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Shirley Jacksons The Lottery is an intentionally disturbing and universally

relevant short story. On the surface, the lottery is an ancient ritual racticed annually in

an unna!ed village, by roughly "## eole, one of $hich is stoned to death. The clinical

detach!ent of the narration, added to the surrising lack of violent detail enhances the

storys disturbing tone. The $ay Jackson tells this story, the ieces she chooses to leave

out, the conclusions she forces her readers to !ake, and the !eanings bet$een the lines

!ake The Lottery a rovocative narrative. The Lottery survives as a literary

!asteriece, because it raises i!ortant %uestions about violence, society, and tradition

and never offers any clear ans$ers. The only ans$ers available are dee $ithin ourselves

as hu!an beings, and !ost of the ans$ers $e find there, $e do not like.

Shirley Jackson is able to shock her audience by using the readers o$n

i!agination against hi!self or herself. She gives only enough infor!ation about setting

and character to suggest a real lace. The reader i!agines the rest and beco!es a artner

in creating the story. &hen the story takes an une'ected t$ist and turns nasty, the reader

is unable to detach hi!self or herself and beco!es a reluctant articiant in the sacrificial

!urder. Jackson !aniulates her audience by utili(ing story ele!ents such as setting,

oint of vie$, tone, irony, and sy!bol.

Shirley Jackson $ants her audience to relate this story to the violence of everyday

life. She uses setting to force her readers to !ake certain connections. )or this reason

the setting for The Lottery is a!biguous, but distinctively, t$entieth*century +!erican.

f it $ere set -"## years ago in uroe eole $ould call it barbaric and feel assured that

they $ere !ore civili(ed, or if it $ere on an sland out in the South /acific, the custo!

$ould be dis!issed as savage. nstead, Jackson laces this story in a !ore fa!iliar lace,

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a lace that feels like ale ie. t is a $ar!, green, and roserous to$n, oulated $ith

good neighbors and fa!iliar faces. The character na!es and the dialect they seak

indicate rural +!erica. 'ressions such as folks, !y old !an, and your 1issus

stand out as +!erican slang. The greeting, hi in the assage, 2i, Steve, 1r.

Su!!ers said, and 1r. +da!s said, 32i, Joe, $ould have changed in other nglish

seaking countries, to 4heerio in 5ritain or erhas 6day in +ustralia 7Jackson

-89:. Though subtle, the author deliberately indicates an +!erican setting. The idea that

this kind of violent ritual could take lace $ithin the ;nited States is disturbing. 5y

failing to i!licate a articular village, the author forces the reader to locate the to$n in

his or her o$n i!agination. )urther!ore, by !aking this village see! so fa!iliar,

Jackson invites her audience to !ake associations regarding their o$n to$ns and

neighbors. Jackson succeeds at !aking The Lottery relevant and i!!ediate for her

readers, by letting the reader i!agine the details.

Jackson tells this story fro! a third erson oint of vie$. She tells the readers the

facts, $ith no judg!ents or slant. The characters in the story e'ress their o$n oinions

through dialogue, but the narrator does not align hi!self or herself $ith any of the

characters in the story. The narrator does not see into any other characters !inds and

does not share his or her o$n thoughts. The total lack of ersonality !akes it ossible for

the narrator to be any erson in the cro$d. t also allo$s the reader to sli effortlessly

into the narrators shoes and stand in the !iddle of the lottery as one of the !any

na!eless faces, as an i!artial bystander or $illing articiant. Jacksons goal is to

!ake the reader assess the situation according to his or her o$n !oral code.

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The tone of The Lottery at the beginning is jovial anticiation. The characters

in the story talk casually $ith one another, often cracking jokes and seculating on the

outco!e of the lottery. The reader is as eager as the characters in the story to find out

$ho $ill $in the lottery. 5y the ti!e the audience finds out that $inning is

undesirable, it is too late to sto and ut on the !oral breaks. &hen 1rs. 2utchinson

begins to rotest that the dra$ing $as unfair, fe$ readers take her side. 2aving

$itnessed the first dra$ing, the reader is !ore inclined to vie$ 1rs. 2utchinson as a

oor sort. very erson had the sa!e oortunity and an e%ual chance. 1rs.

2utchinson $ould not have co!lained had her husband not dra$n the $inning ticket.

The Lottery> is the co!lete lack of

violent detail in a story about violence. The only violent detail is described four

sentences fro! the end? + stone hit her on the side of the head 7Jackson -=0:. t is a

straightfor$ard declaration of fact. t gives the reader an i!age. Jackson then gives us

only si' relatively har!less $ords to describe the entire !urder? and then they $ere

uon her 7-=0:. The $ritten te't ends $ith that line, but the story continues in the

readers i!agination. The reader stones 1rs. 2utchinson to death@ Jackson does not.

Therein lies the genius of The Lottery.

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Scattered through out the te't are !inor sy!bols like the black bo', the ile of

stones, and !any of the characters na!es, such as 6raves and &arner, $hich are used

both as for shado$ing devices and a sy!bolic shorthand that enables the author to use

less detail. 1ore i!ortantly, The Lottery as a $hole is one giant sy!bol of violence.

To understand this story and the $riters intention, The Lottery !ust vie$ed as a

!etahor. This story is about violence in everyday life. t is not about the stray !aniac

or foreign ene!ies. The Lottery is about ho$ regular eole, esecially as art of a

larger grou, can strike out against the innocent if they fear for their o$n lives. The

6er!an eole allo$ed the Je$s to die in concentration ca!s because they feared that

they $ould be the ne't to die. +!erican eole have ersecuted and slaughtered

countless +frican +!ericans because they feared for their livelihoods and econo!ic

survival. The ;. S. has also i!risoned Jaanese +!erican i!!igrants during &&

and +rab +!ericans at 6uantano!o 5ay during our current light $ith terroris!.

+!ericans turned in their neighbors as susected co!!unists during the 1c4arthy era,

and innocents hung for $itchcraft in Sale!, 1assachusetts. The Lottery is a !etahor

for all of these events and none of these events. This story does not have just one

interretation or one !eaning. t does ho$ever have one urose, and that is to shock

the storys readers $ith a grahic de!onstration of the ointless violence and general

inhu!anity in their o$n lives. as the author, herself insists 7%td. in Aennedy and 6ioia

-8B:.

Shirley Jackson $ants her readers to read her story and relate it to their o$n life

and e'eriences. She $ants readers to look around and notice the violence in their o$n

lives. Jackson uses her $riting skill to !ake the reader artially resonsible for the story

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and subse%uently resonsible for the violence. She $ants us to understand that the

savage is in us, all around us, and beco!e of us. &ith her story, The Lottery Jackson is

giving us the sight to recogni(e it and telling us that our only hoe is to stand against the

violence.

Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery.

The