The lottery is a story written by Shirley Jackson, who presents a different view of a lottery. Mr. Summers Jackson’s main character is the orchestrator of the lottery picking, and he chooses the winner by the draw of a paper. There are a series of other events that happen that day, such as square dancing, teen clubs, and a Halloween program, all run by Mr. Summers. The plot twist of the story is that the lottery winner is stoned to death in hopes of creating and having more crops for others. Published in the mid-nineteen hundreds, Jackson expresses the importance of questioning traditions, the vulnerability of the individual, and the relationship between civilization and violence.
The short story depicts the evil nature of humans in a manner that is thought-provoking and shocking. Over the years since its publishing, it has been studied, reviewed, and analyzed by hundreds of scholars and thousands of students. Nevertheless, the opinions on the piece appear to differ largely depending on the perspective. According to Ferri, there is a big chance that the story, which is now a part of a collection, is being misread by most. The message of the story, as analyzed by many, ignores the fact that the stories in the anthology are linked together by their recurring main character, James Harris. Jackson weaves the “daily evil” into every one of her stories using this character, who at times remains unnamed, and yet his presence is inevitable (Ferri). The nature of the story creates a seemingly unsuspecting atmosphere that turns into evil at the very end. The author uses light metaphors, symbolic names, and other literary tools throughout the story to portray evil in its mundane and daily form, seen in ordinary humans.
Work Cited
Ferri, Jessica. “You’re Probably Misreading ‘The Lottery.’” The Daily Beast.