When I started looking for a short story to read, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson caught my eye. At first I thought that the lottery in the story would be like the lottery that many people play in the United States every year for profit. I was very wrong. The tradition of the lottery in the book does not seem right but the people in the village think that the lottery is what keeps the village running richly. If the village stopped tradition, the villagers would live in poverty.
At approximately the same time each year, the people of a small village of about 300 citizens gathered for their annual lottery. The lottery was overseen each year by Mr. Summers, a jovial but professional and much respected man in the community, who carried out his job with little emotion or regret. He and the other villagers conducted the lottery just as any other social event, such as square dances, the Halloween program and the teenage club. Even the children participated as if it was just an accepted part of everyday life as they gathered stones at the beginning of the story. The fact that the tradition involved the brutal murder of one of their own did not seem to matter because this was something that had been accepted for years as the way things were supposed to be done.
The old tattered black box used during the lottery was in need of repair and needed to be replaced according to Mr. Summers. Each year after the lottery Mr. Summers brought up the subject of building a new box, but the people of the village did not want to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box. They would rather continue to use the same shabby looking box than upset tradition by building a new one.
As tradition went, all of the families of this village would gather, and one by one the head of each household or an approved replacement would draw a slip of paper out of the old black box. The family of the person who drew the winning lottery ticket then had to draw individually to see who would be the winner of the lottery. No one wanted to win this lottery unlike today when everyone wants to win the lottery. Those who drew blank slips of paper showed excitement and relief.
Mr. and Mrs. Adams brought up the fact that other villages had quit the lottery. Perhaps they were hinting that their village should do the same but neither dared to go against tradition. The idea of not having a lottery was quickly put down by Old Man Warner, because there had always been a lottery. He referenced that abolishing the lottery would cause nothing but trouble and the young people who even thought about quitting the lottery were nothing but fools. Even though there were underlying hints of disagreeing with the lottery shown by the reluctance and nervousness of some of the villagers when it was their turn to draw, no one was brave enough to try to go against what had been the tradition for years. They had done the same thing for so long that they only half listened when Mr. Summers gave the directions for drawing names.
The only hint of explanation given for the lottery was a saying repeated by Old Man Warner stating that ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon’ leading me to believe that the lottery is apparently some kind annual sacrifice to ensure healthy corn crops which in this day and time would be totally unbelievable. Nevertheless, the townspeople gathered every year to carry out this barbaric act of sacrifice by stoning, carried out by friends and family of the victim, also known as the winner of the lottery.
Tessie Hutchison, the winner of the lottery, was stoned to death by the very friends and family that she spent time with on a daily basis. Her desperate screams meant nothing to the crowd that was closing in on her. Tradition was more important than the life of one of their friends in this seemingly close knit community. Even those who mentioned quitting the lottery still involved themselves in the stoning. In fact, Steve Adams was a leader in front of the crowd as the stoning was carried out.
It is clear by reading “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson that people do not like or are afraid of change. She uses symbolism of the black box and the nonchalant attitude of many of the villagers to prove this point as the lottery is conducted and the sacrifice of one of the villagers is carried out brutally.
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