"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

When "The Lottery", a unique and suspenseful story written by award-winning author Shirley Jackson, came out in the year 1948 in The New Yorker, it caused a dramatic outcry. Readers were furious, bewildered, and curious. Although times have changed, “The Lottery” still has a captivating grip on audiences of all ages. It is one of the most widely known stories in American literature and has been adapted for radio, theater, television, and even ballet.

In the beginning, the story starts on a beautiful summer day with flowers "blossoming profusely" and the grass "richly green." All the villagers of a small New England town gather together in the square on June 27, for the town lottery. The village children, who have just finished school for the summer, run around collecting stones. They put the stones in their pockets and make a pile in the square. It seems like typical, playful behavior, making it seem that everyone has gathered for something pleasant like a picnic or a parade.

Like the peaceful setting, the villagers' casual attitude as they make small talk, and crack jokes, disguise the violence to come. The narrator seems aligned with the villagers and narrates the event in an apathetic tone. The lottery, like "the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program," is just another "civic activity" done by Mr. Summers. Although readers may think that the lottery is incomparable to square dancing, the villagers do not seem to see a difference. 

Tessie Hutchinson joins the crowd flustered because she had forgotten that today was the day of the lottery. She joins her husband and children at the front of the crowd, and people joke about her late arrival. Mr. Summers reminds everyone about the lottery’s rules: he’ll read names, and the family heads come up and draw a slip of paper. No one should look at the paper until everyone has drawn it. 

The lottery is tense, and people do not look at each other. Even in the beginning when Mr. Summers required assistance with the big black box with all the lottery papers inside, the citizens tended to avoid the box altogether. This seems like a peculiar response in the eyes of the reader, for they would most likely expect the villagers to be excited about such an event. 

Mr. Summers finishes calling names, and everyone opens their papers. Word quickly gets around that Bill Hutchinson has “got it.” Tessie argues that it wasn’t fair because Bill didn’t have enough time to select a paper. Mr. Graves (the postmaster (has a large amount of power because he can control the town’s communication with the outside world) and assistant to Mr. Summers) dump the papers out of the box onto the ground and then puts five papers in for the Hutchinsons (the number of members in the family).  As Mr. Summers calls their names, each member of the family comes up and draws a paper. When they open their slips, they find that Tessie has drawn the paper with the black dot on it. She is the winner of the lottery… Mr. Summers instructs everyone to hurry up.

The villagers grab the stones that the children collected and run toward Tessie, who stands in a clearing in the middle of the crowd. Tessie says it is not fair and, proceeds to be hit in the head with a stone. Everyone begins throwing stones at her, including her own family, even her youngest son. 

But what is the meaning of all this? Well, there are many interpretations of the story. For instance, it has been looked at as a commentary on World War II, others believe it is a Marxist critique of “an entrenched social order.” Many other readers, tend to think that Tessie Hutchinson was a reference to Anne Hutchinson who was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious reasons. However, the lottery at its core is on human violence, especially when it is done for tradition and or social order. 

Jackson's narrator says that "no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box." Even though the villagers like to think that they're keeping tradition, in reality, they only remember very few details, and the box itself is not the original. There are rumors about songs and salutes, but no one seems to know how the tradition started or what the details should be. With all this, however, they still remember how to throw stones.

- Noor