Mental Illness In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

With a dramatic shift from a seemingly innocent atmosphere to a bleak turn of events, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” manages to capture her readers’ attention in a virulent manner. Although they are often criticized, she is known for her works in the gothic horror genre, particularly “The Lottery”. This story depicts a small town that holds an annual “lottery” in which one unlucky person is randomly selected to be stoned to death in order to ensure a bountiful corn harvest. Since she suffered many psychological battles, Shirley Jackson creates such dark stories criticizing humanity’s violent presence to portray the era of life she faced. World War II had already ended by the time “The Lottery” was published and there is an underlying criticism

It was after her marriage to fellow Jewish writer Stanley Edward Hyman when Shirley began to write numerous stories. She thrived on the success of “The Lottery” and continued to utilize her knack for inventing twisted plotlines in her gothic horror stories. Consequently, her workaholic nature took a toll on her mental health. Shirley Jackson’s biography from the Dictionary of American Biography states that her mental conditions worsened to the point where her social withdrawal symptoms had to be treated by a psychiatrist for a couple of years. She even experienced chronic depression, anxiety, and much insecurity about the people in her life. It was a dark period in her life and Shirley reflects this in her cynical tales, including “The Lottery”. Tessie Hutchinson fights to live as the story approached the end but eventually, the townspeople “were upon her” (Jackson 249), swallowing her screams. Even her children joined in on the stoning, which only adds to a particular theme of the story. There is always evil and chaos underneath the surface of an ordinary life. Not many readers are aware of the psychological stress Shirley Jackson suffered while she wrote her stories and merely viewed her as a prolific author with a talent for spinning horrific tales. But, another surface invariably exists.

Nothing is much said in the text to explain the town’s relentless devotion to continue this awful tradition except the implication that it is only to guarantee a successful harvest on a single plant. Therefore, it seems completely unnecessary to force the town to undergo such extremities. According Linda Wagner-Martin, this ritual “enhances the crop, brings the community prosperity, and is life-affirming”. Even though the entire town does not protest in participating in this event, there is certainly a difference in opinion relating to its efficiency. One of the town members, Mr. Adams says to Mr. Summers, who’s in charge of running the lottery, that “over in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery” (Jackson 246) to which Mr. Summers snorts, “Pack of crazy fools” (Jackson 246). It is possible that Mr. Adams implies that the lottery is unnecessary and unethical, discreetly attempting to persuade Mr. Summers to believe so too but he does not think so. In a way, Shirley Jackson may be indirectly criticizing World War II, contributing to her firm beliefs that mankind is unpredictable and doomed. The pointless tradition in “The Lottery” determined to improve the agriculture of the town and maintain prosperity is the same as the nations’ determination to win in World War II. The leaders’ convictions and rage to solve their conflicts with other nations