THE LOTTERY

Shirley Jackson's short story, The Lottery , aroused much controversy and criticism in 1948, following its debut publication, in the New Yorker. Jackson uses irony and comedy to suggest an
underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind. The story takes place in a small village, with population of 300 over people and where the people are close and tradition is paramount. A yearly event, called the lottery, is one in which one person in the town is randomly chosen, by a drawing, to be violently stoned by friends and family because they think it would help them in the harvest, maybe for sake of doing it. The drawing has been around over seventy-seven years and is practiced by every member of the town. I actually expected the winner to receive a prize or something of that manner. I only realised the ugly truth of the winner's fate: Death, by friends and family. I think that Jackson is making a statement regarding hypocrisy and human evil. The lottery is set in a ordinary town, where everyone knows everyone and individuals are ordinary. Families carry the very ordinary names of Warner, Martin and Anderson. Jackson's portrayal of extreme evil in this ordinary, friendly atmosphere suggests that people are not always as 'pure' they seem. Along with human evil "the Lottery" presents a weakness in human individuals. This town, having performed such a terrible act for so many years, continues on with the lottery, with no objections or questions asked, and the main purpose being to carry on the tradition. "There's always been a lottery", says Old Man Warner. "Nothing but trouble in that," he says of quitting the event. However, the villagers show some anxiety toward the event. Yet everyone still goes along with it. They fear the tradition, they fear Old Man Warner. Not a single person openly expresses fear or disgust toward the lottery, but instead feigns enthusiasm because of the fact that if they confront their disapproval, they might be rejected or even be the next one to be stoned! The failure of Mr. Summers to replace the black box used for the drawing shows the villagers' fear to change anything that has to do with the tradition, even a minor thing like changing the box. I feel that this story ios very sick. Sick in a way that Mrs Hutchinson's family, her children and her husband have the heart to stone her. Even her youngest son was given a few pebbles to stone his mother with. Because of this tradition, family member dont love and care for each other, thus leading to cruelty to each other.
Reference http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/14390/analysis_of_the_lottery_a_short_story_pg3.html?cat=38