By Mana Mohamed
The short-story called "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson was kind of superstitious because the people of the village had to do this ritual in summer time: "the morning of June 27 was clear and sunny" and that if they do not do this ritual the corn will not grow: "lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" (Jackson). The ritual is a belief that they have to sacrifice someone in order to get food. This is something bad, why would anyone do that to someone else? Who decides to choose whether someone lives or dies? Killing someone innocent because of this traditional thing is maybe more like superstition because the other villages did not do the rituals anymore; so, does that mean that there was no heavy corn? People have this idea if something does not go as planned something bad might happen. This is where the superstition comes from. The idea of ritual and the story confused a lot of readers because readers wanted to know more about what happened and why it happens. Some readers are wondering whether this whole thing is real or not. To most readers, even though Jackson proved this to us with clues, Tessie's death was still shocking because we hope they will find a better resolution such as stopping the lottery, but they don't.
Some of the villagers believed that if something different was done to the box. They would upset the tradition if they change the box color to something else. Jackson wrote, "But no one liked to upset as much tradition as was represented by the black box." The villagers are afraid if something happens to the box maybe they might die or something. As the reader, I wonder why the villagers would be afraid of any changes that happen to just a box. The clues of the tradition needing to stop were right there in front of them: "the black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and the places faded or stained" (Jackson). It was like the box was warning them enough is enough. This old tradition needs to end at some point.
The villagers are believing the story about how the box was made by the first people that built the village and that is why they don't want to ruin the tradition. Jackson writes, "there was a story that the present the box had been made with the pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here" (Jackson). Not a single soul wanted to change anything to this box because of the beliefs that they have. But the readers see that man was the one who created this and not nature so why not just stop the ritual because this was a human idea.
Some of the villagers were talking about how other villages stopped the ritual but there is this one old man who thinks it is a bad idea. Jackson writes, "They do say, Mr. Adams, said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, ‘that over in the north village they're of giving up the lottery’, but Old Man Warner says, "Pack of crazy fools," he thinks that the young people do not know anything and that they are breaking the rules (Jackson). Readers are thinking that why did the old man not win the lottery because he was there and played for seventy-seven years. This is another clue that shows the reader that it has been too long and too many people die.
Some of the women believe that the lottery is going so fast. Jackson writes, "Seems like there's no time at all between the lotteries any more. ‘Mrs. Delacroix said to Mrs. Graves'" and Mrs. Graves replied, "Seems like we got through the last one only last week” (Jackson). It seems fast to the readers because a lot of people are dying, and the villagers do not want to do anything about it. I think it is because Old Man Warner is there to make people not want to solve the problem. Jackson writes, "Some places have already quit the lotteries. Mrs. Adams said." And the old man response, "nothing but trouble… Pack of young fools” (Jackson). This man was the one who needed to stop this because he has been participating in it for so long. Readers wonder why not stop the tradition just like the other villages did?
Some of the villagers forgot even how the ritual worked and only remember one thing and that is the stones. Jackson writes, "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones” (Jackson). The readers see that the villagers only remember one thing and not the rest and the first black box was lost. This all should at least be aware that maybe it is time to stop. Readers see that this is a breaking point because not all the villages wanted to do this ritual. Besides teaching the kids to not do such things; they are encouraging them. Jackson writes, "The pile stones the boys made earlier was ready” (Jackson). As the reader this sets a bad example for the kids as they grow up; they will do the same thing.
I think the old man should have at least said something to get all of this ritual to stop because people were losing control. Jackson writes, "Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a clear space… a stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying come on, come on, everyone." As the reader, it seems that the old man is seeing how bad things are getting and he still not doing anything about it.
I think if the people knew about the other villagers and how they are doing without the ritual it would have been good because they will not have this superstition: "pack of fools." Old Man Warner believed that if this ritual does not happen people will be living badly: "they'll be wanting to go back to living in the caves, nobody works anymore, live that way for a while." Mrs. Adams said, "Some places have already quit lotteries” (Jackson). This old man who was in the lottery for seventy-seven years thinks that if the ritual is stopped then they will have no food. He believes that everything is changing because the younger folks are losing the traditions. He is like this guy who does not care what happens to the innocent as long as there is food.
In an article called "The Lottery" Symbolic Tour de Force, Helen E. Nebeker mentioned that Old Man Warner is "the prophet of doom, voice of the past, foe of change, existing from everlasting to everlasting" because he has been in the lottery for many years. Because this old man has had this belief for a long time, how come he was not picked to be a sacrifice, but the others have? Nebeker writes, "Those chosen for sacrifice were not victims but saviors who would propitiate the gods, enticing them to bring rebirth, renewal, and thanking them with their blood" ("The Lottery": Symbolic Tour de Force). Old Man Warner thought that the ritual was very important and because he believed that it was an honor by god to be chosen to die for the common welfare. This is a matter of life and death and the old man believes these things. This leaves a big question; was he the only one that was not lucky to get picked over those years? As the reader, we can see that maybe he wanted to be alive so that the ritual will not be stopped.
In an article by Ruth Franklin called "The Lottery" Letters it mentioned that most of the people who read the story where confused and I agree with them too because I did not understand if her intentions were real. I also agree with her about the theme of the story being: "the classic theme of man's inhumanity to man and gives it an additional twist: the randomness inherent in brutality" (Franklin). I see that there is a lot of brutality in this story and it is not okay. The readers wanted to know more, but they did not get the closer because there was not any resolution. The readers thought maybe there would be a resolution to this issue because of the clues we have seen in the article. The villagers were talking among themselves of others stopping the ritual or how other have already left the ritual. Only if the villagers talked through it and maybe there will be a solution and maybe as the readers, we will not be so confused to why the short-story was written so brutal. The reader sees that the villagers not talking about the lottery is something that happens in real; it is similar to many horrible misunderstanding and mistakes in reality.
Works Cited
Franklin, Ruth. "The Lottery": Letters. New Yorker. 25 June 2013
Jackson, Shirley, "The Lottery" The New Yorker, 1948
Nebeker, Helen E. "‘The Lottery': Symbolic Tour De Force." American Literature, vol. 46, no.
1, 1974, pp. 100–108. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2924129.