In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson enlightens her audience through a fictional annual ritual, an understanding of how eliminating the tradition makes the residents behave in an antisemitism manner. Jackson shows that opportunity is critical since in allowing the community members to choose one of them for the sacrifice, which is linked to better harvests. However, towards the end of the tale, the ceremony, the people are relieved when they are not selected. Symbolized by the villagers’ action towards Tessie, the community members cannot question why they practice the ritual. No villager can protest against the tradition despite being unaware why they keep the practice. This analysis agrees with Michael Robinson’s criticism of the short story, which argues that people use scapegoating and death selection as abstract causes of antisemitism.
In the story, Jackson and Brody (2020) show that the people have long forgotten the reason they keep the ceremonial practice and they have a poor understanding of the details of the ritual. The central theme behind Jackson’s creativity lies in the inability of the locals to question why they keep making the sacrifice, which shows that none of the community members has authority over the ritual (Jackson & Brody, 2020). The villagers follow through with their annual routine of selecting the paper slips prepared by Mr. Summers while knowing it will result in the sacrifice of one of them. However, none can excuse themselves from it or raise questions about why they keep the practice. While people are comfortable with the practice, no one considers the possibility that they might be the victim. Robinson (2019) argues that to small-town residents, routine is a part of their society. Since the people are scared of being ridiculed if they change the tradition, they prefer continuing with it, given that the others around them will still behave in ways they have been taught.
Jackson (1948) portrays the sacred and doubtful nature of the ritual in the lives of the small-town locals by emphasizing on their attitudes and behaviors towards the practice. With this, the author shows that despite the tradition being linked to some form of religious understanding, it is fast fading from their minds. In Mrs. Adams’s words, Jackson and Brody (2020) shows that the people are distancing themselves from the event’s significance, and the character admits how the surrounding villages are abandoning the ritual. Through the lens of Mr. Warner, the outcome of such separation from the tradition is, “Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves” (Jackson & Brody, 2020, p. 27). Since the adults have long forgotten the reason they keep the tradition, the children are less familiar with it hence the high level of desensitization from the murder involved in the tradition.
The story clearly expresses how violence occurs in our lives; sometimes, its cause is pointless and with no purpose. Robinson (2019) argues that with the practice comes invoking a brutal selection process that no villager acknowledges. Jackson and Brody (2020) show this by depicting the community members’ irony in the innocence they portray, yet their approach to the ritual is lethal. The villagers seem unaware of the tragic meaning linked to the stoning practice that leads to the sacrifice of one of them.
In the short story, the opportunity for evil in people’s minds and hearts manifests when the villagers fail to reason and choose to follow through with the ritual once the unlucky participant has been selected. Tessie cries foul of the selection process by questioning why the unlucky are selected once, and once chosen, they have to die for the sake of the tradition (Jackson & Brody, 2020). The evil in the villagers’ hearts and minds reveals itself towards the end of the tale when they stone the unlucky person. In agreement with Robinson’s reasoning, the villagers’ actions prove that denial of knowledge causes the secret power that makes them gratify their lust to kill (Robinson, 2019). A practice that none seem to know its meaning anymore.
From the experience portrayed in the short story, one can see its undeniable significance to modern traditions where many people practice ceremonies yet remember nothing about their significance. According to Robinson (2019), the outcomes of human forgetfulness are attributed to keeping traditions with lost meanings. In the short story, the villagers have long forgotten the meaning behind the ritual they are keen to keep. Jackson and Brody (2020) show that “the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original box, they still remembered to use stones” (p. 28). The quote proves which part of the tradition people tend to familiarize themselves with. Robinson (2019) argues that “The Lottery” highlights self-deception disguised in barbarism, a concept that lacks progress, time, and knowledge. However, due to their forgetfulness, most people, if not all, do not recall why they do what they do.
The three major themes in “The Lottery” show that the main challenge with people is the inability to change. The first theme, blind tradition, is essential in showcasing that only one character in the play, Mr. Summers, is aware of the ritual’s weaknesses and has been trying to change them relative to time. The second theme, mob mentality, proves that people’s unwillingness to embrace change is linked to their downfall. Despite the villagers demanding a change of routine, the older generation in the village remained insistent on continuing with the tradition. Coupled with their blind allegiance to the practice, the elders in the village are unaware that the tradition has long lost its meaning, which brings about the third theme of scapegoating. In the case of Tessie, the significance of the entire practice leads to an unfair death of the unlucky participant since it gives people a chance to kill without reason. The latest victim of the unfair practice is Tessie’s husband, Bill Hutchinson, whom she cries has been selected deceitfully. The disconnect between reason and choice makes the villagers unaware of the dangers linked to the tradition.
The antagonist-protagonist relationship in the story is equally significant when understanding the villagers’ choices relative to the stoning of the unlucky participant. As Tessie cries out that the selection of her husband is unfair, the small-town villagers are aware of her rebellion. However, their main concern is that her rebellious behavior and attitude might be why their crops will not be plentiful. Robinson (2019) shows that despite Tessie’s screams, ‘it isn’t fair, it isn’t right,’ the villagers have no ritualistic knowledge that would make them listen to anyone standing against the tradition (p. 40). Therefore, it becomes plain to point out why the people react faster to her cries than listen to reason. Further, every year, every individual is secretly going against the ritual by hoping they will not be picked. Therefore, their contribution to the tradition is established on the understanding and hope that after the sacrifice, they will live to see more produce in the next harvest.
“The Lottery” shows that every villager likes their participation in the ritual since it a hope of having better harvests. They ignorantly continue the practice despite being unaware of its lost meaning. In agreement with the criticism against the story, the analysis shows that people continue doing things passed down to them despite not knowing why they do what they do. Therefore, the analysis is significant to the reader since it helps them realize the disconnect between meaning and reason as people hand down information, customs, and beliefs among generations.
References
Jackson, S., & Brody, F. (2020). The Lottery and other stories. Penguin, London.
Robinson, M. (2019). Shirley Jackson’s “the lottery” and holocaust literature.Humanities, 8(1), 35. Web.