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

aspect throughout the village because the ritual cannot simply operate without the using the power of others. One may wonder what would be different about the village if females and males had equal rights back in that time. The lottery emphasizes a village that carries out a division of labor that keeps women powerless in their homes and those that conduct the lottery more powerful. There seemed to be an underlying battle of the sexes which showed women as the housewives and the men as the ones who carried out higher positions such as the fieldwork and the lottery.
The ritual known as the “The Lottery” is characterized by the cruelty and the thoughtlessness of the entire society. “The inhabitants of the village started to sacrifice humans once a year to improve their harvest by stoning the victims to death, and this tradition never stopped.” (Naidu) Professor Naidu explains the purpose of “The Lottery” in his short context entitled “The Controversial Conflicts in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery”. Naidu states how the lottery instilled violence among children and was conducted regardless of its immoralities.
There exists a sense of similarity throughout the book The Hunger Games where the setting takes place in a powerful district where the citizens have no say. “Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch – this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion. Whatever words they use, the real message is clear. “Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District Thirteen.” (Collins 76) This totalitarian point of view is similar to “The Lottery” because the government is the ultimate power and has control over its citizens. The main purpose of The Hunger Games is to remind the Districts that they were powerless and thus the ritual that continued every year was sought to end innocent civilian lives similar to how the citizens of the lottery are randomly picked to die.
The rituals throughout the village have changed but the tradition of the black box has stayed the same.

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

break.
“The Lottery” was published in 1948 just a few years after World War II has ended. Thus, the author, Shirley Jackson insinuates the significance of the Holocaust and Nazi takeover similarly to the village conducting “The Lottery” and how people were unable to question or prevent the brutal lottery ritual. (QUOTE)
A persons’ tendency to resist change is a form of desperation and feeling powerless amongst a society that dictates control over its people.

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

drawing.
Although, the end of the story shows a warped sense of family, the entire story revolves around family, an old-fashioned family. The male head of the household (female if there is no other choice) is the one who draws the ticket. They are the ones who bring their families together when the lottery begins. Bill Hutchinson is pictured as the backbone of his family when he draws the black dot and Tessie was late because she had been washing dishes. At the end of the story, family turns against one member as well as friends turning against each other because of the aforementioned tradition. → Families going against each other
Tess’s own husband tells her to ‘shut up’ when she starts to contest his selection as the head of the household. And rather than comforting his own wife he gets angry at the situation and puts the lottery before his own family.
Rituals that followed them; people in the community nowadays people have their own rituals that they follow back then they also had rituals but they are not acceptable in todays times.

CONCLUSION”
The village is stringent on how things were and how things have always been that they cannot see any improvements in the ways of living. I believe that if the village was open to change and listening to new ideas the traditions would be altered for the better.