Marxist Shirley Jackson 's The Lottery

“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” (Twain). The Lottery begins during the summer. A small, seemingly normal, town is gathering to throw the annual “Lottery”. In the end, the townspeople—children included—gather around and stone the winner to death, simply because it was tradition. The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective. “I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (Jackson). As humans develop as a race, their practices should develop with them. Shirley Jackson develops the

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery” (Winston Churchill). These infamous words were stated after a tiring and dreadful World War II, in which the U.S., Great Britain, and other powerful countries feared of the spread of Marxism within countries who formed the Warsaw Pact. As the world tried to effect social change and denounce Marxism, one author echoed sentiment, through her literary work: Shirley Jackson. One of Shirley Jackson’s most popular stories was published the same year (1948), in which Winston Churchill spoke about Marxism “The Lottery”, is about an apparent Marxist society, where every year three men, Mr. Summers, Mr. Graves, and Mr. Martin, run a lottery. The lottery involves a black box in which all the villagers have a slip of paper with their household and family names on each slip. Mr. Summers then draws a slip, which contains one of the household names. Next, the villager’s family members all have to draw and the family member who picks the paper with the black dot is stoned to death by the townspeople, which is a traditional sacrifice that occurs within the community. In “The Lottery”, the wife of Bill Hutchinson, whose family name was drawn, Miss Hutchinson gets the black dot and has “won” the lottery. Miss Hutchinson scrutinizes the lottery and claims it is unfair because her husband did not have enough time to draw. Miss Hutchinson is eventually stoned to death. Although the society in “The Lottery” is supposed to be Marxist, there is evident misuse of power every year the same men Mr. Summers, Mr. Graves, and Mr. Martin control the lottery, suggesting that these men still have authority in a society where everyone claims to be equal. Therefore, an analysis of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” through the Marxist lens suggests that the story is really about the difficulty to challenge those in power in an apparent hypocritical Marxist society.

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the small village, at first, seems to be lovely, full of tradition, with the townspeople fulfilling their civic duties, but instead this story is bursting with contrast. The expectations that the reader has are increasingly altered. The title of this short story raises hope, for in our society the term “lottery” typically is associated with winning money or other perceived “good” things. Most people associate winning a lottery with luck, yet Jackson twists this notion around and the luck in this village is with each of the losers.

The diverse characters within the story represent various views and ideas in a symbolic manner. "The lottery was conducted-as were the square dances, the teen-age club, the Halloween program-by Mr. Summers, who had time and

In Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," what appears to be an ordinary day in a small town takes an evil turn when a woman is stoned to death after "winning" the town lottery. The lottery in this story reflects an old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order to encourage the growth of crops. But this story is not about the past, for through the actions of the town, Jackson shows us many of the social ills that exist in our own lives.

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a story littered with warnings and subtext about the dangers a submissive society can pose. While the opening is deceptively cheery and light Jackson uses an array of symbols and ominous syntax to help create the apprehensive and grim tone the story ends with. Her portrayal of the town folk as blindly following tradition represents the world during World War II when people’s failure to not mindlessly accept and heed authority lead to disastrous consequences. . Shirley Jackson uses a large array of techniques to help convey the idea that recklessly following and accepting traditions and orders can lead to disastrous consequences.

“A stone hit her on the side of the head. "It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her” (34). “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson which, sparked controversy when published in the June 26, 1948 issue of the New Yorker. Jackson used several different literary devices to support her theme that people who don’t question tradition get what they deserve. The literary devices Jackson uses to support the theme of ‘The Lottery’ are irony, foreshadowing, and pacing.

The social standings of the different genders of the town’s people are predominant throughout the story. The people living in this town are very traditional and do not care too much for change. This is directly related to the social standings of the men and the women. The men and women portray the traditional roles of everyday life. The men are the typical breadwinners, going to work every day, enduring hard labor, and supporting their families. The women are characterized as typical housewives who stay at home and take care of the house and family. In this town, the women are looked at as subordinates to their husbands. Before the lottery begins the women would follow in behind their husbands. When it came time for the lottery, the men would choose the first slips for their family (Whittier p.356-357). This is symbolic of the social hierarchy of a society that believes men come before women.

Shirley Jackson is to be considered one of the best authors of the 1900’s. Her style of writing reeled in readers from all different ages. She can be creepy, hilarious, and inspiring to the eyes that see her words. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, she keeps the reader on the edge of their seat wanting to continue reading beyond the final word. She uses literary devices to shape her story to grab her readers attention all throughout the story. By using these literary devices, Shirley Jackson shows off her dark and twisted side as well as her fantastic writing style to emphasize why she is one of the writers of her generation.

Henry ford, once wisely said,’’ History is more less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's dam is the history we made today’’. “The Lottery” and “Harrison Bergeron” are the best deprivation short stories. Harrison Bergeron” and “The Lottery” both reveal that it is human nature to blindly want a better situation without considering all the possible outcomes. Not just in these stories, but also in reality, people want to attain an equal society, although many people do not consider how everyone will become equal, in ‘’Harrison Bergeron’’ He is afraid of everything and try to enlighten to other member of society and In Shirley Jackson’s ‘’The Lottery’’ the story shows winning the lottery is bad, but in the lottery the lucky winner who draws the winning paper then gets the prize of being stoned death. Jackson uses Tessie Hutchinson’s character to condemn force. However, both stories are false equality and blind traditions but both societies while awareness is the difference between them.

The short story, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, managed to capture various human tendencies stemming from the very heart of the unalterable human condition. The willingness to follow tradition blindly, the inherent cruelty of humans, and the unwillingness to change were the primary negative behaviors depicted in the story.

In her work “ The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson illustrates the idea that society is reluctant to reject out dated traditions. To illustrate the theme of this story Mr. Summers “spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset…tradition. ”(Jackson 1) This shows how the community as a whole is accustomed to the sacrifices and their current ways that they will not even accept a new box. In addition, Old Man Warner spoke about how crazy it would be to eradicate the lottery, saying that the other towns are a “pack of crazy fools” to do so (4).

Futhermore, in the story it states that “The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between them and the stool” (Jackson 20). The black box holds all of the power and because Mr. Summer is in control of the black box, this gives him power as well. The lower class is made up of all of the other citizens in the town who are downtrodden from being overworked. It is clear that some people in the working class wish to rebel, which would be doing away with the lottery, but are afraid of how Mr. Summers would respond. It’s also possible that Tessie was picked because she is a house wife and does not contribute to the economy.

Shirley Jackson?s insights and observations about society are reflected in her shocking and disturbing short story The Lottery. Jackson reveals two general attitudes in this story: first is the shocking tendency for societies to select a scapegoat and second is the idea that communities are victims of social tradition and rituals.

As tyrannical government ruled freely over the ignorant masses, yearly tradition becomes etched into the minds of the working class, as the old wonder with a gloomy perspective where society is going. “The Lottery” is a epitome of what happens when society can only distinguish two classes, specifically to the downtrodden working class and the wealthy leader class. This is made clear through the characterization of the higher class, as well as the lower class, and the effects on social change due to the class differences.