“The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, is a short story with a big impact. Initially published in The New Yorker in 1948, the magazine received an overwhelming response in the form of three hundred individual letters, more than the publication had ever received for a single piece of fiction (Bogart). These letters spanned an emotional range from confusion to outright disapproval and shock. The editors of The New Yorker themselves were no more agreed upon the story’s meaning or merit than their readers (Franklin). Since “The Lottery” was accepted into that June issue of The New Yorker, it seems the conversation still isn’t over. In this edition, "’The Lottery’: A Critical Perspective,” Kim Sutton, Mana Mohamed, Hannah Cox, and myself each present a different look at this famous short story.
In “The American Lottery,” Cox uses a historical lens to view Jackson’s lottery as it relates to America’s current social atmosphere. Although “The Lottery” is a short story, its themes touch on so many themes, such as human behavior, sexism, and blind faith, that are still relevant today, despite the story’s original release in 1948. Cox argues that, while “The Lottery” may seem overly-grim or exaggerated to some readers, Jackson's work astutely mirrors America's societal beliefs and deeply-flawed infrastructures. Utilizing Marxist criticism, Cox analyzes how “The Lottery” is a representation of America's unstable sociopolitical state by examining the ritual of the lottery, who controls it, the villager's behavior, and why Tessie Hutchinson was selected to be executed. Cox draws connections between the lottery, the state of the world when Jackson first published “The Lottery,” and today’s current political structures, specifically the capitalist economy that overrules America's democracy.
In her essay, “’The Lottery’ No Resolution,” Mohamed uses a reader-response lens to analyze this short story’s emotional impact and its unresolved conclusion, which leaves many readers confused. The ending is shocking in its unexpected violence, but perhaps even more unexpected in its abrupt ending. The villagers (and the readers) do not get a traditional resolution to the story. The brutality of the lottery will continue another year. Although the villagers talk about ending the lottery, by the end of the story, they show no signs of stopping their violent annual sacrifice. Mohamed explores why this might be and how it affects readers.
In “Tessie Hutchinson, the Village Scapegoat,” Sutton analyzes Jackson’s story through a psychological lens, exploring Girard’s theory of scapegoating, which argues that it is human nature to want what others have and that this desire necessarily leads to conflict. Sutton argues that by random chance, Tessie Hutchinson, the lottery “winner,” becomes the representative scapegoat for the village community. The conflict in this village is fulfilled by the idea that a sacrifice must be made in order to have a good crop, which is for the good of the community. Sutton’s thesis is that the way Jackson portrays Tessie’s character makes it easier for the readers to accept Tessie in that roll and that, like Tessie, any community member can and will take on the role of scapegoat.
In my own essay, “Random Acts of Violence,” I analyze Jackson’s short horror story through a deconstruction lens. I explore the relationship between the story’s ultimate significance and the seemingly-random nature of its violent end. Taking into account both the interpretations of various critics on the “shocking” end and its significance as well as the story’s own treatment of the lottery ritual, I attempt to show how the emotional impact of the story’s conclusion breaks down when the significance of the random and brutal chance of the lottery becomes unclear.
“’The Lottery’: A Critical Perspective,” may raise more questions than provide solid answers, but it is our hope that this will also be a thoughtful addition to the growing body of critical analysis surrounding this controversial short story. Perhaps our critical edition will cause our readers to look at “The Lottery” from a new perspective.