Title: Dare we Damn Ourselves? An essay based on The Lottery by Shriley Jackson

Author: Rich Christie <RichChristie@ChristieComputer.com>

It is sickening. It is disturbing. It's human nature. No matter who the people in the culture are or the era in which they live in, there has always been and always will be horrid customs that are accepted and rarely challenged. An example of this is in the short story by Shirley Jackson titled "The Lottery". In this story, the tale of a brutal and heinous stoning of an innocent but unlucky woman is told, which strongly clashes with our contemporary traditional values. As civilized, ethical, and dignified human beings we have the right to criticize the traditions in the society outlined in the story "The Lottery" and others like it because we are that society.

Perhaps it may seem like ethnocentric thinking, though it really is not. Judging the values that we were given in the story is no more ethnocentric than looking back on our own history in the United States and learning what we did wrong from our past mistakes. It would be wrong not to criticize these traditions because without the critical scrutiny, we as humans may not progress past that point and such ghastly actions could still take place. In circumstances like "The Lottery", it is not our duty to condemn them but rather compare them to ourselves. By comparing what we consider to be barbaric actions on their part to some of our own customs, we profit so long as it helps us spot errors in our ways as well.

Though the setting is not specified in the story, but there is much evidence that would make the reader assume it is our own culture, or a similar one, in or around our own time period. In many ways, it seems that the culture described in "The Lottery" is not a specific culture at all but instead a generic one that can be applied to most of the western civilizations as we know them. One piece of evidence would be that it is written in our own English language and their speaking style is very similar to our own. They address the men as Mr. and the women as their formal counterpart (Mrs., Miss, etc.) just as we do, which is shown throughout the story- Mr. Summers, Mrs. Hutchinson, Mrs. Delacroix, to name a few examples. (330).

Many of the characters in the story also seemed to be of the opinion that what they were doing was wrong, which shows that they were doing it more out of habit than belief. One of the characters asserted that "Some places have already quit lotteries", though she was quickly rebutted by a tyrant who opposed the idea of change. (339). They did not seem to fully understand why it was being done, only that it was part of their society. It seemed as though many of them were numb to the terror and fear that would normally come along with the possibility of such a horrible fate for themselves or their family and neighbors.

Just as in our own society, the characters in "The Lottery" pass the ignorance from one generation to another which is shown where it states "the children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles" (341). Quite ironic "Harry, you help little Dave..", "Harry, you hold it for him.." - for a child who could not even draw and hold his own piece of paper! (341). Though perhaps it may not be much different than our society giving children water pistols and teaching them to admire guns and other weapons of destruction while at the same time proselytizing the concept of not using foul language because it is improper.

Looking onto their society from our own and passing judgments may not show us to be as open minded as we would like to believe we are, but as with everything there is a point where a line must be drawn and the wasting of a human life, especially by such savage means, would be that line. Our society has the amendment forbidding "cruel and unusual punishment" and though it has some weaknesses, a complex criminal justice system. The stoning in "The Lottery" seems not to have anything to do with the prosecution of a criminal or any punishment whatsoever, and seems to revolve around the theme of following a tradition blindly without significantly challenging it and depending only on pure luck- not on justice or reason. It seems that Jackson is exploiting a flaw in human nature and is making a mockery out of our ignorance, and does an excellent job at it. She presents us with a tale of tragedy that appeals to our emotions and gives us perfect opportunity to criticize this culture, but on a deeper level all we are really doing is criticizing ourselves and "The Lottery" is just a distorted refection of our own society. But again, this is also what gives us the right to criticize- it is us.

Just as Tessie did not willingly chose the paper with a dot on it, we do not chose to be born under any certain conditions, into a certain family, or with specific abilities. We rely on the "luck of the draw" so to speak, and build our life around what we are given. Some are born into poverty and/or into a low status in a caste system or have a disability of some form and are essentially condemned from the beginning which is of no fault of their own, while others are blessed from birth with riches, talents, and abilities that are to be commended. "The Lottery" is a condensed symbol is this concept because the destiny of the individual is left to fate without regard for the individual. The mass gathering and alliance to something they do not quite understand but still carry through is certainly a mirror image of the class and caste systems in societies. For example, people do not really understand why it is the rich that are usually more respected, the attractive more likely to be chosen for a job, and so on, even if those traits have been inherited and have nothing to do with their ability. The same holds true with "The Lottery", only reversed. They were fair and impartial regarding who was chosen, but they viewed it was their duty to stone the person who was unlucky enough to have the dotted piece of paper without considering that he/she (Tessie, in this case) may have been an excellent asset and could have helped progress the community a great deal. Everyday injustices and discriminations based on pure luck take place, and everyday a Tessie is stoned.

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