Author: Shirley Jackson
Title: "The Lottery"
Premise Theme: The tribal nature of any small community
I grew up in a small town. With that being said, there is a reason I don't live there anymore. The small town vibe I got when reading this short story, though much more violent, reminds me a lot of home. Not in the sense that we get together once a year and stone a person to death, but rather that things that are disturbing to the general flow of things tend to be swept under the rug. I remember in high school that if one of the football or mens' basketball players got caught with something bad, say underage drinking or failing classes, one minute they were being threatened with suspension and the next they were on the court or field playing again. They'd never actually face the consequences of their actions. Everyone around them seemed to defend the person with the infraction, and soon enough the situation was swept under the rug completely never to be brought up again.
The situation seems to be the same within the community described by Jackson in her short story. The townspeople seem to have no emotions after killing a member of their community. They even say, "'guess we better get started, get this over with, so's we can go back to work'" (pg. 292).Once they get the process of killing someone "over with" the townspeople go right back to their daily activities. Like in my small town, the situation gets swept under the rug.
I think another thing that has not yet been brought up in class is the statement made by the author that is revealed in the biography. It reads, "I supposed, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village, to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives (pg. 290)." This, to me, explains exactly what the author was trying to do with this story. A theme, that has not been pointed out in class is the inner evil that lies inside every person. This story makes us doubt the next man or woman's true intentions, and wonder if we really are the modern day sophisticated specimens we pretend to be.
This story upsetted the New York community in 1948 when it was released by the New York Times, and I believe it was for many reasons. It upsetted the status quo, the view that people had of their world at the time, and made them doubt their fellow man--given this was after the depression and war times, it was the perfect time to strike a nerve within every person that read it. Do I believe it is realistic? No, however, I do believe that it was symbolic of Jackson's views of her life, her community and her overall view of society.
i agree with your sports example in high school. at my old highschool a junior on the football team got a DUI, but his dad was the football coach and he still was able to participate in the rest of the season.
ReplyDeleteI thought about bringing that up in class the other day too, about the pointless violence and the inhumanity of people. It's such a great point in this story and reality too, we do mean things all the time whether it's physically damaging or mentally hurting someone, all the same, we're still choosing to be harsh. And choosing to look the other way when someone else is doing it, no one wants to stand up and actually do something about it, I think people are afraid of actually standing up to bullies. In this case, standing up to small town tradition, or in your case, standing up to your team and telling them that your son can't play because he got a DUI, and you might have to forfeit your season.
ReplyDeleteI see parallels to "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," in that we can't always explain a person's evil behavior. Yes, these community members had participated for a long time, but certainly it seems that feelings of regret and apprehension would burble up if, for example, you were going to stone your mom...
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