Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Lottery


    The Lottery, a short story by Shirley Jackson describes the annually practice of a small town. At the beginning this tradition seems to be an innocent diversion, as the characters in the story seem to wait for the arrival of the 27th of June. At the same time there isn’t enough excitement from the citizens, this seems to make the mood appear as anxious, nervous and fretful although most of the townspeople try to act calm and composed. 

    The story takes place around ten in the morning in a sunny June day, all the persons from the town start gathering in the town’s square. A man with a black box (an omen, indicating bad news) appears and starts calling the names of the town’s residents. The plot seems to reach a climax when a family draws the unfortunate paper slip that will eventually condemn one of their family members. 

    The village inhabitants seem to be the protagonists and the antagonist would be the situation, custom and ignorance that engulfs their lives. They are caught in a vicious and brutal tradition that seems to rule their lives. It is ironic how they don’t consider wrong what they are doing and treat other persons that have abandoned such a vile rite as a “pack of crazy fools” (pg 5). Another irony is the title of the short story, when we hear the word “lottery” most persons think of a game, a prize, and diversion but in this case is the total opposite. 

    This story is told from a third person objective omniscient point of view.  Both the protagonist and antagonist seem to be static characters that are afraid of change.  There are several themes in this short story such as, what is popular is not always right, appearance can be misleading and it can be dangerous to stagnate. 


    This story is really interesting and I never thought it would have such a denouement. It is really surprising what mass hysteria or group influence can generate. It was alarming how willing some persons can be of adhering to a protocol or practice just because that is the only thing they knew, even if it was a cruel and pointless tradition. The characters from The Lottery, really believed that their harvest would be better if they sacrificed one of their own members. As one of the characters says, ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (pg 5). It really made me think of how we judge books by their covers and don’t stop to think how deceiving they might be. As Shakespeare said “One may smile, and smile, and be a villain”.

2 comments:

  1. Very nice analysis! You are very original.
    10/10

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