How Does The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Present The Mental Characteristics Of Human Behavior

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” the mental characteristics and human behavior can be clearly defined in the town’s tradition of participating in The Lottery. The title is deceiving; when one thinks of winning the lottery, they have positive thoughts, like winning money or something of great monetary value. That is not the lottery in which Jackson is talking about. This lottery is a rigorously followed tradition. It is cruel and unusual, and the town faithfully participates in it each and every year. In this tradition, a member of their community is selected and stoned to death, which shows how barbarous these people are. Shirley Jackson clearly portrays the dangers of blindly following traditions and the cruelty of human nature.

The main

theme in “The Lottery” is the blind following of tradition regardless of the consequences. These people believe that they must sacrifice one of their own in order to receive the blessings of a good crop. They continue in this tradition, “although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones” (Jackson 132). There are other rituals, like a “tuneless chant” (Jackson 128) from the official, but as time went by this ritual lapsed too. Earlier in the story, Mr. and Mrs. Adams talk to Old Man Warner about other towns that have dropped the tradition of the lottery, like they feel a sense of guilt. Old Man Warner is one of many symbols of tradition in this story, saying, “there’s always been a lottery” (Jackson 130), in response to Mr. and Mrs. Adams.
Another symbol used by Jackson is the black box. This black box is what holds the folded slips of paper that determine who is to be stoned to death, having one folded slip with a black dot in the center. The black box that they are using in this story is not the original box, “there was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled to down to make a village here” (Jackson 128). This black box symbolizes death in the town.
Along with symbolism, Jackson also uses foreshadowing in her story, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix … eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner… ” (Jackson 127). At first, the reader is unaware of why this is brought up. The realization of the stone’s purpose is not prominent until the very end, “the pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready…” (Jackson 132). The townspeople use these stones to throw at Tessie Hutchinson and murder her.
Upon the realization that winning the lottery means being stoned to death, we learn the brutality of traditions in this town. Nobody stops to think about what they are doing. They have a group mentality. Even little Davy Hutchinson is given pebbles to throw at his own mother. Because of this tradition, this community is willing to stone whoever draws the black dot, without hesitation. “‘All right folks,’ Mr.Summers said. ‘Let’s finish quickly’” (Jackson 132). The reader is left feeling guilty at the death of Tessie Hutchinson, while the townspeople continue on with their daily life.
Jackson’s use of tone, irony, and theme provide the reader with clues to what she wanted to get across. The tone is established early; the townspeople regard the lottery as an everyday thing. It is considered so causal that Mrs. Hutchinson almost forgets to come to the ceremony, and tells her companions that she “clean forgot what day it was.” This story is also full of irony; the lottery is conducted at ten in the morning giving the townspeople time to get home for lunch. The theme, human attitudes towards tradition and ritual, is painstakingly obvious, with no need of it being clearly stated. “In the story, Jackson is asking the reader to look again at the various characteristics of human nature, especially in regard to the way human beings treat one another in religious, social, and civic contexts (Timko).” I agree with what Timko is saying, this community is following a tradition that they believe in, regardless of the outcome and morality of what they are doing to one another.
This short story has been circulating since its publication in 1948, though it had an initial negative response, and has also been dramatized, televised, and anthologized.

“The Lottery” is widely taught in high school and college curriculums, with a psychological focus. It is generally taught as a “psychological allegory of scapegoating or as a cautionary political fable… (and) “The Lottery” discloses a powerful misogynist parable, satisfying the commonest and most widespread cultural scapegoating even as the “political” aspect of the story seems to dispel another (Whittier 353).” “The Lottery” also has other responses, like Marxist, mythic, or a feminist approach, and a friend of Jackson’s says that it is about the Jews. Others think that since Jackson was a student of folklore, “The Lottery” shows examples of scapegoating and sacrifice, which has been stated multiple times by various sources. This is significant because it shows that these examples clearly state the message that Jackson wanted the reader to

understand.
To this day, “The Lottery” baffles readers and is her best-known work. Upon its publication, many readers wrote to Jackson asking for an explanation, Jackson responded, “Explaining just what I had hoped the story to say is very difficult,” she wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle in July 1948. “I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives (McCarthy).” Jackson had no need to explain her story to others, which is explained by McCarthy. After receiving many letters asking what her story meant, Jackson found explaining her story difficult and put the meaning in the simplest form that she could.
The ceremony of the lottery itself is misogynistic, just like society at this time, it is conducted by two men, Mr. Graves and Mr. Summers. It then goes on to where the man of the house draws first. The order in which the ballots are drawn alphabetically by the men’s surnames. The only instance that a woman is first is if and only if her husband is deceased or if the husband is unable to draw for himself. It is clear that male dominance is present in this community, and is a tradition that is blindly followed by this society. Though many believe that a woman is unlucky and disaster will strike her first, it is actually the man who draws the unwanted slip first.
The literal scapegoat of this story is not any certain race or community, but in fact, it is a woman. It shows how a woman of good standing, one who has done her duties a by being a mother and wife, can be unfavored and “bad” at the time of the lottery and come up dead. Shirley Jackson shows the reader the undeniable sexism in her story by showing Tessie Hutchinson as the scapegoat, a person who is blamed for wrongdoings, or faults of others.
“The Lottery” focuses on the sexism and gender roles that society was facing in the 1940’s.

During this time, women were to be wives and mothers and did not have a loud voice in society. They are often portrayed as stupid, which Jackson shows this trait in Tessie Hutchinson who almost forgets to attend the ceremony and thought that it was unfair for her to be chosen. Tessie Hutchinson had no say in her death and lost her life because of this brutal tradition and mob mentality. These things still hold true to today, just in a different sense. Had Jackson written this story in today's society, the response would have been drastically different. One example of a difference would be that women are no longer expected to only be wives and mothers. This would affect the ceremony and order of the lottery and would change the result of who is to be stoned. Though society has changed since the ‘40s, the interpretation of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” and it’s themes of sexism, mob mentality, and the following of a vicious tradition still holds true to issues that society faces

today.