Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is one of the most popular short stories frequently anthologized in American textbooks. It is often interpreted to be a criticism against blind obedience to obsolete and illogical traditions, especially those that involve sacrifices of human or non-human life. However, the story is also interpreted as a criticism to cruel and inhumane human nature itself. Does “The Lottery” make the people violent and cruel? Or is it the people’s innate cruelty and violence that make this tradition possible? The tone of the narration, the symbols and motifs used in the story, and the personalities and attitudes of the characters frame the story as a criticism against the innate cruelty of humans which lead to the creation and continuity of the lottery.
The informal and relaxed tone of the narration helps in framing the story as a criticism of human nature. The story begins: “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). With the relaxed tone of the narration, there is no way for a first-time reader to predict the story’s dark side. It does not follow the typical dark and formal tone of horror or gothic-themed stories. This tone makes the twist towards the end of the story even more compelling. A critique comments, “…much of the horror stems from the discrepancy between the normal outward appearance of the village life and its people and the heinous act these people commit in the guise of tradition” (Lenemaja 64). Moreover, with this informal and relaxed tone, it also implies that the story’s twisted ending is not to be considered as horrible or dark. Even after the story’s twist has been revealed, the narrator remains informal without comments or criticisms of what is happening in the story. Towards the ending of the shocking story, Jackson writes, “The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.” The children were about to do something horrible and what is even worse is that Davy is about to help in getting his own mother killed. The contrast between the story’s surface tone and the underlying tone of the whole plot is symbolized by the characters of Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves who lead and facilitate the lottery. As in the beginning to the story which talks about being sunny, Mr. Summers symbolizes being bright and funny. His assistant, Mr. Graves is his complete opposite. As in the ending of the story which talks about death and stones, Mr. Graves is rather quiet and grim. Treating it as a typical plotline with informal and relaxed tone from the beginning to the end implies that the plot, including all the heinous actions included in the story, are only normal or natural for the village people to do.
The symbols used in Jackson’s story such as the pieces of wood and pieces of papers illustrate a criticism of cruelty and violence as innate human characteristics. From the story, we learned that the original equipment used for this tradition are pieces of wood. However, the original pieces of wood had been destroyed and replaced with something even more trivial: pieces of paper. Ironically, the pieces of wood could have been more sturdy, but even this are destroyed by time. This could mean that the tradition could have ended when the pieces of wood had been destroyed. However, the village people strive to continue the tradition and even took the initiative to replace the woods with pieces of paper. The pieces of paper are much less durable and the people can easily forego of the tradition but are less likely to do so. This symbol supports the opposition of the usual interpretation of “The Lottery” as blind obedience to the tradition (Coulthard 226). They had the chance to forego of the tradition but they decided not to and were even proactive about continuing it, implying that it is human nature that drives the continuation of the tradition and not the other way around.
There is also the symbol of lottery itself as an implication of human nature being at the core of the tradition. The idea of randomness such as in the lottery illustrates much of human nature. For example, in the theory of intelligent design, there is the idea of random events that lead to the creation of the universe. In the study of evolution, there are the ideas of random variation, random genetic drift, and other theories or hypothesis associating randomness with how humans came to be. The village people do not implement a complicated or advanced method in choosing whose life is to be sacrificed for all. Rather, the system is straightforward and uncomplicated. The randomness in lottery equates the tradition into something natural.
There is also the motif of using scapegoats to highlight the cruelty of human nature. The story is a criticism of the human’s obsession to have a scapegoat. At the surface, the winner of the lottery is the scapegoat for whatever it is that this tradition is done for (Nelle n.a.). However, in deeper note, the tradition itself is used as a scapegoat to justify the cruel actions of the village people. One can claim that the violence is due to the tradition, but it could also be that the tradition is just an excuse for them to act violently.
Finally, there is also the personalities and attitudes of the characters in the story to illustrate the criticism of human nature. The first is the omniscient narrator who is responsible for the informal tone of the story. The narrator is unemotional, bland, and distant from what is happening in the story. There is also the main character of the story: Tessie Hutchinson. Just like the narrator, Tessie is also indifferent and distant t from much of what is to unfold in the story. Knowing that someone from the village would die that day, it is surprising that Tessie actually forgot that it was the 27th of June—the day of the lottery; again, reiterating the “normal” or “business as usual” type of feeling or mood in the story despite its dark plot. Moreover, she also defies the loving mother stereotype when she wants to decrease the odds of being selected by forcing her own daughter to also draw a paper in the lottery. She also defies the stereotype of mothers sacrificing herself for her children. She protests when she was chosen to die and not her husband or children. She is not different with all other characters in the story. The husband, Bill Hutchinson and their children are just happy that they are not chosen to die. They do not show sadness or remorse to what is about to happen to their wife or mother. Other members of the village, even those who seemed to be friends with Tessie, are just as happy. After all, self-preservation is an instinct to humans and it is only natural to save one’s self first.
Interestingly, no one in the story explained the importance or relevance of the so-called tradition. Everyone in the village just wants the tradition to end in two hours just so they could return to their mundane life. The lack of emphasis to the tradition itself reduces its relevance to the story as a whole. To conclude, the informal tone, the symbols of paper and lottery, the motif of scapegoat, and the characters themselves prove that Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a criticism of human nature and not of tradition. The story presents a pessimistic view of human nature which encourages the village people to continue doing this tradition that is rather forgettable, obsolete, and downright horrible. It is not blind obedience that drive people to continue adhering to this violent tradition. It is in their natural instinct to save one’s self even it means cruelty and violence.
Works Cited
Coulthard, A. R. “Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’.” The Explicator, vol. 48, no. 3, Spring 1990, pp. 226-
227.
Friedman, Lenemaja. Shirley Jackson. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1975.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” The New Yorker. 26 June 1948.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/06/26/the-lottery Accessed 15 March 2020.
Nelles, William. “The Lottery” in Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series, ed by Frank Magill
California: Salem Press, 1995.
