Examples Of Point Of View In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Point of View in “The Lottery”

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” shows readers that a person doesn’t question the bad parts of society until they are harmed themselves through the use of a distant 3rd person point of view. Jackson shows that people seem to be fine with ideas as long as they are prospering, but then shows the reactions of the people that are placed in harm’s way. The point of view of the story provides less details about the thought of the characters and allows readers to focus on the actions and words of the characters to understand what they are feeling.

The point of view in the story shows many examples of foreshadowing, but confuses that audience by describing how the people seem to want to be at the lottery. The lottery was shown to be a place where “the men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes” (252). The audience is led to believe that the lottery is just a social gathering in the town. Jackson shows Mrs. Hutchinson to be a normal townsperson

who initially finds no harm in the lottery. Mrs. Hutchinson seems happy to be at the lottery and jokes to her husband about how he “wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink, now, would you, Joe?” (254). The point of view leads the audience to believe that the lottery is perfectly harmless and good due to the people are laughing and joking in the crowd.
The audience sees a shift in Mrs.

Hutchinson’s attitude towards the lottery once Mr. Hutchinson gets the ticket with the black dot. The author shows us Mrs. Hutchinson’s thoughts through her dialogue when she claims that “[Mr. Summers} didn’t give [Mr. Hutchinson] time enough to take any paper he wanted” (257) and that “It wasn’t fair” (257). The point of view allows us to see that the lottery may not be a good thing since the point seems to be to not win. Mrs. Hutchinson had been shown to be one of the people who had no problem with the lottery until it was her own family in harm’s way. She tried to tell the town that this was all a mistake, but her pleas didn’t seem to matter. The town seems to be alright with the decision since it wasn’t them and Mr. Summers even says “All right, folks. Let’s finish quickly” (258). The town seems to show no sympathy and even Davy Hutchinson, Tessie Hutchinson’s son, is given pebbles to throw at his

mother.
The end of the story reveals the sad truth about the lottery and tells the audience that the townsfolk seem to be fine with the horrible lottery until they are the one’s about to be sacrificed. Once selected, people realize that the system of the lottery is terrible and that “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (259). The point of view plays a big role in shaping how the author reveals this terrible truth about the lottery.