Analyzing The Rituals In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson depicts a village that engages in an ongoing ritual. The thematic issue of the darker side of human nature is heavily conveyed throughout this short story. The setting takes place in what seems like a normal village with people conducting their daily lives. However, this village revolves around the lottery ritual that gradually manipulates society by exemplifying power, tradition and family. The power differentiation between males and females is prominent throughout “The Lottery”. The power of a man is prevalent because women did not have the same rights as the men. “The men were the ones to choose the lottery slip for the family, placing them in charge of the family”(Jackson 869) Possessing power is a reoccurring

The black box represents the drawing ticket that designates a victim to commit the sins of the community. Traditions are vital when discussing the ritual of “The Lottery” because people expected it every year. The citizens of the village even mention that they did not want to get rid of the old box because it was made of splinters of the original box thus they were trying to keep the ritual alive. The three main controllers of “The Lottery” were Mr. Summers who was responsible for the coal, Mr. Martin who ran the grocery store and Mr. Graves who was a postmaster. These three men may seem as if they weren’t prominent factors throughout the village however they represented the government, industry, and economy. Without these three pillars, this village would no longer sustain and survive during “The Lottery”. Furthermore, the black box that contained the names of the villagers had only three legs which helped keep it stand upright resembles the tradition of the lottery. “Villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool” (Jackson 868) Thus, people were aware of the distance they had from the three legs of power but the tradition was too strong to

The villagers tolerate the lottery even though they know it’s immoral and serves no purpose. However old man Warner whom has witnessed the changes of “The Lottery” throughout the years states how “there is nothing but trouble in quitting the lottery.” This shows how the lottery was used for the growth of crops and how they used to sacrifice themselves for the crop growth but now as time went on the measures are no longer taking place and it has become a forced attempt to kill innocent people with a simple