What Is The Lottery?

If you are like me who is addicted to suspense stories and thrill movies, you should read The Lottery, a story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. First time after I read the short six-page long story, I was speechless—maybe that is the reason it took me three years after my first reading to finally be able to talk about it.

The story happened in a rural village without a name among a group of normal villagers on June 27 without a specific year. Another summer day of June 27 just like all the others—a day that “the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (para. 1). Like many villages, “people … gather in the square, between the post office and the bank” (para. 1) to organize “the teen-age club,” perform “square dances,” and plan “Halloween program” (para. 4). The villagers are everyday people in a rural village—men talked about” planting and rain, tractors and taxes” (para. 3); woman took care of houses and their children; children talked about “the classroom and the teacher” and “of books and reprimands” (para. 2). It is easy for readers to picture one of the summer day in this village anywhere around world, or even picture themselves be in the midst of these normal people.

Jackson deliberately created names for many of the villagers. Most of them are common names (with special meanings) like Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves--the leaders in the village, Old Man Warner who represented aged tradition, the Martin family with three children, and Mrs. Hutchinson who forgot the event because she was busy with her housework. Jackson also touched upon the casual friendship among the people in the village just as it would happen in many small rural villages. She then gave lengthy description about how the lottery was carried out—Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves prepared the paper slips the night before; each family would pick a paper slip by the head of household during the lottery time; and only adult males were qualified to pick the slips unless he was unavailable at the time of lottery. It seemed just like another “fair and normal” lottery selection.

However, the story presented in The Lottery was everything but ordinary. It was the strange behaviors of the children at the beginning of the story first caught my attention—they stuffed their pocket with stones or pile up the stones in the village square. Though an odd game, I thought children do strange things (right?). However, as the story progressed, I sensed the unease and hinted fear of the lottery ritual among the villagers: men were “away from the pile of stones in the corner” of the square and they hesitated when Mr. Summers asked for help. They kept “their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool [that with the black box on].” “The rest of the year, the [black] box was put away, sometimes one place, sometimes another” (para. 6)--I often wondered the black box is the symbol of the lottery ritual. These descriptions made reader wondered more about what the lottery is.

After each household picked his or her ticket, the Hutchinson discovered that they were the winning family of this year’s lottery. Next was the selection among the Hutchinsons—Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson, Bill, Jr., Nancy, and even little Dave, whom apparently was to young to even comprehend the process. Finally, the villagers were relaxed because Mrs. Hutchinson got the winning slip; however, readers were still left wondering what the lottery is. Jackson was able to wait to the end of the story to reveal the true meaning of the lottery to create the ultimate surprise in this ordinary village.

By setting a suspense story in a common rural village and among some ordinary people, Jackson demonstrates that the true horror is not the imaginary monsters; instead, it is the insensitivity and cruelty within the ordinary people. By carefully design and present the story, Jackson effectively controls her readers throughout the story.

If you really wonder what the lottery is, click the link (http://www.americanliterature.com/SS/SS16.HTML) and read the story--you will find out with a surprise that will astound you. Though suspense story is usually not for re-reading, I however have gone back to it many times—I often wondered what would I do if I am one of the member in the village.