Winning the Lottery Equals Death in Shirley Jackson, The Lottery

To win a lottery should be an exciting and joyful thing, but in “The Lottery” created by Shirley Jackson, winning the lottery in the story would be the most unfortunate thing for everyone as it equals to death. “The Lottery” is a tradition to pick a scapegoat, it has been carried out in the village for a very long time and it is a part of life for everyone. No one wants to question the tradition as they believe that it would help them to having a great harvest.

A Third person narrator tells the story using a calm and natural tone. In the first sentence, "The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green."(Jackson 1) A journalistic writing style is used to make the story more realistic. However, this emotionless tone comes to the end, it shows no sympathy towards the death of Tessie making “The Lottery” like a normal thing in nature. The event happens in a small village and leads the readers to imagine it can take place anywhere around them which is quite horrifying. With a cheerful and peaceful environment in the opening, readers do not expect anything evil would be happening later in the story. This strengthens the shock and the warning which Jackson wants to tell in the end of the story.

The lots are drawn from a black box, and the color of the box indicates death. This tradition is even older than Old Man Warner, no doubt that he became the spokesperson of it. “….the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born.” With his last name, “Warner,” having a literary meaning of warning which warns the villagers not to forget about the tradition because ...

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...the 1940s during the time of World War II, when The United State was abundant with violence and warfare. Shirley Jackson wants to use “The Lottery” to warn the people on mindlessly following the tradition makes people kill their own kind and lead to destruction and perish. Indicates the war happens during her time. She also makes prominent on the fact that The United States was a patriarchal society, whereby men holds the power to make decisions and women was having a low social status. The last word of Tessie “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” represent the screaming of a message from Jackson. It is wrong for people not to think about what they believe in. Following traditional thinking and practice made barbaric act hidden in their lives. They can’t sense their cruelty towards other people in the war and to the women. Female should be treated fairly in the society.