Review for "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

Review of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.

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"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson was first published in June of 1948 in The New Yorker.

The story takes place in a small village, on a summer day in June. The townspeople begin to gather around in the square awaiting an event called "The Lottery." This is a tradition that occurs every year and goes back several generations. While the children are gathering stones, the town selectman Mr. Summers is setting up the event. It requires a black wooden box and strips of paper. As Mr. Summers gets ready to start the lottery, Mrs. Hutchinson is running late but makes it in time. Old man Warner talks with the men about nearby towns that have gotten rid of the lottery or are thinking about getting rid of the lottery. Old man Warner claims that it is nonsense and the lottery is the tradition. Finally, the lottery begins, and one by one Mr. Summers calls the last name of each family. The head of the house goes up to grab a slip of folded paper. When every family has a paper, they open them up. The family that receives the paper with a black dot on it is selected in the second round. Each family member then randomly picks a piece of paper and whoever gets the black dot is chosen as the winner of the lottery. Unfortunately, the winner of the lottery is selected to be stoned to death by the townspeople. Afterward, everyone moves on with their lives until next year.

Shirley Jackson begins to foreshadow the tragic ending early on in the story with the mention of the children gathering stones in a pile. The winner of the lottery should not come as a huge surprise. Jackson sets up Mrs. Hutchinson is a quirky woman that might question the rules and traditions of the town. This attitude of hers is what sets her up to be the winner. While the idea of a lottery sounds like a rewarding event, the irony is that the winner is not bathed in riches but rather executed. The lottery system is usually associated with people winning money. Instead, here we get the winner being stoned to death.

In the opening sentence of the story, Jackson does a great job of setting up the town and the environment. She describes it as a warm day with blossoming flowers and green grass. This contrasts the horrific ending. The description of the town can precondition the reader into thinking the ending was going to be pleasant, which is not the case. The lottery can be seen as a satire for governments or societies that sacrifice people because they believe it will bring them peace and fortune. By raising the idea of not holding a lottery, Jackson is really inserting her thoughts of that time in history.

There are only a handful of people in the town that are mentioned in the story. Mr. Summers is described as a "round-faced, jovial man" who owns a coal factory. In a way this almost makes him sound like Santa Claus. So it seems ironic that he would be the one to deal out the lottery, which ultimately leads to the death of a person. Old man Warner is sort of the stereotypical cranky old man who firmly believes in traditions and not changing. Mrs. Hutchinson is described as a woman who doesn't fit the standard conformity of the other women in the town.

The names that Jackson chose for her characters are quite fitting and seems intentional. The names are allusions and symbols for the traits of each character. Hutchinson is a name that could be referring to Anne Hutchinson who was a Massachusetts colonist that was excommunicated from the Puritan Church for being a heretic. The name Martin could be referring to the Latin word Martinus, which means protector god of the Latins. It's sort of a stretch, but it could be because Mr. Martin was guarding the lottery box. The name Summers is pretty on the nose. The word summer evokes a sense of warmth and happiness. Mr. Summers is described as being a cheerful guy and also conducts the lottery, which takes place in the summer. The other visible name in the story is Graves. That is clearly meant to represent the death that the lottery brings. Other names can be interpreted to have some sort of meaning as well. The name Delacroix means "of the cross," Adams could refer to God's first man, Warner, the old man that "warns" people not to go against the lottery. Another example of symbolism is the use of the black box and the black spot of paper in the event. The color black is known as a symbol for death, so that should have been the reader's first clue that the lottery was not a good thing.

From the content in the story, it is possible to assume that the author is against the lottery. This is evident in the scene where Mr. Adams tells Old man Warner about the other towns that have stopped holding a lottery. Jackson brings up this idea to show the reader that there are people against the lottery. Old man Warner then sounds like a crazy person for continuing to go along with killing a person each year just because it is the tradition. The fact that Mrs. Hutchinson pleads to her family and the townspeople, in the end, is also a sign that Jackson is against the lottery. Perhaps Mrs. Hutchinson represents the thoughts and actions that Jackson would take if she had been the winner of the lottery.

The Lottery is one of my favorite short stories probably because it reminds me a bit of The Hunger Games as well as my favorite short story, the previously reviewed, Harrison Bergeron. Both stories are about a society that imposes laws or rules that the people must follow without question. In the lottery, the punishment of death is nothing personal but rather a pure "luck of the draw" scenario. I'm always drawn to stories that have these governments that do the wrong thing to people because they believe in the greater good of society. What I like about The Lottery is that it does not agree nor disagree with the idea of the lottery. The story reflects how people in the community can react to these terrible long-standing traditions. It's basically the herd mentality. People go along with it because everyone else is going along with it. When the winner is drawn people justify the lottery as being okay because they were not the person chosen for death.

When I first read the story, I had no idea what it was about other than the title telling me there was a lottery involved. However, I was not really surprised by the ending because I knew that something terrible was going to happen to the lottery winner. I think I first realized this when I was reading about the townspeople talking about the other towns giving up the lottery. If other cities no longer believe in the system, then there must be a reason why. Those reasons are usually not something positive. When Mrs. Hutchinson protests at her family being selected, I was almost sure that she was going to be the person to win. The one thing I did not really see coming was the stones. I thought that it was just a throwaway line in the beginning. I did not realize that these people were going to be stoned to death. That was a shocking twist that I find to be horrifying.

While it may be one of the more well-known short stories, it is regarded highly for a reason. Because of the theme that it touches on as well as the technique and style, it is written in. If you have not read it by now (I don't know why you would be reading this first) then you should go read it very soon. It's not a big flashy story, it's subtle but meaningful.

While I'm not as good a horror writer as Shirley Jackson, check out my spooky/thriller inspired stories on WattPad!

"Grave Little Witches"

"Through the Blackout"

Looking for a Halloween themed children's book? Check out my book “Who Scared Jack?” About a pumpkin named Jack who is scared on Halloween night. Join him as he makes his way through his house filled with all sorts of spooky creatures as he looks for the monster.

Buy “Who Scared Jack?” with this link