Point Of View In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

There are many ways to tell a story. It is common to tell the story from a character’s point of view, but authors can also tell their stories from the perspective of an object, tangible or not. For example, The Diary of Anne Frank is told from the point of view of death. The point of view of a piece of literature “has assumed special importance” due to the fact that it is how the story gets told. For a short story that is restricted to the object point of view, Shirley Jackson does a splendid job of telling the story in “The Lottery.”

The objective point of view is extremely difficult to write in because the narrator is only allowed to say what is seen and heard. The narrator is prohibited from commenting, interpreting, or entering a character's

mind. Therefore, the audience is left to infer how the characters feel. Despite this, “The Lottery” clearly presents the setting of the village and what the characters are like.
The author introduces her readers to a “clear and sunny morning” where “the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” Following the description of the scenery, “the people began to gather in the square.” The name of the title and the two opening sentences of the short story essentially foreshadow the general plot of the entire story.

All the inhabitants of a village gather around an area where a lottery is conducted. The author simply described what the weather was like and what the people were doing, and the reader should be able to predict what the story is about.

The next paragraph shows that many villagers are gathering rocks, but for what reason? The story is being told in the object point of view, so the author is not allowed to give his or the characters’ thoughts. The purpose of this scene is vague beginning, but surely the purpose will come up later in the plot.

Further into the story, “Mr. Summers declared the lottery open,” but before the village could start, they all had to go through a strict process of making sure that everyone was present. Mr. Summers also had to recite a swearing-in. The author writes all of this to present to the readers the importance of the lottery to the

village.
After every village drew a piece of paper from the box, “there was a long pause, a breathless pause,” until Mr.

Summers gave everyone permission to look at their slip of paper. The atmosphere is tense as it seems that this slip of paper decides who wins the lottery. However, there is also an eerie feeling in the air, so it is possible that the paper decides the loser, not the winner.

“Bill Hutchinson’s got it.” Bill never showed any sign of emotion. He “was standing quiet, staring down at the paper in his hand.” At this point, the readers can confirm their negative suspicions that the lottery is not a good thing. Additionally, the instant that Bill was chosen, Tessie Hutchinson, Bill Hutchinson’s wife, instantly complains. After her complaints about Bill not having enough time to choose his piece of paper, she attempts to throw her daughters under the bus and sacrifice them for herself. Based on the way that Tessie acts, the reader can clearly see that she is in a sense of

desperation.
Adequate dialogue and imagery is needed in order for the objective point of view to work well, and in “The Lottery,” there were both of these. The blossoming flowers, green grass, and sunny morning all helped set the original mood of the story, which was later changed once the reader finds out that the lottery is not something that one would want to win. The dialogue from Tessie Hutchinson clearly describes as someone who looks forward to the lottery, but as much as she looks forward towards the lottery, her eagerness turns into desperation as soon as she is part of the lottery. In the end, despite the restrictions imposed on writing objectively, her external action and dialogue made the story fun to read and easy for readers to infer the plot and the characters.