Heat And The Lottery: A Literary Analysis

In both Joyce Carol Oates’s story Heat and Shirley Jackson’s story The Lottery the idea that violence in inevitable in the world and that fate is a controlling factor play a large part in plot of either story. Oates writes about the murder of two young girls after what readers can assume is a rather brutal rape. Jackson depicts a dystopian society in which once a year a name is drawn and a person is sacrificed as a way to repent for the sins of the town. In both stories, a violent death occurs and in both stories the death is inevitable to the situation. The sisters in Heat are put in a situation in which they cannot foresee the coming doom and then are unable to fight off their attacker in order to protect themselves. The Lottery is a game-of-chance scenario, but the reader can assess that the idea of fate is prominent in the happenings. When the sacrifice is chosen, it is by completely random circumstances, suggesting that the name drawn is destine to be the sacrificial lamb.

Both of these stories offer a rather gruesome depiction of the real world and focus heavily on the concept of fate as a deciding factor.

The interesting part about this repetitive theme is the lack of religion incorporated into either story. God is only mentioned four times in Heat, once as a curse, the other as an adjective. The other two times that God is mentioned is not in a specifically religious context “If you believe in God you believe that. And if you don't believe in God it's obvious” (Oates). Jackson’s story does not mention God at all. From what readers can assess, there is no religious practice in The Lottery. While there is no sense of religion, neither of these stories is lacking in violence. The purpose of which could be to display that violence is an

inevitable.
The Lottery centers on a town during an annual ritual in which a member of the community is sacrificed to some inconceivable theory that these deaths will improve crop growth. The perceptive reasoning for this tradition is unknown to the town, having been lost in the depths of time. “At one time…there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; some people believed that the official of the lottery used to stand just so when he said or sang it, others believed that he was supposed to walk among the people, but years and years ago this part of the ritual had been allowed to lapse. There had been, also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from the box, but this also had changed with time” (Jackson). Still, with each of these small pieces of the ritual lost, the tradition of brutal murder stands the test of time. The violence comes after Mrs. Hutchison is chosen as the ceremonial sacrifice and the members of her community, including her husband and children, proceed to carry out the death sentence by stoning her. Lapidating is a medieval practice dating back to ancient Greece as a form of capital punishment against sinners. A surprising religious element to appear in such a non-religious short story. However, by incorporating the idea of fate in her story, Jackson inculcates the idea of unfortunate inevitability. Mrs. Hutchison starts her role in the story by being late to the gathering, bring to mind the saying about being late to your own funeral. In the next moment, Mrs. Hutchison is insistent upon her husband to hurry onto the stage and claim his slip of paper. When it is found that her husband is the one who draws the deciding ticket, Mrs. Hutchison is insistent that the ruling is unfair. In the end though, no matter how much Mrs. Hutchison protests, it is inevitable that she will suffer the lapidation. To say the least, it is Tessie Hutchison’s fate to be sacrificed.