What Is The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Sexism

Shirley Jackson’s life influenced the way she wrote all of her novels, including “The Lottery” and We Have Always Lived in a Castle. Shirley Jackson endured both sexism and abuse during her childhood and adulthood which she took out in her writing. According to Shirley Jackson, she wrote, “The Lottery” because both she and her children were treated unfairly in North Bennington and because of her abusive relationships with both her mother and husband. Shirley Jackson wrote We Have Always Lived in a Castle because she was treated unfairly her whole life by people closest to her and in this novel like the villagers in her novel who do not treat the Blackwoods fairly even though they all are aware of their family issues.

“The Lottery” is

a short story written by Shirley Jackson based off of her traumatic experiences in North Bennington.

“The Lottery” is about a barbaric ritual that takes place in a small town each year and requires all the villagers to draw sheets of paper to determine a winner. The winner of the Lottery must be stoned to death due to a misguided belief that this will help their crops grow even though most of the villagers don't remember that this is the reason they still perform the ritual. The message of the story is that people who do not question rituals they take part in, are going to face the consequences without understanding of what they are really doing. Shirley Jackson claims she wrote this story based off the villagers in North Bennington, where she and her kids lived, and how they treated her. Shirley Jackson’s biographer, Judy Oppenheimer, stated that Jackson and her children recall numerous accounts of receiving anti-semitic comments directed towards Stanley Edgar Hyman, Shirley Jackson’s husband. The story also relates to Jackson’s life and how she was treated unfairly, for example when Tessie Hutchinson was chosen to be stoned to death. For all of Jackson’s life she was treated unfairly just like Tessie Hutchinson and everyone who had to be stoned to death because of the tradition of the lottery. This relates to the period of time

when Shirley Jackson was a writer, because most women were not recognized for their hard work or were treated fairly. According to the New York Times, Shirley Jackson once wrote down that when she went to the hospital to deliver her third baby, the admitting clerk asked for her occupation. Shirley Jackson responded with “writer” but the clerk said, “I’ll just put you down as housewife.” This is proof of Shirley Jackson struggled to be taken seriously as a writer. She was rarely known as a writer and when she was recognized as one she didn't get the recognition her work deserved. Instead, she earned a lot of hate, especially from her mother and husband, because her writing was very dark and unusual for a women back then. Shirley Jackson’s life influenced the way she wrote: “The Lottery” because it was mostly based on the unfairness she had to experience her whole life, just like the “tradition” of the Lottery. According to the New York Times, Shirley Jackson’s mother was a “vain, thoughtlessly cruel social climber who didn't think much of her daughter and never bothered to disguise it.” The article states that Jackson’s mother always wanted a beautiful, girly child but was upset about her daughter being dreamy, willful and interested in writing. Towards the end of her life, Jackson tried to please her mother by writing her letters trying to justify herself and explaining what a successful wife and parent she was. Even when she married her husband she was still considered an outsider, someone who never fit in. The theme of “The Lottery” derives from the way she and her family were shunned by their neighbors, who had no respect for Jews, like Shirley Jackson's’ husband.

We Have Always Lived in a Castle is a novel written by Shirley Jackson about a young girl who lives alone in Blackwood estate, with her sister, and just like Shirley Jackson in North Bennington, is hated by the villagers.

The young girl named Merricat lives in isolation from the village, with only her sister and her Uncle Julian due to her parents' death. Merricat never understood the disapproval and hatred she received from the villagers, which relates to how Shirley Jackson was treated by her mother. Shirley Jackson’s mother never approved her writing and her choice of lifestyle as an adult. Jackson began to experience serious anxiety and agoraphobia due to the hate she experiences from the ones closest to her. According to the interview of Shirley Jackson in “The New Yorker”, even her marriage with Hyman, who she thought was a kind man who didn’t think she was ugly, who understood her and loved her, and who believed in her as a writer. Jackson’s mental health deteriorated after she realized he was unfaithful during the marriage. In the early stages of their relationship, Hyman’s behavior drove Jackson into such anguish that he worried she might be mentally ill. Ruth Franklin, the author of A Rather Haunted Life (a biography of Shirley Jackson), stated that she “accepted a relationship with a man who treated her disrespectfully and shamed her for legitimate and rational desires” because of she wanted someone to appreciate her since her mother didn't’. As stated in the

article in “The New Yorker”, this all caused Jackson to rely on alcohol and tranquilizers because she felt patronized in her role as a wife and hated by the townspeople of North Bennington. Even though she used the town people as an example of the barbaric villagers in, “The Lottery” you can see that her life is shown in this novel. Merricat was discriminated from the townspeople ever since her family died which relates to Jackson because of her battle with being patronized and loathed by her family. Overall, Shirley Jackson’s life influenced the way she wrote We Have Always Lived in a Castle, because the character, Merricat reflects the way Shirley Jackson felt and acted her entire life.

In conclusion, Shirley Jackson’s life had a great impact on the way she wrote her novels. The struggles she endured her whole life reflected in the way her characters act and feel in her books. Both, “The Lottery” and We Have Always Lived in a Castle are great examples of how Shirley Jackson was treated as a child and in her adulthood, from her unaccepting mother to her unfaithful husband. The way she was treated her whole life allowed her to be able to write dark and twisted stories that somehow connected to her.