A lottery has always been described as a prosperous event for anybody who has ever played. However, it is not always as flourishing as it may seem. Shirley Jackson, the author of an enticing short story called The Lottery, proves this by displaying how a different culture views a lottery system much differently than your average person might think. This story is a riveting tale of a small village that plays an annual lottery game every summer by drawing names randomly out of an ancient black box.
Despite its deceiving title, the ending of this novel is not what one might expect in the slightest way. In fact, the randomly hosen winner, Tessie Hutchinson, get stoned by everyone in the village. Due to the tradition of this village, this occurs every year. Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery portrays the dark identity of human nature through its plot, setting, and characters. Throughout the plot of this story there is a lot revealed regarding the story as well as the development of the true dark nature of human beings.
At the beginning of the story before the reader even knows what is going on, there is a scene involving children that is illustrated as such, “They stood together away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their okes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed” (Jackson 346). This excerpt epitomizes the nature that humans possess once they conform to the ways of society. The stones gathered in piles were the stones that they collected to stone the chosen winner of the lottery for that year and the villagers were casually joking as if it was no big deal at all.
Prior to the lottery families were planning what they were going to do next after it was all over. Preparing to move on with their lives as if nothing had ever happened. This is exposed at the beginning of the story when Jackson portrays,”… he whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner” (346). This is astonishing because all the people will completely ignore what occurred and move on as if all is well.
In addition, Jackson makes it known that the lottery has been around for a very long time by vividly describing the black box. The fact that it has been around longer than the oldest person in the village, Old Man Warner. ASsuming the stoning of the winner every year results in death, seventy-seven people have ied in this village. The reader can acknowledge this as a minimum number because in the passage Old man Warner says, “Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery,” (Jackson 349). The fact that this many people died due to a blind faith in tradition proves the true darkness of human nature.
The rather secluded setting of this story is a key connection to the points revealing human nature. The fact that this village was remote and generally uninfluenced by any outside sources proves that they created their own sense of morality and tradition to go along with it. Although it does give reference to ther villages getting rid of the lottery system, characters in this story claim that getting rid of the lottery would be a poor choice and foolish. However, this is only briefly mentioned and there is no evidence as to why that would be negative to the village. There is also no evidence as to why they think the lottery benefits them.
Once again, it is just a blind tradition that they all follow. Furthermore, Jackson depicts the setting of the town at the beginning of the story as the most normal day imaginable. It opens up by saying, “The morning of June 27th was clear and unny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day” (Jackson 345). This setting description is rather disturbing after reading the story in its entirety. After analyzing the setting and realizing how normal of a day this was for everyone in the village, the reader can truly grasp that not a single person felt an ounce of remorse for what occurred at the end of the story.
All of the people grew up with the lottery and have seen it come and go year after year and all of them are numb to the horrible nature of what it is, a death game. Also, there were no connections to any sort of religious affiliation. This would at least justify a reason for them participating in this year after year. The only reason that could justify this lottery is the fact that this did not take place in the present time. The only evidence for this is when Jackson refers to lunch at the beginning of the story as “noon dinner” (346).
This terminology hints at the fact that this is not lage in the present time. The setting as a whole illustrates a larger picture of human nature and the corrupt morality that is revealed by this story. A major part of this allusion to society that Jackson represents are the characters that are involved and their individual ersonalities. The whole town is perfectly fine with the whole process and rather joyful prior to the process. There are three main characters that stood out and the first one is Old Man Warner. He is the one that supports the system more than anyone and he has been in it the longest.
He not only agrees with it, but acknowledges that it has changed over the years. He disapproves by saying, “It’s not the way it used to be” (Jackson 351). His disappointed tone admits that he prefers the way the lottery used to be as compared to what it is now. His approval if the system in genera reveals the corruptness of not only the ndividual village, but humanity as a whole. Secondly, Mr. Summers, the conductor of the lottery, shows how he would rather be working and doing something more important when he says,”… etter get started, get this over with, so’s we can go back to work” (Jackson 348). It is encouraging to at least see that someone would rather be doing something else such as work than participating at this. That being said, he still does not do anything to put an end to the game. The last character that Jackson utilizes at large is Tessie Hutchinson. Tessie and her husband are in full support of the lottery. That is her husband’s name gets called and her family is forced to draw again to see who gets stoned.
Her husband Bill was chosen and she shouted, “I saw you. It wasn’t fair! ” (Jackson 350). She is later chosen at random from her family and is stoned by the entire village. Her sudden disapproval of the system shows that all is fine and well until it happens her. This idea conveys the selfishness of humans to an extreme. Also, her own son is handed stones to throw at his mom during the process. No remorse is shown what so ever. In conclusion, this story by Shirley Jackson utilizes Plot, setting, nd characters to show a larger theme in society: corrupt human nature.
The plot slowly reveals what the lottery actually results in as well as the unethical state of it. Jackson also uses setting to show how normal of a day this was for everyone involved and how numb the characters were to the horrible fate of this game. The different personalities of the characters each complement each other in a way that add up to what ultimately is inevitable which is how corrupt they have become. Shirley Jackson hints at her overall theme in the multiple ways stated to create a story that exposes a deeper and more powerful truth.