rains and children. The concept of the author has been from the beginning of this narration to highlight the village life and describe the beliefs and traditions followed by these village folks. This story, written in 1948, after the end of world war emphasizes the need for the society and people to change their attitudes towards life and the blind beliefs that govern it. Thesis statement “The Lottery” highlights the fact that societies must adjust themselves to the need of changing times. Leaving behind the past beliefs, which have no meaning, is the only way to reform the society in a progressive manner. Lottery box The central point about the story is the blinding faith in the past traditions and customs that these villagers would not like to change. This connects the story to the kind of superstitious values that the village people were following. An example of this can be traced to the fact that the lottery box has almost lived its life and become worn out, as this box is used every year for the ritual of conducting annual lottery draw in the village. However, the people of this village would not like to change the box as it has the pieces of wood taken from the earlier box, which was probably used for centuries. Although the lottery conductor, Mr. Summers raised the point of replacing this box, the people of the village would not listen to him as no body wanted to replace it. The draw of lottery had nothing to do with the age or construction of the box. Such blind beliefs are found in most of the countries. For example, people in India would not conduct an important business during certain period of the year, which is considered inauspicious. Like the tradition of celebrating the Halloween, which this village also enjoyed, worshipping the dead is not considered a good sign in India. Such traditions leave along-lasting image on the psyche of the people, who are not prepared to change the age-old beliefs. Such beliefs are worldwide. For example, the Irish village folks believe that ghosts will occupy the house, after they vacate it. Hence, they have the tradition of breaking the doors and windows of the house, before vacating it. Although such beliefs are followed blindly, no body has a logical explanation to justify them. However, people invoke stars and planets to make their point that certain situations or times are auspicious or inauspicious.(Traditions, superstitions…) As this particular story has a mention of Halloween festival, the legacy of superstition regarding these celebrations also add to the blind faith that even educated class of people have in certain traditions. In fact the act of the children asking for candies and other food stuff from every household in the neighborhood has links to the tradition of celebrating Halloween since last more than 2000 years. The idea is that the dead people are always present in our places, while they want food, and drinks to remain satisfied. Hence, people offer food and candies assuming that it will placate the dead.(Sanguinarius, nd) Number 13 as unlucky The belief of number 13 being unlucky is most rampant among many countries of the world. Educated people like architects, businesspersons and builders would not use this number in their projects. For example, builders and architects will not have buildings built beyond 12 floors, or they would skip the number 13 while naming the floors. Similarly, most of hotels would not have “Room number 13” at their premises. In areas like Topeka, Kansas, the zip code jumps from 66612 to 66614, avoiding number thirteen. However, many cultures in China and Egypt treat this number as a lucky one. Hence, the thinking makes this number lucky or unlucky.(Sanguinarius, nd) As Jackson wrote this story in 1948, post world war, the mental attitude of these people was well embedded in the past traditions and beliefs. The author, while describing the last scenes of “The Lottery” exemplifies this. Although the use of stones had no relevance, still these pebbles were used, merely to carry on the existing tradition. The author has tried to reform the mindset of people, through this story, to adjust to the changing times, as world was witnessing many new things. The nations were divided and boundaries redrawn due to result of world war. In addition, the new technology and scientific gadgets used during the war could formulate this adjustment. However, the people of this village were still busy in carrying on the age-old traditions and beliefs. Female gender considered inferior As the story suggests, women had to follow the men folk and were not given equal opportunity by the society at that time. This is evident by Mr. Summer’s refusal to Mrs. Dunbar for coming forward in place of her husband, as she was a female. Her teenage son was ultimately allowed to participate, while Mr. Summers thanked God that Mrs. Dunbar had a man to support her.(Jackson, 1948) The patriarchal traditions followed by many societies around the world have their origins in old agricultural societies. However, as the human activities expanded to other areas of business, the status of women downgraded from bad to worse. For example, female girls could not marry on their own, as their parents arranged the marriage. The women were treated as inferior gender because they were not able to match the male members of society, due to their biological and physical constrains. Since, during the early age, hunting and agriculture required more physical labor, men were the natural choice for such occupation. However, as the times changed, this tradition did not change. Instead women took this as their duty to obey men.(Women in Patriarchal Societies, 1992) As Professor Howard Bloch has summed up, the medieval literature is full of male supremacy. This is found in all the discussion, theological reviews, letters and sermons that span from “Old Testament” and scriptures of ancient Greece to the fifteenth century literature. (Wojtczak, 2009) There are many instances where male supremacy in the British society can be found. For example, a widower had all the rights to the property of his dead wife, while the widow was not entitled to the whole property of the husband, after his death. The cultures and customs of English societies had the feature of male superiority embedded in their scriptures and texts. This eventually meant that women should treat it as a natural way of living. For example, under patriarchal societies, the male name of the father is carried to the children of the family. Women had no identity of their own, in those times. They would adopt the name of their husband, as it gave them the required identity. The author had this in mind while narrating the story of “The Lottery”. Ladies would carry on their gossip without bothering to find the reason behind Mrs. Durban not being able to represent her husband before Mr. Summers because she was a woman. (Jackson, 1948) However, the situation has still not changed much in the current century, as women are still treated inferior to men in many countries, around the world. Conclusion There is an urgent need to reform the society, which can be done by changing the mind-set of people. The refusal to believe in old traditions and rituals blindly can result in such a change. However, it remains a problem even today, as it was when Jackson wrote “The Lottery” in 1948. Works-cited Jackson, Shirley (1948), “The Lottery”, viewed 25 Nov. 2014: Sanguinarius. (nd) “Origins of Popular Superstitions”, viewed Nov. 24, 2014 http://sangi.sanguinarius.org/creative/OriginsOfPopularSuperstitions.pdf “Traditions, Superstitions, Truth” teosofia.com, nd viewed Nov. 25, 2014: http://www.teosofia.com/Mumbai/7509truth.html “Women in Patriarchal Societies” history-world.org viewed Nov. 24, 2014: http://history-world.org/Civilization,%20women_in_patriarchal_societies.htm Wojtczak, Helena. (2009), “British Women’s Emacipation” Technology”, viewed Nov. 25, 2014: Read More