The Lottery

The “lottery” that is portrayed by Jackson in this story is certainly a gruesome and unnecessary ritual’ however, the most interesting and even most disturbing aspect of “The Lottery” is the reactions and attitudes of the villagers towards this maniacal lottery. The very establishment of an annual ritual in which a member of the town is stoned to death in the hopes that performing such a sacrifice would usher in a bountiful harvest seems inhumane. Because that the tradition has existed for at least seventy-seven years, however, one must consider that, at the time of its creation, the lottery may have seemed like a reasonable solution to the villagers’ problems. The acknowledgement of this fact perhaps yields the initiation of the practice to be justifiable. On the other hand, the fact that many surrounding towns are eradicating the lottery, and yet the town discussed in this story adamantly insists on continuing such a horrific lottery is inexcusable. The apathy with which all citizens of the town seem to meet the lottery is genuinely appalling; certainly no one wants to become a human sacrifice and endure a painful death at the hands of one’s own family and friends, yet nobody has the courage to defy such a practice. Mr. and Mrs. Adams, for example, discuss the fact that other towns have chosen to discontinue the event. Perhaps this was their timid way of subtly proposing the fact that their own town abolish the lottery; nevertheless, they fail to suggest such an idea with enough temerity to gain any attention, so the practice continues. Furthermore, some villagers even exceed the limits of indifference by supporting the ritual. For example, Old Man Warner insists, “Used to be a saying that, ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’ Firth thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns” (Jackson, 268). Mrs. Delacroix also seems to be a proponent of the lottery, considering that she was described as selecting a stone “so large she had to pick it up with both hands” (Jackson, 271).

                The reactions of the Hutchinson family perhaps personify the strange attitudes of the villagers more adequately than anyone else. Mrs. Hutchinson seems regard the lottery with very little concern- that is, until her family was the one in danger. Regardless, she still seemed to only fear for her own life rather than that of her family; in fact, she even tried to include her married daughter in her family’s drawing so as to lessen the chances of her own death. Moreover, the Hutchison children seemed to express nothing but relief upon discovering that they were not the ones to be stoned rather than displaying fear or grief that their mother was about to be murdered in front of their very eyes. The startling apathy of all citizens towards the lottery ritual is significant, however, because it contributes to one of the major themes of the novel that traditions, if not carefully revised for their purpose, can become so distorted that they actually take away from their purpose itself. Writing the novel from Tessie’s point of view enhances this aspect as well.