Finding Meaning In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a horror short story that was published by The New Yorker in 1948. It sparked controversy due to its unexpected ending. This effect occurred since nothing ever published by the magazine had provoked such outbursts of disgust, horror, rage, and intense fascination (Oppenheimer 2). Many readers disliked the story due to the perceived drastic nature of the ending. Shirley Jackson received a lot of emails and letters regarding the story, and a lot of people were questioning what she was thinking when she was writing it. Nevertheless, she did not mind the backlash. The story takes place in a village with approximately 300 inhabitants. The lottery occurs in the village center, with mandatory attendance

Bill Hutchinson’ s family won the lottery, leading to another draw to determine the final winner within the family. Each family member drew again, and Tessie Hutchinson, the mother, picked the paper with the black dot, making her the official winner of the lottery. The consequence of her victory was being stoned to death by all the other villagers (Jackson). “The Lottery” contains multiple topics that can be explored when analyzing the story; however, the topic that will be explored in this essay will be human nature. Since the story was open to multiple interpretations, some people believe that the villagers engaged in the lottery because they were inherently evil and did not want to stop the lottery, but it is visible that they were influenced by each other and by other villages and had no choice. To further extrapolate on how the villagers were a product of societal influences, we will look at some characteristics that confirm this claim. First, we will look at the tradition of the lottery, followed by an examination of how most villagers lack critical

The author even claims that “[t]he people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions [.]” (Jackson). Since it was a tradition, everyone wanted to participate in it without clearly thinking of the consequences of their actions. When certain people decide to not participate in traditions, they are seen as deviant by others or as a menace to their community. Additionally, when one gets used to something, at some point, they start doing it without thinking about the consequences of their actions. This can be contrasted with the use of addictive drugs. At first, you learn how to do them, and then when you get used to doing them, you do not need any indications on how to do them anymore. Just as the villagers did not need to listen to the instructions on how the lottery would be carried out and how easily they accepted the outcome. In both situations, each individual is aware of what they are doing, but they choose to ignore the consequences. Another example is when the author explains how “[t]he black box grew shabbier each year, by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained” (Jackson). This shows how old the tradition was and how effectively it had been passed from generation to