In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the people of the small community reveal the psychological effects of participating in public executions and how these effects lead to social conformity. The main characters Tessie Hutchinson and Old Man Warner reveal the varying psychological reactions one would have from participating in a public execution. Other townspeople have developed dissociative symptoms that explain their conformity to the lottery. Jackson herself shows psychological symptoms because of the way readers treated her after the 1948 publication of “The Lottery.” The psychological effects of participating in public executions lead people to conform to societal norms to avoid becoming an outcast or target. In the beginning of the story, Jackson writes, “School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them…” (Jackson 1). The children show unusual feelings of uneasiness from their new freedom because of their community’s annual lottery. The purpose of the annual lottery is to maintain control and force social conformity. The children’s feelings are explained in “Enforcing Social Conformity: A Theory of Authoritarianism,” by Stanley Feldman: It is not necessary to believe that people are inherently antisocial; one must simply believe that, left to their own devices, people pursuing their self-interest and behaving as they choose will not produce a stable social order. People may need the guidance of socially accepted norms and rules to behave appropriately in social settings. (48) In the field of psychology, the word “antisocial” means “hostile or harmful to organized society” (Merriam-Webster.com). Feldman’s theory suggests that people are generally greedy and seek... ... middle of paper ... ... Feldman, Stanley, “Enforcing Social Conformity: A Theory of Authoritarianism.” Political Psychology, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Mar., 2003), pp. 41-74 Foucault, Michel, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage, 1977, p 8. Freinkel, Andrew, Koopman, Cheryl, Spiegel, David. "Dissociative Symptoms in Media Eyewitnesses of an Execution." The American Journal of Psychiatry. Vol.151.9 (Sept. 1994), pp.1335. Hall, Joan Wylie. Shirley Jackson: A Study of the Short Fiction. “Letters from Shirley Jackson to Leslie and Geraldine Jackson.” pp. 137. 1993. Print. Shields, Patrick J. "Arbitrary Condemnation And Sanctioned Violence In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." Contemporary Justice Review 7.4 (2004): 411-419. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Nov.2013. Taylor, Kathleen. “Science and Cruelty: Torture Research.” Psychology Today. June 2009.
In Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery, the people of a small American town struggle to hold onto a gruesome tradition, one which has greatly affected the moral values of the society. In writing this story, Jackson is commenting on tradition; how, when taken to extremes, it can hinder society. THis horrible tradition of stoning people to death is a normal event from the perspective of the townspeople; one which is practised by the whole town. Early on in the story, the narrator states that the lottery “was conducted - as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program - by Mr. Summer…” (Jackson 1). As evidenced by this quote, the lottery was just another event comparable to other events that society deems normal. In other words:
Shirley Jackson?s insights and observations about society are reflected in her shocking and disturbing short story The Lottery. Jackson reveals two general attitudes in this story: first is the shocking tendency for societies to select a scapegoat and second is the idea that communities are victims of social tradition and rituals.
Tradition is huge in small towns and families and allows for unity through shared values, stories, and goals from one generation to the next. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” carries that theme of tradition. The story follows a small town that performs the tradition of holding an annual lottery in which the winner gets stoned to death. It (tradition) is valued amongst human societies around the world, but the refusal of the villagers in “The Lottery” to let go of a terrifying long-lasting tradition suggests the negative consequences of blindly following these traditions such as violence and hypocrisy.
Shields, Patrick J. "Arbitrary Condimnation And Sanctioned Violence In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"." Contemporary Justice Review 7.4 (2004): 411-419.
“The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, is a provoking piece of literature about a town that continues a tradition of stoning, despite not know why the ritual started in the first place. As Jackson sets the scene, the villagers seem ordinary; but seeing that winning the lottery is fatal, the villagers are then viewed as murders by the reader. Disagreeing with the results of the lottery, Tessie Hutchinson is exposed to an external conflict between herself and the town. Annually on June 27th, the villagers gather to participate in the lottery. Every head of household, archetypally male, draws for the fate of their family, but Tessie protests as she receives her prize of a stoning after winning the lottery. Jackson uses different symbols – symbolic characters, symbolic acts, and allegories – to develop a central theme: the
Why would a civilized and peaceful town would ever suggest the horrifying acts of violence can take place anywhere at anytime and the most ordinary people can commit them. Jackson's fiction is noted for exploring incongruities in everyday life, and “The Lottery”, perhaps her most exemplary work in this respect, examines humanity's capacity for evil within a contemporary, familiar, American setting. Noting that the story’s characters, physical environment, and even its climactic action lacks significant individuating detail, most critics view “The Lottery.” As a modern-day parable or fable, which obliquely addresses a variety of themes, including the dark side of human nature, the danger of ritualized behavior, and the potential for cruelty when the individual submits to the mass will. Shirley Jackson also addresses cruelty by the citizen’s refusal to stand up and oppose “The Lottery.” Violence and cruelty is a major theme in “The Lottery.”
In Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," what appears to be an ordinary day in a small town takes an evil turn when a woman is stoned to death after "winning" the town lottery. The lottery in this story reflects an old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order to encourage the growth of crops. But this story is not about the past, for through the actions of the town, Jackson shows us many of the social ills that exist in our own lives.
The chances of winning the lottery currently stands at one in two hundred and ninety-two million (Becker). Every year, Americans spend over seventy billion dollars in hopes of becoming a lottery winner, but what happens when these people are not winning money, but instead they are winning a death sentence? Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”, follows a small town that conducts a traditional ceremony every year that results in the death of one citizen. Each family is forced to draw one paper, which ultimately results in one person drawing a paper with a black dot. That black dot symbolizes death. In this instance, a woman named Tessie Hutchinson becomes the martyr for other women in her society. Shirley Jackson’s literary work, “The
In “The Lottery”, Jackson wrote about a special tradition of a small village. June 27th was warm and sunny, and it gave the impression like nothing could possibly go wrong. Everyone knows the lottery as an exciting thing, and everybody wants to win, but this lottery is unlike any other. This lottery was actually the tradition of stoning of an innocent villager; that year it was Tessie Hutchinson. Though the horrific ending was not expected, throughout the story Jackson gave subtle hints that this was not an average lottery. Jackson foreshadowed the death of Tessie Hutchinson with stones, the black box, and the three legged stool; she showed that unquestioning support of tradition can be fatal.
Out of all the short stories that were assigned, it can be seen that they have all one thing in common. They all show the realms of violence each of them different. The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a story where violence is shown in the most barbarous way possible. But with it, the author wants us to understand that violence is abhorrent and “The Lottery” shows that violent behavior can even corrupt the most innocent minds.
Set in 1948 and published in The New Yorker, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson describes a village ritual of sacrifice. Contrary to the positive feeling associated with the word “lottery,” the story strikes fear into the readers’ hearts as the winner is stoned to death. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” uses symbolism and genre conventions of a classic dystopian story to show the different ways in which human cruelty can occur.
In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, she begins setting up conflict from the very first sentence. Jackson starts off by setting a beautiful scene of a clear and sunny day with green grass and blooming flowers as the backdrop for a horrific process, the lottery. The lottery is a long-standing tradition in the town and causes the members of the community to choose the love of family and friends or to conform to society expectations. The tradition is so entrenched that the community blindly accepts the lottery and allows a ritual murder to occur year after year. Through this tradition, Jackson sets up conflict in many different ways throughout the story.
Shirley Jackson wrote “The Lottery” in 1948, not long after the second World War. The horror of the Holocaust was still fresh in everyone’s mind’s. Jackson wrote this story to remind everyone that we are not so far from this world of sadistic human sacrifice. She created a town, very much like any American town, with the gathering of the towns people to celebrate some annual event. She wanted to shine a mirror on contemporary society, a reflection of humanity, or rather, inhumanity. One would think that she was protesting against the shallow hypocrites that rule the world.
It is troubling to realize no one among the community comes forward to go against the lottery. But the townspeople’s lack of actions is something similar that has occurred many times in history. This acceptance of violence that Shirley demonstrates mirrors the Germans during the Holocaust who did nothing to end the horrors the Jews endured. The murder of Kitty Genovese is another example of community members remaining silent and accepting the violent behavior occurring during an inhumane act, further demonstrating the dangerous effects of social groups. In 1964, social psychology was transformed when “38 witnesses watched from their apartments in Queens, New York and then failed to intervene while Kitty Genovese was murdered on the street” (Manning 1).
Foucault, M. (1995) Discipline and Punishment The Birth of the Prison [online]. 2nd ed. USA: Penguin Books, Ltd. [Accessed 01 January 2014].