Patriarchy In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Shirley Jackson’s 1948 story of “The Lottery” describes an annual event in a small town with a population of about 300 people. This mysterious traditional event brought together men, women and children in one huge gathering to sacrifice an individual in the hope of a prosperous crop harvest. They assembled in the town center to draw pieces of paper from the black box and ironically, whoever who picked the “winning” piece of paper containing the black dot was stoned to death. In this particular event, a wife and mother “Ms. Tessie Hutchinson” faces the inevitable death. Shirley Jackson uses the stoning of Ms. Tessie Hutchinson to inform the reader of the oppression of women by patriarchy.

Patriarchy is defined as a social system in which males hold primary power and predominate in

Fritz Oehlschalaeger states, “ A conflict between male authority and female resistance is subtly evident throughout the story”(259). On the day of “The Lottery”, the women arrived shortly after the menfolk, and stood by their husbands (305). When Ms. Tessie Hutchison picked up her paper, she did not want to open it, but her husband Bill Hutchison forced the slip of paper out of her hand. “ Bill Hutchison held it up, and there was a stir in the crowd” (310). Bill’s behavior shows a society bound by tradition, as a husband one would expect that he would be devastated by the fact that his wife was going to face death, but instead he adheres to the norms of the society. Male domination is also depicted in the roles undertaken by men during “The Lottery”. Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves are in charge of the black box and conducting the event, the men pick up the slip of paper before the women, and the women are not supposed to pick the slip of paper for their absent husbands. Mrs. Dunbar offers to pick the slip of paper for Mr. Dunbar who has a broken leg, but Mr. Summers responds “Don’t you have a grown boy to do it for you,