The Lottery Response Essay
Dakota Dunn
Response paper for The Lottery
ENGL 1020
24 April, 2014
Why do humans have an obsession with death and pain? Looking back, history is littered with stories of people being murdered in cruel ways. Think back to Nero, Emperor of Rome. Or remember the stories of the Catholic Inquisition. In more recent years, people hear stories of torture and killing in China and the Middle East. Even the bombing of the Boston marathon falls under these tragedies. There is no doubt that humans have a dark part of them, but the question is why. It could be a mental instability. It could be a desire for revenge. In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson suggests that, at least on some level, it could be tradition. “The Lottery” is set on the day of June 27th. While an exact location or time period is not ever mentioned, it suggests to be in much earlier years, perhaps the 1910’s or 1920’s. The reason for this is twofold; the people are referred to as villagers, something that was becoming increasingly less of a phenomenon past the 1930’s. Also, they generally operate on a much lower level of development. The children play with stones and the people write with coal. As far as a location goes, it seems to be set in America in the South, from the diction used by the characters in the story. The villagers hold a lottery once a year. The saying went, “Lottery in June, Crops be full soon.” (314) It took 2 days and they had done it as long as anyone could remember. Multiples times, the reader is informed that the villagers had long since forgotten the ritual that accompanied the lottery, but they still remembered what the general idea of the lottery was. The purpose of the lottery is never really given. The reader simply knows that it exists and it is a tradition. The end result is that the “winner” of the lottery is stoned to death. It begs the question; why did the villagers not abandon it entirely? Tradition. The reader never knows that the winner of
Response paper for The Lottery
ENGL 1020
24 April, 2014
Why do humans have an obsession with death and pain? Looking back, history is littered with stories of people being murdered in cruel ways. Think back to Nero, Emperor of Rome. Or remember the stories of the Catholic Inquisition. In more recent years, people hear stories of torture and killing in China and the Middle East. Even the bombing of the Boston marathon falls under these tragedies. There is no doubt that humans have a dark part of them, but the question is why. It could be a mental instability. It could be a desire for revenge. In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson suggests that, at least on some level, it could be tradition. “The Lottery” is set on the day of June 27th. While an exact location or time period is not ever mentioned, it suggests to be in much earlier years, perhaps the 1910’s or 1920’s. The reason for this is twofold; the people are referred to as villagers, something that was becoming increasingly less of a phenomenon past the 1930’s. Also, they generally operate on a much lower level of development. The children play with stones and the people write with coal. As far as a location goes, it seems to be set in America in the South, from the diction used by the characters in the story. The villagers hold a lottery once a year. The saying went, “Lottery in June, Crops be full soon.” (314) It took 2 days and they had done it as long as anyone could remember. Multiples times, the reader is informed that the villagers had long since forgotten the ritual that accompanied the lottery, but they still remembered what the general idea of the lottery was. The purpose of the lottery is never really given. The reader simply knows that it exists and it is a tradition. The end result is that the “winner” of the lottery is stoned to death. It begs the question; why did the villagers not abandon it entirely? Tradition. The reader never knows that the winner of