The Shock of the novel The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

The Shock of the novel The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

The first time I read “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, I thought it would be about someone in a desperate situation who wins a large amount of money. However, after reading the story I was shocked and disgusted like millions of other readers because of what the “lottery” was all about. After my shock wore off I thought about why the author had chosen to be so cynical. It occurred to me that she needed to shock people into changing for the better. She believed that the biggest problem in her society were the people who would live their lives without thinking about changing themselves for the better. She stresses the importance of questioning the validity of everything as opposed to conforming blindly to the majority.

She portrays her message best through the characters that actually voice their opinion against the lottery and the characters who respond to them. While those opposed are the voice of reason, they are dismissed by the majority in different ways throughout the story. Firstly we see Mr. Adams questions Old Man Warner about the validity of the lottery when he says, “over in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery.” Old Man Warner, who represents the extreme right part of the majority, retorts with disgust and calls them a “pack of crazy fools.”

The next person to speak up is Mrs. Adams, who is defending her husband to Old Man Warner. She informs the old man that there are place...