Interpretation of "The Lottery" by Shirly Jackson-A tale of pointless violence, inhumanity, and senseless adherence, while unintentionally enlightening the readers with a morality lesson.

My scholarly interpretation of The Lottery

A lottery: the word lightly rings a blissful tone through out the ears of most American citizens. Yet, in the small town that Shirley Jackson writes about in her short story The Lottery, the word unknowingly stings the ears of these quiet townspeople. Jackson writes about a town that is blinded by an adherence to a tradition. While the actual lottery in the story may seem as an exaggeration, in reality there are many things in today's society that are blindly adhered to because they have been traditions for so long, such as fraternities, sororities, religion, political traditions, academic traditions, and even war. Many people follow these traditions blindly, never questioning why they do them; they just do them because they have always been done that way. People are socialized to follow such societal traditions without asking why. Consequently those that ask "why" are often criticized or ostracized. By Jackson's successful exaggeration of the situation, she shows the absurdity of doing something just because its always been done. Obviously, Shirley Jackson effectively reveals a chilling tale of pointless violence, inhumanity, and senseless adherence, while unintentionally enlightening the readers with a morality lesson about not always following the crowd.

This masterful short story initially deceives the reader then shocks the reader into a realization of the dynamics of diction. This basic narrative technique dramatically engages the reader in the textual process such that the reader participates in the action through identification with the townspeople due to simple, yet strong language references. Jackson uses a keen sense of powerful repetition when she continually writes that the characters are laughingly talking and discussing to each other in the crowd, such as when Mrs. Hutchinson and Mrs. Delacroix "both laughed softly" when Mrs. Hutchinson claimed she forgot what day it was. Also after Mrs. Hutchinson humorously explains to her husband why she was late, "a soft laughter ran through the crowd." The use of constant positive and blissful verbs and adjectives shows the authors idea that the people in this town were blindly participating in a senseless, vicious tradition. On the other hand, a reader, such as myself, felt manipulated by the text and ultimately I related with Mrs. Hutchinson's cry, "It isn't fair." Further more, the use of positive sentences to describe the setting of the story and the characters thoughts and actions suggests that the authors intention was to be uncomplicated, straight forward, and to reach a natural language use that ordinary people use in everyday life.

"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 creates a beautiful and delightful setting, while withholding no clues of the extraordinary and critically shocking ending. The reader's first thought is that of a picturesque summer day, never imagining the disturbing conclusion, which was perfected by the swindling, mischievous skills of duel author and magician, Shirley Jackson. Early in the story the children are happily collecting stones and pebbles while frolicking around the play area. Imagining a peaceful image that the children are collecting these items to play with or skip the stones in a nearby river, yet, these children aren't playing innocent games, they are following a deadly ritual inscribed in them by their very own families. Inadvertently holding the townspeople's destiny inside its splintered walls, the impression of the black box contributes to the author's attitude and feelings toward this horrific tradition. The old, broken black box had been around since the oldest member in the town, Old Man Warner, was born, each time "made with some pieces of the box that preceded it." The accumulation of the layers on the box from previous years represents the layering of additional members into this ritual that idealizes the citizens. Participating in this callous tradition year after year, the town similarly allows this cruel system to continually build and grow due to the ignorance and naïveté of the society.

The lottery begins precisely at ten o'clock and concludes at noon in time for the villagers to get home for lunch. Only stealing less than two priceless hours out of their days once a year, yet, this town still feels that they must rush and hurry to get through this deadly crime. The very detail of the timing shows the town's nonchalant outlook on the tradition of murdering a beloved neighbor for a routine sacrifice. "We better get started, get this over with, so's we can go back to work." Mr. Summers announced to the immersed crowd. The villagers accept this practice with out thinking about the seriousness and brutality of the event. With the custom being so common to the people, they don't comprehend the dangers and pain they put their very own people through. The literally greatest and smallest details occur with the substantial descriptions of stones. While Mrs. Delacroix tenderly greets Mrs. Hutchinson in the beginning of the tale, she ultimately spitefully deceives her and joins the corrupted community when she "selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with two hands." Then again, Davie, Mrs. Hutchinson's youngest son, is handed "a few pebbles" to throw at his very own mother, which decisively inducts him into this society. Both of the specific details of the different types of rocks thrown enhance the readers understanding that every citizen was encouraged and aspired to partake in the tradition. Jackson demonstrates significant details that help the reader discover the author's purpose that the citizens have developed insensitivity toward the cruelty of this practice.

A lottery, the word now stings both the ears of the readers and the villagers of the crooked town. Shirley Jackson's pleasing use of informal diction allowed the reader to relate to the ordinary voice of the characters and added to the finally shock at the end due to her positive word choice through out the story. The vivid image of a peaceful town with merry citizens and the dramatic vision of an old, worn black box created important realizations for the reader to comprehend, enjoy, view Jackson's ideal text. Selected details such as the time of the lottery and the size of the rocks thrown by Mrs. Hutchinson's friend and son, proves Jackson's objective that the society was contributing to a blinded adherence to a pointless, violent tradition. At the same time the reader is realizing all this, they are untimely struck by the perils that society is still like this today.

Word Count- 1,091