The Lottery

September 11^th, 2012

The Lottery reflective essay

Mr. Menard/American Literature

11b4 111150 Ho InHee

The title ‘the Lottery’ perplexed me. The first half of the story, characters largely seemed to be excited about their annual practice. People gathered in the square for the lottery smiled, greeted each other, and quietly shared jokes. And throughout the drawing, villagers were intensely curious about the result of the lottery. They were ready to run across the village to inform the result. Everybody was simply excited about the lottery. But the lottery turned out not to be the ‘lottery’ people generally think of. It wasn’t something to be excited of. If the ‘lottery’ in the story was something awarding, something the winner gets a colossal prize, Mrs. Hutchinson wouldn’t have denied her husband’s win. She wouldn’t have screamed desperately when she picked the marked sheet of paper. The ‘lottery’ was something unwelcome because winning the lottery meant the winner was to be hit with stones by the villagers. It wasn’t a game for prizes. The unusual property of the lottery hindered my comprehension at first. Why the ‘lottery’?

The story conveys several significances through the ‘lottery’. For the villagers, the lottery is a tradition that was held since long before. This time-honored tradition goes back to the remote past. There is no living witness for how it started. There is no clear cause, no clear origin for this tradition, as if carrying it out is in their nature. And the villagers put across their task to keep the tradition well. Remaining the black box as it is, they show their refusal to change even the most trivial part of their ritual practice. They all participate enthusiastically in the lottery-holding stones in their hands and throwing them at the ‘winner’. No one left out. Even the winner’s family takes part in this practice. And the winner’s family, relieved from being victimized, readily acts the tradition.

When Shirley Jackson’s [the Lottery] was first published in 1948, critics harshly condemned it. They determined it as ‘bewilderment, speculation, and old-fashioned abuse’. Going through a story revealing an uncomfortable truth about themselves, people cried down Ms. Jackson’s piece. Her subtle insight into uncivilized human nature was well put with good symbols in a very short piece of story. The story also was so straightforward that the story was somehow uneasy. But [the Lottery] was not the only or the first book disclosing uncomfortable human nature. Joseph Conrad’s [Heart of Darkness] is one example. Other than this, there are numerous books telling human’s brutal nature. But why is Shirley Jackson’s [the Lottery] particularly attacked more than any other books? Perhaps because [the Lottery] drew the present life. Most other stories discussed the ‘history’, showing the barbaric human nature through past events. These stories let people unconsciously believe that they are now in a perfect civilization and are safe from barbarities. But [the Lottery], by setting a plausible, modern background, indicates a modernized version of savage victimizing.

So, why the ‘lottery’? Dictionary says lottery is a gambling game or method of raising money in which a large number of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes. Apparently, the ‘lottery’ in [the Lottery] differs from the term’s original definition. The winner, instead of winning a prize, has to be thrown pebbles to death. The death is a disgraceful, inhumane one. Every villager throws pebbles at the winner-kids, men, women, and even the winner’s family-and watches the winner slowly stoned to death. Then why is this tradition a ‘lottery’? There certainly is something the villagers attain from this tradition. Victimizing one person under the name of ‘tradition’, the rest of the villagers unite into one. So when they are acting the tradition, the whole village is divided into a group and an individual. The villagers get united under one common goal-killing the victim to death. But no one regards victim as a ‘victim’ for at the moment, the victim is just an enemy to be killed. This way the villagers have sought a way to sustain their little society’s stability. But this ‘targeting’ has more meaning than simple sustenance of certain society. The one hiding deeply in every human’s mind, human’s natural but strong desire to set an enemy is another explanation. Living in a society associating with thousands of people, one becomes a friend with some. But everyone can’t be friends with each other. ‘Enemies’ has always existed in society. Though America’s Jim Crow laws and Nazi’s Holocaust has become a disgrace in human history, and no more ‘enemizing’ seems possible now, there are still enemies out there. For the villagers, this enemy was Mrs. Hutchinson. And yes, she was one member of those ‘villagers’ just a second before Mr. Zanini had taken his slip. But from the moment Mr. Hutchinson’s election was uncovered, she was a potential enemy, and a real enemy when she drew a black-spotted slip of paper. All the other villagers then became friends who were together to get their enemy to death.

The denotative definition of lottery and the title lottery have a thread of connection in a sense that ‘lottery’ serves something people need or desire for. Villagers could enjoy their feeling of relief. They could remind themselves of how important and thankful it was to stay as villagers. They also could reassure the village’s security. All these was possible because there was some unknown enemy-which later turned out to be Mrs. Hutchinson. The word ‘lottery’ may be suggesting various ‘benefits’ which villagers got, and which we are possibly getting, from the existence of it.

Comments:

Yoonju Chung: I agree with your point that with hunting is around still. But what specific issue in the modern society can exemplify what you call as ‘witch hunting’? Like the video we watched during the class, we might be the ones holding pebbles on our hands and throwing them to one ‘sacrifice’ by overly paying attention to celebrities and pushing them to kill themselves eventually. It would be great if you add more real life experiences or specific issues reflecting Lottery by Shirley Jackson. Still, this was a great analysis of the story! :)

Hyejoon: I really liked how you related your own experience with the main idea of the story. Although I, too, experience many situations in which the majority hurts? ㅎ The minorities but I haven’t thought of writing about in on the essay. Good job :)

Chonghyun Ahn: I found two blazing sources of inspiration in this analysis, being the point of jealousy and the difference between ‘the Lottery’ and other stories. Maybe these two topics, especially the first one, could be a source of a greater analysis than this one. Discussing the ‘vaccination’ of such novels would be a great idea.

Hyunseok Lee: Deeply touched to the aspect of your personal anecdote with a connection to the topic of story. I agree that most of our lives were ‘crowd’ while it would be great if you expand your opinion about involuntary aspect of sacrifice. Also, if you put the concept of ‘outsider’ in the essay, your work would be fantastic.

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It was hard for me to distinguish the title [the Lottery] and the term ‘lottery’. Though I found some link between these two, I had hard time actually showing the link. The link could be something the author Shirley Jackson had intended, or it could simply be my overinterpretation. But at least I thought the term ‘lottery’ and properties of it can demonstrate ‘why’ such tradition is still held today-both consciously and unconsciously.