Normalizing Evil In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Sometimes people are afraid to question the social contract. A social contract is a kind of authority that should be believable. “The Lottery” was a tradition which had lasted for more than seventy years. This made the lottery a community habit. The village had already gotten used to it and obeyed it. They thought it was right, maybe because the village never went through disaster, so they insisted that peace was brought by satisfied gods. They never questioned this. A social contract is also an order that keep society balanced. A social contract cannot be denied easily, or chaos will happen. In the story “The Lottery”, people in the village believed that the lottery was an event used to bring rebirth and renewal to the village. According to “‘The Lottery’: Symbolic Tour de Force”: “ Those chosen for sacrifice were not victims but saviors who propitiate the gods” (Nebeker 104). When Mrs. Adams said some places have quit lotteries, Old Man Warner only insisted quitting can only bring them trouble, because he believed “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson 4). "Nothing but trouble in that" (Jackson 4), people in the village were afraid of making the gods angry by quitting lotteries.

Despite the fact that they have yearly stonings, the townspeople are relatively nice. They have many community gatherings that are happy, unlike the lottery. Mr. Summers conducts the lottery along with “the square dances, the teenage club, and Halloween program.” It is very obvious that Mr. Summers, is not a bad man, so he cannot, and should not be blamed for the lottery. The lottery makes all the townspeople look cruel and dehumanizing, but they are not, it is just the lottery that is awful. This goes to show that the people do horrible things even if they are not horrible people. Secondly, all the town does the lottery so that they can have good crops that season. “Lottery in June, corn will be heavy soon.” Good crops lead to good sales

Tessie had been against the lottery, non-verbally until her family was determined to have the winner of the lottery in it, at which point she would verbally announce that the Lottery was “unfair” though there was nothing unfair about it except that the winner should be killed in such a cruel way. While some may say that The Lottery is just a Story, it shows the negative side of conformity pretty

To them it is a tradition they cannot let go of their past. “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. “Come on,” she said. “Hurry up. “(Jackson,7) they may not love the lottery but they wont end it they just want to get it over with and go on about their day. The people in the village do not try to change their ways but to continue and advance the problem to the next generation

The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson spins a shocking tale of the horrors that tradition brings. The allegory centers on an annual town lottery, one where the “winner” is stoned to death. The townspeople are to draw a slip of paper from the black box, and the marked paper signifies who was chosen. This lottery has been going on for generations, and the only spoils of the old lottery is the black box. This shabby, splintered, and stained black box has been passed through generations for the lottery. It is the sole reminder of the tradition that people once had, and a solid reason of why the people of the town continue

“The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, is a short story with an unexpected outcome. The townspeople gather on June 27th in the warm summer air to hold their annual lottery. The lottery starts off by each head-of-household drawing. The family who receives the slip of paper with the black dot then has each member of the family draw. The final winner--the one who has the paper with the dot--receives the shocking and vile prize of being stoned to death by their fellow townspeople. The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, uses irony to show how the actions of the townspeople directly reflects ideals society has placed on the entire town.

Tradition is a large part of life today, but decades ago it was almost a way of life and if it was not followed there were stiff consequences. The story is misleading by the title because of the normal thought of a lottery is something positive or a giveaway. The story is quite the opposite of the common thought. The main point that Jackson shows in “The Lottery” is that people can be involved with such a violent act and think nothing of it. In the story all the people are happy, “they stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.”(Jackson 124). The tradition the village seams at first to be a happy scene, but later learn that it is a terrible event that is a

To start with, the lottery itself is a huge symbol. Usually, lotteries are associated with winning money. Whereas, the lottery in this short story has a negative outcome of death. Notably, the lottery is a tradition in the town. Since this event has been taking place for many years, they do not even need to explain the lottery to the villagers. Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, makes a point to everyone that there has always been a lottery. The villagers are loyal to this tradition.

As the stoning process begins, Mr. Summers announces, “'All right folks, let’s finish quickly,'” (p.209). This remark proves that this village does not cherish human life where they will do anything for a successful outcome. This ritual sacrifice is something the younger generations might foresee as something not right or barbaric to do. Mrs. Adams says, “‘some places have already quit lotteries,'” (p. 207). Old Man Warner who has been to 77 lotteries angrily argues, “'There always been a lottery...nothing but trouble in that, pack of young fools,'” (p.207). This shows that the young people are wanting to go off the trail and get rid of lottery because they see no good in it. The older generations see the lottery as a tradition that has been practiced for many years, it must keep living

“Their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.” (1) Jokes are supposed to be amusing, funny and full of joy. Why are the villagers not excited for the lottery? This makes the reader feel like something is preventing them from being joyful. “The villagers kept their distance, leaving space between themselves and the stool. When Mr. Summers said, ‘some of you fellows want to give me a hand?’ there was a hesitation before two men.” (1) Why are the villagers avoiding the box with the winning lottery ticket in it? For the villagers to refuse to help Mr. Summer's is surprising because the lottery is usually what everyone want to be a part

The lottery has evolved over time, yet there are fundamental elements of it that the villagers would never consider changing

On the outside, the average human being appears to be kind and friendly, but beneath that shell lies the true characteristics of man. Buried beneath that put on act there is an evil that lies within. This evil is unmasked by the qualities of pride and selfishness. No matter the being, everybody is selfish in his or her own way and concerned mostly with his or her own well-being. This can result in searching for a scapegoat when things turn bad. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” these characteristics of the evil tendency, selfishness, and scapegoating prevail, revealing to the world the dark nature of mankind.

So, “The Lottery” was a tradition where the head of the household, usually a man, would draw a piece of paper out of the black box; if the paper had a black spot on it the family had to draw a piece of paper each and whomever draws the black dot got stoned. The townspeople didn’t want to participate in the tradition, but at the same time they knew if they didn’t they would probably be outcast if not worse. On top of that, what if the year they didn’t have a sacrifice, the crops failed? No one wants to be the cause of that, so they all just go along with it and are okay until it is them or their family that gets picked. As you can clearly see, no matter what the tradition is, no one wants to go against their family and break traditions.

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" satirizes barbaric traditions in a supposedly civilized village. As the story begins, the villagers appear to be fairly civilized and carry on fairly modern lifestyles. This is assumed by the men's discussion of planting, rain, tractors, and taxes. The lottery was outdated to such a degree that some may think that the tradition is primal competition of anthropoid beasts. On the other hand, some think that carrying on the tradition was necessary. The question that must be answered is: Was this a barbaric tradition or was this ritual an honest attempt to better other villager's lives?

In the story there is only one explanation as to why the lottery is used.  This explanation is given by Old Man Warner, who himself has survived seventy six lotteries.  Old Man Warner states, “Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (77).  According to this, the lottery was used as a ritual to promote a plentiful harvest season.  In all societies the success of agriculture is vital to survival.  Farmers “can only wait and hope” that the harvest season will be successful. From this hope, meaningless rituals are created, even when the ritual has no direct relationship (Griffin 44).  The townspeople would sacrifice one of their citizens in hopes that it would in some way or another affect the results of the harvest.