analytical essay of the lottery

The Lottery Literary Analysis – Summary & Analytical Essay

The Lottery, a short story by Shirley Jackson, exposes humanity’s brutal and inhumane actions through different characters. Set in a rural village, the plot highlights how traditional customs and practices can lead to the acceptance of cruel behavior. The Lottery literary analysis essay discusses the dangers of blindly following tradition and the need to question and critically evaluate social norms. It is an important summary of the destructive nature of blindly following rules. The Lottery analysis essay also explores the theme of tradition and its impact on society.

Basically, ‘lottery’ in this story is a yearly occasion in which an individual in the town is chosen at random to be stoned by hi/her allies and family members. Notably, the atmosphere created by Jackson in presentation of the sureness and the norm of the practice of lottery within the village is quite convincing that, this practice was readily welcomed.

The ultimate fate of all the practices presented in this short story is marked by ‘death’, perceived as redeemer for many evils people commit against each other. This paper presents the tools of characterization and the setting of the short story “The Lottery”.

One of the most outstanding tools of characterization in this short-story is actions. Though this story is not dominated by many actions, characterization is well defined by the few actions the characters are involved.

For example, Mrs. Delacroix is brought out in the story as being highly determined and quick tempered lady. This is reflected by her action of selecting a large stone ‘so large that she had to pick it with two hands in anger of ….” (Shirley 76).

More so, the unfolding of events in this short story seems as if Jackson is revealing the hypocrisy and evil-nature of human kind. As stated in the story, “They greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip…manhandling each other without a flinch of pity…” (Shirley 281). Though the reader of this short story expects the practice of lottery to be beneficial to the villagers in a way, nothing of worth is gained form such practiced of lottery.

It should be noted keenly that, this short story portrays extreme evil committed in just ordinary manner, which implies an underlying evil of man. This quite evident in the way such evils presented in this short story are happening in just friendly atmosphere, reflecting the camouflaging nature of humans.

Despite the short story being not insidious until near its end, the author seems to be foreshadowing this notion of deadliness as brought out through M. Summers, who is in charge of lottery, and his colleague Mr. Graves. The picture brought out of Mr. Summers in this short story makes him seem a respected man as he coordinates various social activities.

This humble nature of Mr. Summers, yet a very dangerous one is reported by Shirley (282) that, “Mr. Summers was very good at all this ….. with one hand resting carelessly on the black box, he seemed very proper and important as he talked interminably to Mr. Graves and the Martins”. Such activities may seem normal with regard to the village norms, but they reflect high degree of human rights violation.

The main characters used in this short story depict the mood of the actual events in this short story. For instance, the name ‘Summers’ symbolizes the fundamental theme of the story, and ultimate outcome of the entire events (Marshall 3).

Further, the name of Mr. Summer’s colleague, Mr. Graves, who happens to be his assistant in activities of lottery, prefigures iniquity of ordinary people. Basically, imagery is clearly brought out in this short story by having the author give the names of the main characters portray the entire theme.

Together with hypocrisy, ‘lottery’ in this short story presents the weak nature of human nature. Considering that this act of lottery had been a routine in this village for many years, no one seems to question its negative impacts in the general human welfare.

As reflected in Shirley (282), “There’s always been a lottery and no one has been nervous about it…everyone goes on with it…” reveals how hypocritical the people in the village were.

According to Hyman (35) no one had expressed fear of disgust of the act, despite it being depriving human nature of their human rights for survival. The kind of evil and malevolence presented in this short story goes beyond human violence since all is done calmly and in unity.

As Marshall (3) suggests, the use of protagonism in this short story is a real reflection of how people are deeply engraved in hypocrisy and wickedness. Ironically, Mrs. Hutchinson, who emerges to protest and rebel against lottery, emerges as the victim of the act of lottery the day she was going to protest against it.

This retracts all acts of rebellion against the act of lottery, and everything goes on as usual. Though before drawing from her fellow women to face her fate she seems happy, Mrs. Hutchison she is brought out to be happy to leave to see the way her fellow humans are mistreated (Hyman 46).

This reveals the way oppressive norms and cultures deem hopes of liberalization from such oppressive cultures. Particularly, the death of Mrs. Hutchison marks the continuity of evil nature of human kind eternally, despite their facial appearance seeming friendly.

Generally, the unfolding of the short story reflects the way humans mistreat each other, presumably in conformation to cultural beliefs and practices. Since the act of lottery as presented in this short story seems to undermine human nature, people seem to condone such evils with less regard on their negative impacts.

As the story ends, the ‘light of hope’ for liberalization, Mrs. Hutchison, dies which implies the unending nature of human wicked nature and evil. Generally, the short story reflects the societal malpractices committed by mankind to each other, as though they are ordinary events.

Works Cited

Hyman, Stanley. The Presentation of Evil in “The Lottery”. New Jersey: Bantam Publishing Co., 2000.

Marshall, Garry. Analysis of “The Lottery” a Short Story by Shirley Jackson. New York: Lori Voth Publishers, 2003.

Shirley, Jackson. The Lottery. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers, 1948.

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Lottery Literary Analysis – Summary & Analytical Essay." October 28, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/literary-analysis-of-the-lottery/.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery

Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 28, 2021

As were many of Shirley Jackson’s stories, “The Lottery” was first published in the New Yorker  and, subsequently, as the title story of The Lottery: or, The Adventures of James Harris in 1949. It may well be the world’s most frequently anthologized short story. A modern horror story, it derives its effect from a reversal of the readers’ expectations, already established by the ordinary setting of a warm June day in a rural community. Readers, lulled into this false summer complacency, begin to feel horror, their moods changing with the narrator’s careful use of evidence and suspense, until the full realization of the appalling ritual murder bursts almost unbearably on them.

The story opens innocently enough, as the townspeople gather for an unidentified annual event connected to the harvest. The use of names initially seems to bolster the friendliness of the gathering; we feel we know these people as, one by one, their names are called in alphabetical order. In retrospect, however, the names of the male lottery organizers—Summer and Graves—provide us with clues to the transition from life to death. Tessie, the soon-to-be-victim housewife, may allude to another bucolic Tess (in Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles ), whose promising beginnings transformed into gore and death at the hands of men.

Shirley Jackson/Erich Hartmann

The scholar and critic Linda Wagner-Martin observes that only recently have readers noticed the import of the sacrificial victim’s gender: In the traditional patriarchal system that values men and children, mothers are devalued once they have fulfilled their childbearing roles. Tessie, late to the gathering because her arms were plunged to the elbow in dishwater, seems inconsequential, even irritating, at first. Only as everyone in the town turns against her— children, men, other women invested in the system that sustains them—does the reader become aware that this is a ritual stoning of a scapegoat who can depend on no one: not her daughter, not her husband, not even her little boy, Davy, who picks up an extraordinarily large rock to throw at her.

No reader can finish this story without contemplating the violence and inhumanity that Jackson intended it to portray. In the irony of its depiction lies the horror of this classic tale and, one hopes, a careful reevaluation of social codes and meaningless rituals.

Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s Stories

https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-authors-voice/a-m-homes-reads-shirley-jackson-the-lottery

BIBLIOGRAPHY Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery: or, The Adventures of James Harris. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1949. Wagner-Martin, Linda. “The Lottery.” In Reference Guide to Short Fiction, edited by Noelle Watson, 783–784. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994.

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Literary Analysis: “The Lottery”, Essay Example

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Shirley Jackson’s story, “The Lottery” (1948) is famous for disturbing readers. One of the reasons that the story incites such a powerful emotional response in the audience is that Jackon’s theme in the story relates to a central experience of being human. This experience is that of being both an individual and a member of collective society. By creating a “normal” world and setting that is also terrifying and horribly evil, Jackson is able to craft an unforgettable modern “fable” that carries a strong and highly significant message. Jackson uses irony throughout the story to convey the message that social conformity taken to an extreme is a most dangerous threat to humanity.

While many readers will readily see that Jackson has combined elements of modern life with primitive ideas and practices, such stoning, fewer readers are probably aware of the way in which irony is employed by Jackson to suggest the deeper conflict between individualism and conformity. For example, Tessie Hutchinson, who becomes the sacrificial victim of the stoning pleads for justice from the townspeople. In other words, she attempts to appeal to their sense of justice and humanity. Instead of responding, the townspeople stone Tessie Hutchinson to death because they have substituted blind obedience to ritual and law for a sense of justice and empathy. this is ironic in that, the townspeople are trying to follow law and custom to preserve their culture and ideals, but they are actually preventing true law and meaningful culture from happening.

The way that this sense of irony connects to the main theme of the story is that it shows how blind obedience to the crowd is often a path to injustice and tragedy. Therefore, it is important for individualism to exist as a counterbalance for social influences. Another way that Jackson uses irony to extend her theme of individuality is by connecting a superstitious ritual to a seemingly modern society. This is done by Jackson to make sure that the reader knows there is no rational reason for the lottery or the stoning of the town’s victims. They are simply following a custom for its own end and they are doing so while being obviously ignorant even of the origin or purpose of their murderous ritual. There is also a subtle implication of irony in the way that Jackson describes the weather and season: ‘flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson). Careful readers will note that the combination of murder and the beautiful day is meant to show that the people of the town are oblivious to nature.

Being oblivious or out of step with nature is a theme that aligns very closely to Jackson’s theme of social conformity. The usual vision of social conformity holds that it is an instinctual, evolutionary behavior for human-beings to group together in societies and follow a “herd” impulse. This vision is generally supported by comparing human nature to animal nature. Jackson turns this around ironically and implies that nature actually excels through individuality and birth, rather than conformity and death. The description of the season and weather is a form of symbolism to express this irony with the spring weather indicating birth and the sunny day symbolizing optimism and affirmation. The symbolic connection is offered almost obviously by Jackson in order to show, by contrast, how shallow and blind the people of the village have actually become.

Not a single person in the village is able to object to the ritual murder of the young girl. This is due not to actual powerlessness on the behalf of the people; it is due plainly to their ignorance and blind obedience to conformity. The people portrayed in the story are so afraid of being killed for “standing out” of the crowd that they each suppress their individuality. When each person suppresses their individual feelings all chance of political objection or rebellion dies. When this happens broken social systems, even ones which are cruel and dehumanizing, are able to continue despite the fact that their continuation provides nothing of merit to society.

In fact, this latter quality: the inability to question tradition of the status-quo is the most ironic construction in the story. By showing that the people in the village have simultaneously forgotten how or why the lottery started in the first place yet defend its ritual as the most significant thing in society, Jackson reaches her highest level of irony in the story. This shows that law is only important to conformists in itself; it does not need to serve any justice or social purpose. Of course, since the whole point of human society is ostensibly to rise out of the meaningless “primitive” state of nature, such blind conformity indicates that society has utterly failed. of course, this irony is even more brutal and more profoundly pronounced in that it results in the collective murder of an innocent child.

It is of utmost importance that readers understand Jackson’s story as being more than a story about primitive superstition. The fact, the story is a warning about the extreme dangers that accompany social conformity. While those who relish the idea of social order and law may fail to see the brilliance of Jackson’s argument, those who have suffered under the pressure of others to conform, blindly, to a belief, agenda, or organization will intuitively understand why it was necessary for Jackson to end her story with the brutal murder of an innocent girl. It was necessary because the danger of blind conformity is that it destroys everything important and meaningful about being human, and sacrifices it to a senseless obedience to tradition and law.

Works Cited

Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery. Classic Shorts.Com; accessed, 9-19-13. http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html

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The Lottery

Shirley jackson, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

The Lottery Essay: Literary Analysis Example

Check out this essay sample to get more ideas for your The Lottery analysis essay. Here, you’ll find the story’s summary, main theme analysis, and the aftermath explanation. Learn more about the story with our The Lottery essay example’s help!

The Lottery’s Plot

Family theme, the role of traditions, discrimination theme, the lottery’s aftermath, the lottery analysis essay conclusion.

Shirley Jackson wrote several short stories, but she is broadly remembered because of her short story The Lottery. This story is considered one of the best American short stories of the 20th century. It centers around several themes, such as the role of traditions, parenting, and scapegoating.

The story starts with a very peaceful description, “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.” The villagers are gathering to participate in an annual lottery, which will take about 2 hours. It starts around 10 in the morning, with the participants going back to their homes for lunch at around noon.

Despite this initial scene, The Lottery is a horror story. This type of setting is very unusual for this genre. In the second paragraph, the readers learn that the children are the first ones to assemble at the square. The boys are stuffing their pockets with stones, picking the most beautiful and round ones. This type of warning at the beginning of the story is foreshadowing.

Mr. Summers, a man, who represents authority in the short story, carries out a black wooden box. He stirs up the papers inside of it. The black box is ancient, meaning that this lottery tradition continued for a very long time. Until this moment in the story, there is no real indication of what is about to happen. The reader does not know what prize people will be able to win.

Until the lottery starts and everyone takes its turn. A boy from the Hutchinson family draws, and the readers realize that the lottery is not about winning. The head of the family tries to argue with Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves when he gets the results.

The next step in the lottery is a ritual. Every family member of the selected household has to draw a lottery ticket personally. The one who gets a paper with a black dot on it will have to be stoned to death. A wife and a mother, Tessie Hutchinson, is the one who gets the paper with the black dot. At that moment, she starts saying that it is not just. However, it is too late. People already took the stones and started throwing it at her. Even babies have to participate in this ruthless ritual. The story ends with the words, “Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.” Even her husband and kids became her executioners. They showed no sympathy for her.

One of the most important themes in The Lottery is the family theme. Tessie Hutchinson’s family members did not demonstrate any loyalty to her, which was gruesome. When Nancy and Bill, her kids, opened their papers, they felt relieved as “both beamed and laughed.” They knew that one of their parents was about to draw the unfortunate ticket and be stoned to death. This attitude shows that in situations like this, an individual cares only about self-preservation. In The Lottery, families do not have an emotional bond, only a social one.

There is another critical aspect of the family theme. It is how gender operates within the community and a family unit. The father is the one who initially draws the slip. This fact shows that men are superior to women in this society.

It is peculiar to see that Tessie Hutchinson is a female character that speaks the most in the story. Nevertheless, she is the one who will be killed by society and her family.

As the readers see in the story, the parents incentivize violence from a very early age. They do not teach kids to rely on their understanding of right and wrong. Children are encouraged to follow traditions blindly. It symbolizes indoctrination and brainwashing that happens even in the modern world.

Another vital issue that Shirley Jackson raised in The Lottery was the role of tradition. A man called Old Man Warner is a conservative force in the story. He explains what the lottery was initially meant for, “Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn will be heavy soon.” Basically, he is talking about a connection between the corn and the lottery. He implies that human sacrifice will better crop growth. The reason why the current generation does it is that they want to follow the tradition. They do it because they always have been doing it. It is also backed up by the authorities. They make sure it happens every year on the same date.

Shirley Jackson shows what can happen if people will do things without examining them.

The black box in the story symbolizes an outdated ritual. Over the years, the rules remained the same with some minor changes.

There are several significant undertones in Shirley Jackson’s critique of the behavior she described. First, is that people should stand up against authority if something is not just. Society should be able to protest to challenge an outdated status quo. Second, in the story, Shirley Jackson criticized democracy. As we see, everyone in the story is happy about the lottery. Even Tessie Hutchinson does not oppose it before it turns against her. So, if the majority wants to do something, it does not automatically make it right. Third, Shirley Jackson criticizes small-town life. She moved to Vermont, the villagers there never accepted her. She expresses that evil can happen even in small, peacefully looking places. Not to repeat the mistakes of Nazis, people should carefully examine their actions.

Shirley Jackson’s story is very applicable to American society. There are many ways in which this short story could be interpreted in today’s world. Mainly because it has an open ending.

One of the ways to interpret it is through the theme of discrimination. Turning a blind eye towards those who are suffering is less complicated. It is more challenging to stand up for their rights. People participate in systemic cruelty towards marginalized communities, animals, each other. When it does not personally affect you, people are more likely to ignore it.

If the readers take the example of Tessie Hutchinson, they will understand one thing clearly. She could protest against the cruelty of the tradition, only when it affected her.

The readers do not see hundreds of those who were stoned before her. There will probably be more people stoned in the future. The villagers are not ready to revisit this ritual and give up on it. Even though the society portrayed in the story is dystopian, there are some similarities with today’s world.

Regardless of the current progress, society remains cruel. Sexual and ethnic minorities are frequently blamed for all societal problems. The phenomenon of scapegoating is rooted deeply in people’s minds. We can connect it with the tradition of blaming the weak for the issues as they do not have a voice.

The mass incarceration of African Americans, profiling, and hate crimes against Muslims after 9/11, mass deportation of immigrants in the United States are all The Lottery modern examples of scapegoating and discrimination. The fact that the story appeared after the Nazis were defeated is also essential. This was a historical example of following the authority unquestionably. Even after it, people are not willing to change. Americans can still show indifference to those affected by violence and unjust treatment. The idyllic setting proves that cruelty can happen anywhere at any given moment in history.

As a society, misfortune is treated as a casual thing. It is very similar to the way the villagers treat the lottery. They simply go ahead with their lives after murdering a person.

The aftermath of The Lottery proves that the story has a lot of similarities with our society. People received it with a lot of criticism as well as praise. Some individuals were wondering if the lottery existed.

The author received letters from the readers after the short story was published in The New Yorker in 1948. Many of them she received that summer were from people who wanted to know if such lotteries existed. They desired to watch them in real life.

This essay on The Lottery by Shirley Jackson aimed to provide a close look at it. We explored some of the central themes and symbols of this story. Nevertheless, there are many more aspects that one can decide to focus on. Undeniably, the short story written by Shirley Jackson is still relevant 70 years later. Now more than ever, people should fight mob mentality, injustice, scapegoating, and reject outdated tradition.

• Shirley Jackson’s American Gothic by Hattenhauer, Darryl. State University of New York Press, 2003. Print.
• The Lottery by Jackson, Shirley. Mankato: Creative Education, 2008. Print.
• Shirley Jackson: Essays on the Literary Legacy by Murphy, Bernice. Jefferson: McFarland & Company Publishers. Print.

How to start an essay on The Lottery by Shirley Jackson?

You can start your essay on The Lottery by telling your audience about the writer, her life, and her works. Talk about the initial response the work got. If you decide to go a different route, you can select a popular tradition and talk about its origins.

What is the problem of the story The Lottery?

The central problem in the story is the blind following of outdated traditions and rituals. Most of the villagers did not even remember why the lottery was held. However, they proceeded with this practice. People are more likely to ignore violence when it is turned against others.

Why was The Lottery banned?

The Union of South Africa banned this story because it seems to be an anti-apartheid story. There is nothing more cruel and unreasonable than discrimination based on the color of skin. The fact that South Africa banned it means that the story has a realistic reflection of this injustice.

What is the original purpose of The Lottery?

The original purpose of the lottery was forgotten. One of the oldest citizens Old Man Warner said that there was a saying, “Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” It implies that people were sacrificed to better the harvest of corn.

How does The Lottery relate to society?

A lot of traditions are passed from generation to generation without any examination. Even in today’s society, people have problems with questioning authority and protesting. The fact that something has been done for many years and by many people does not make it automatically right.

Why does Tessie think The Lottery is unfair?

Tessie thinks that the lottery is unfair only because she is the one with the black dot on the ticket. She does not want to die and to be stoned. Therefore Tessie realizes that this ritual is unfair and unjust. She did not oppose it before it turned against her.

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The Lottery

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Analysis: “The Lottery”

“The Lottery,” a short story by Shirley Jackson published in 1948, caused a sensation with its tale of a pleasant American town where, each summer, one citizen is chosen by random lottery and stoned to death. The story presents an extreme case of conventional thinking and mindless group action untethered by reason or compassion. When it published the story, The New Yorker magazine received a firestorm of criticism, hate mail, and cancelled subscriptions. Today, however, “The Lottery” is widely considered a classic of horror fiction.

Though her career was cut short at age 48, author Shirley Jackson was prolific, writing hundreds of short stories and several novels, most of them in the mystery and horror genres. Her most famous creations are the controversial short story The Lottery and the gothic horror novel The Haunting of Hill House ); both are regarded as superlative examples of horror fiction, and both have been adapted for stage and screen.

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Analysis of 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson

Taking Tradition to Task

ThoughtCo / Hilary Allison

• Short Stories
• Best Sellers
• Classic Literature
• Plays & Drama
• Shakespeare
• Children's Books
• Ph.D., English, State University of New York at Albany
• B.A., English, Brown University

When Shirley Jackson's chilling story "The Lottery" was first published in 1948 in The New Yorker , it generated more letters than any work of fiction the magazine had ever published. Readers were furious, disgusted, occasionally curious, and almost uniformly bewildered.

The public outcry over the story can be attributed, in part, to The New Yorker 's practice at the time of publishing works without identifying them as fact or fiction. Readers were also presumably still reeling from the horrors of World War II. Yet, though times have changed and we all now know the story is fiction, "The Lottery" has maintained its grip on readers decade after decade.

"The Lottery" is one of the most widely known stories in American literature and American culture. It has been adapted for radio, theater, television, and even ballet. The Simpsons television show included a reference to the story in its "Dog of Death" episode (season three).

"The Lottery" is available to subscribers of The New Yorker and is also available in The Lottery and Other Stories , a collection of Jackson's work with an introduction by the writer A. M. Homes. You can hear Homes read and discuss the story with fiction editor Deborah Treisman at The New Yorker for free.

Plot Summary

"The Lottery" takes place on June 27, a beautiful summer day, in a small New England village where all the residents are gathering for their traditional annual lottery. Though the event first appears festive, it soon becomes clear that no one wants to win the lottery. Tessie Hutchinson seems unconcerned about the tradition until her family draws the dreaded mark. Then she protests that the process wasn't fair. The "winner," it turns out, will be stoned to death by the remaining residents. Tessie wins, and the story closes as the villagers—including her own family members—begin to throw rocks at her.

Dissonant Contrasts

The story achieves its terrifying effect primarily through Jackson's skillful use of contrasts , through which she keeps the reader's expectations at odds with the action of the story.

The picturesque setting contrasts sharply with the horrific violence of the conclusion. The story takes place on a beautiful summer day with flowers "blossoming profusely" and the grass "richly green." When the boys begin gathering stones, it seems like typical, playful behavior, and readers might imagine that everyone has gathered for something pleasant like a picnic or a parade.

Just as fine weather and family gatherings might lead us to expect something positive, so, too, does the word "lottery," which usually implies something good for the winner. Learning what the "winner" really gets is all the more horrifying because we have expected the opposite.

Like the peaceful setting, the villagers' casual attitude as they make small talk— some even cracking jokes—belies the violence to come. The narrator's perspective seems completely aligned with the villagers', so events are narrated in the same matter-of-fact, everyday manner that the villagers use.

The narrator notes, for instance, that the town is small enough that the lottery can be "through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner." The men stand around talking of ordinary concerns like "planting and rain, tractors and taxes." The lottery, like "the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program," is just another of the "civic activities" conducted by Mr. Summers.

Readers may find that the addition of murder makes the lottery quite different from a square dance, but the villagers and the narrator evidently do not.

Hints of Unease

If the villagers were thoroughly numb to the violence—if Jackson had misled her readers entirely about where the story was heading—I don't think "The Lottery" would still be famous. But as the story progresses, Jackson gives escalating clues to indicate that something is amiss.

Before the lottery starts, the villagers keep "their distance" from the stool with the black box on it, and they hesitate when Mr. Summers asks for help. This is not necessarily the reaction you might expect from people who are looking forward to the lottery.

It also seems somewhat unexpected that the villagers talk as if drawing the tickets is difficult work that requires a man to do it. Mr. Summers asks Janey Dunbar, "Don't you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?" And everyone praises the Watson boy for drawing for his family. "Glad to see your mother's got a man to do it," says someone in the crowd.

The lottery itself is tense. People do not look around at each other. Mr. Summers and the men drawing slips of paper grin "at one another nervously and humorously."

On first reading, these details might strike the reader as odd, but they can be explained in a variety of ways -- for instance, that people are very nervous because they want to win. Yet when Tessie Hutchinson cries, "It wasn't fair!" readers realize there has been an undercurrent of tension and violence in the story all along.

What Does "The Lottery" Mean?

As with many stories, there have been countless interpretations of "The Lottery." For instance, the story has been read as a comment on World War II or as a Marxist critique of an entrenched social order . Many readers find Tessie Hutchinson to be a reference to Anne Hutchinson , who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious reasons. (But it's worth noting that Tessie doesn't really protest the lottery on principle—she protests only her own death sentence.)

Regardless of which interpretation you favor, "The Lottery" is, at its core, a story about the human capacity for violence, especially when that violence is couched in an appeal to tradition or social order.

Jackson's narrator tells us that "no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box." But although the villagers like to imagine that they're preserving tradition, the truth is that they remember very few details, and the box itself is not the original. Rumors swirl about songs and salutes, but no one seems to know how the tradition started or what the details should be.

The only thing that remains consistent is the violence, which gives some indication of the villagers' priorities (and perhaps all of humanity's). Jackson writes, "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones."

One of the starkest moments in the story is when the narrator bluntly states, "A stone hit her on the side of the head." From a grammatical standpoint, the sentence is structured so that no one actually threw the stone—it's as if the stone hit Tessie of its own accord. All the villagers participate (even giving Tessie's young son some pebbles to throw), so no one individually takes responsibility for the murder. And that, to me, is Jackson's most compelling explanation of why this barbaric tradition manages to continue.

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The Lottery Critical Analysis

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a classic American short story that tells the tale of a small town that participates in a horrific annual tradition. The story follows the townspeople as they go about their everyday lives, leading up to the moment when they must choose one person to sacrifice. The lottery is portrayed as a very dark and disturbing event, and Jackson does an excellent job of making the reader feel the tension and suspense that comes with it. The story is a great example of the power of tradition, and how it can be used to control people. It is also a reminder of how dangerous it can be to blindly follow traditions without question.

The tale ‘The Lottery’ was written by Shirley Jackson, and the author builds up suspense toward the end of the story. The narrative takes place in a little town where people are friendly and tradition is important. A lottery is held annually in which one individual in the village is chosen at random by a drawing to be brutally stoned by friends and relatives. This is a traditional custom that is said to promote good agricultural results. Every resident of the community participates in the lottery drawing, which has been taking place for more than 77 years.

The story looks at the role of tradition in society and how it can be used to control people. The lottery is a tradition that is used to control the people in the town, as it gives them something to focus on and something to fear. The lottery is also used to keep people in line, as it is a way of reminding them of their place in society. The story is a warning about the dangers of blindly following tradition and not questioning why things are done. It is also a reminder that even the most innocent seeming traditions can have dark and dangerous consequences.

The opening of the tale is drastically different from the conclusion; at first, we have no clue what the lottery is, and we don’t realize it’s responsible for someone’s death every year. We should believe it’s a typical lottery in which numbers are chosen; however, by the end of the narrative, we discover that we couldn’t have been more wrong. The tone is surprisingly bright early on in the story, and there is a genuine sense of normality. As a result of this surprise at the conclusion of the narrative, suspense builds as we learn that “The Lottery” isn’t our usual lottery.

The story is set in a small village, on a Summer’s day. The villagers are all very friendly to each other and seem to know each other well. The author uses excellent descriptive language to create an image of the setting. The village sounds like a lovely place to live, with green grass and flowers everywhere. We get the impression that the people who live there are very traditional as they still use ‘Old man Warner’ who is the oldest man in the village, as their guide for the lottery.

He has been attending the lottery for seventy-seven years and says that when he was young, people were much more superstitious about it than they are now. This suggests that over time, the lottery has lost its meaning for the people and they no longer believe in it as much as they used to. The lottery is very important to the village as it is something that has been passed down from generation to generation.

The way that Shirley Jackson has written the story, we do not find out what the lottery is until the end. She does this by gradually building up suspense throughout the story. The author uses foreshadowing effectively to hint at what is going to happen. For example, when Tessie Hutchinson arrives late for the lottery, her husband says ‘clean forgot what day it was’. This makes us think that maybe Tessie knew what was going to happen and was trying to avoid it. The fact that Old man Warner thinks that getting rid of the lottery would be foolish also suggests that something bad is going to happen. The use of foreshadowing creates a sense of unease in the reader as we wait to find out what the lottery is.

When we finally find out what the lottery is, it is a huge shock. The fact that it is a person who gets stoned to death every year is very shocking. The way that Shirley Jackson has written the story, we feel just as shocked as the character of Tessie Hutchinson when she realizes she has been chosen. The villagers seem to accept what happens without question and this makes us question their morals. The ending of the story is extremely powerful and leaves us feeling shocked and disturbed.

In conclusion, Shirley Jackson has written an excellent short story which is full of suspense. The use of foreshadowing is effective in hinting at what is to come. The ending is shocking and leaves us feeling disturbed. The story makes us question the morals of the villagers.

During her narrative, Shirley Jackson fails to disclose crucial information, as we are not informed explicitly what the lottery is. The violent ending and coda of “The Lottery” were foreshadowed in many of the details given to us throughout the story. Children put stones in their pockets and build piles of stones in the town square until it’s revealed that they’re there for a sinister purpose at the conclusion of the tale.

The black box is also a key symbol in “The Lottery” as it represents tradition and the blind following of said tradition. The box is old and battered, showing that the lottery has been around for a long time. The fact that it is black also suggests death, which is ironic as the winner of the lottery will be killed.

When Tessie Hutchinson is selected as the winner of the lottery, she protests and says that it isn’t fair. This shows that she does not want to die, despite the fact that she has participated in the lottery every year. Her husband tries to comfort her, saying that it isn’t anyone’s fault, again highlighting the blindness of following tradition without question. The fact that Tessie Hutchinson is the one to be killed also makes her a symbol of sacrifice. She is giving up her life so that the crops will be good and her family will be safe.

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a short story that uses symbolism to hint at the violent climax of the tale. The stones, black box, and Tessie Hutchinson are all key symbols in the story which help to foreshadow the ending.

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The Normalization of Violence in “The Lottery”

Within “The Lottery,” there are many different twists and turns that the story takes to lead its readers down a disturbing path. With a title like “The Lottery,” one might think that the characters within this short story are going to be lucky. However, in this story, no one wants to win the lottery. In this story, a small town comes together once a year to hold a lottery, but this is no ordinary lottery. Each household selects a slip of paper from a black box, and whoever selects the marked slip loses. Then, members of that family pick slips again, and whichever family member selects the marked slip is stoned to death by other members of the town. This is a gruesome end to the story, which some readers may not see coming. However, the stoning is somewhat foreshadowed by Jackson. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the author creates a twisted feeling of suspense through her diction and descriptions in order to provide a critique on the normalization of violence within society in reaction to World War II.

Early in the short story, Jackson discusses how the children are gathering for this lottery. She says that “The children assembled first, of course” when listing out the order in which people began to arrive for the event (Jackson 1). This wording implies that the children are always the first to assemble for this event, almost in a way similar to that of a parade. The kids seem excited for the lottery, and the use of “of course” makes it seem like there has never been a time that the children were not the first in line. Children are typically viewed as innocent; however, in this story they are about to partake in murder. This shows the difference between the morals of Jackson and those of the townspeople. It seems like the townspeople no longer view this lottery as wrong or as murder, which intentionally misleads the reader by making this seem like an innocent, family-friendly event.

Later in the paragraph, the author states that the “feeling of liberty” sat over the children (Jackson 1). The use of “liberty” here makes it seem as though the kids feel more grown up for participating in the lottery. This word choice is also somewhat ironic because although these children feel free, someone is about the lose their life due to the lottery. She then goes on in the sentence to say that the children “tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play” (Jackson 1). The use of “boisterous” makes the energy surrounding this event feel casual, cheerful, and energetic, even though someone is about to lose their life. It makes the lottery seem like a carnival or fair rather than someone’s death sentence.

The author later uses imagery to describe the stones that the children are stockpiling as “the smoothest and roundest stones” (Jackson 1). These stones may be the best for throwing, which is why the children hoard them in order to have better throws. The description of these stones is also very different from the black box that is later described in the story as “no longer completely black”, “splintered badly”, and “faded or stained” (Jackson 2). These stones could be described in this manner to almost make them seem like they are perfect or pure, compared to the black box that may represent the impurities of this tradition. By using these perfect stones, they are ridding the impurities of the town by stoning one of their members to death.

One of the children’s names in this story is “Dickie Delacroix”, who is piling rocks with some of the other little boys in the town (Jackson 1). The last name Delacroix means “the cross” which is somewhat ironic (“Delacroix” para. 1). The lottery tradition is anything but holy, yet this last name signifies the cross. This could be a contrast to how the townspeople think that their tradition is extremely important, and that they may even think that it is God’s will. It could also be an allusion to the crucifixion of Jesus, because He was killed for having different beliefs than those around Him, similar to what happens to Tessie Hutchinson in this story. She opposes the lottery, yet she is conveniently the one who ends up “winning” and dying in the end.

In this same sentence, Jackson discusses how these boys made their pile of stones and “guarded it against the raids of the other boys” (Jackson 1). This seems like typical behavior for children; however, the use of the word “raids” has more of a military connotation. This word choice is slowly starting to make the reader associate these children with killing and violence, which is nothing close to the normal connotation society has with children. The use of “raids” may also foreshadow the violence that takes place later on in the story. Even though no one steals their rocks, by using the word “raids” the reader is almost expecting something violent to happen within this story.

All of these details revolve around the violence that is seen within this story. It seems that within this town, violence has been normalized and almost celebrated. These townspeople get excited for an annual event where they end up murdering someone, and they criticize other communities that no longer partake in the event. Although Jackson makes the atmosphere of this event seem energetic and festive, through the language she uses, readers get a twisted sense of suspense and almost know that something gruesome is bound to happen.

This story can be viewed as a critique on the normalization of violence. Jackson wrote this story three years after the end of World War II, one of the most gruesome wars that the world has ever seen. Throughout World War II, there was lots of propaganda that dehumanized different groups of people. This dehumanization promoted killings and other violence throughout the war (Luft 3). Mass genocide was occurring, but many people were still living out their daily lives. There were also many campaigns to gain support for the war in involved countries. All of these aspects seemed to be supporting violence and encouraging it. “The Lottery” seems to play on this normalization of violence and critique it. This event is seen by these townspeople as just another annual celebration, and those that disagree with it are considered crazy. It is likely that Jackson is critiquing the dehumanization and normalization of violence that was created during World War II and showing this through the townspeople within her short story.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a story centered around the normalization of violence and dehumanization during the time of World War II. Jackson uses her suspicious diction and violent plot to convey her point. This may serve as a cautionary tale, warning readers against the powers of a society that has fallen into the wrong hands. If society is not careful, the human race may become overly comfortable with violence and allow for cruel actions, such as these described within “The Lottery,” to occur on a daily basis.

Works Cited:

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“Boisterous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boisterous . Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

“Braveheart – As It Matters In Battle (Rock Throwing Scene Contest, Braveheart Movie Rock).” YouTube , uploaded by Jeff Johnson, 7 Oct. 2013, https://youtu.be/Po3HbErxC-c .

“Charlotte’s Web (8/10) Movie CLIP – Fun at The Fair (2006) HD.” YouTube , uploaded by Movieclips, 23 Nov. 2011, https://youtu.be/jKCpGDv8vuY .

“Delacroix Name Meaning, Family History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms.” House of Names , www.houseofnames.com/delacroix-family-crest .

Dombrowski, Greg. “Dark Suspenseful Music – And in the End.” YouTube , uploaded by Secession Studios, 20 Nov. 2018, https://youtu.be/e-B8Icbboy8 .

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“High School Musical 2 – What Time Is It?.” YouTube , uploaded by DCPlusOFICIAL, 12 Nov. 2010, https://youtu.be/mQYtGUQ8Ld8 .

Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Sakai, ENGL 105.079.FA20 , posted by Paul Blom, 31 July 2020. The New Yorker , 1948.

Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery (Shirley Jackson) – 1969 Short Film.” YouTube , uploaded by Chef Jay, 27 Sep. 2016, https://youtu.be/vQQoMCaUz5Y .

Luft, Aliza. “Dehumanization and the Normalization of Violence: It’s Not What You Think.” Items , 21 May 2019, items.ssrc.org/insights/dehumanization-and-the-normalization-of-violence-its-not-what-you-think/ .

“Raid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raid . Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

“Son of God | Cross | 20 th Century Fox.” YouTube , uploaded by Son of God, 10 Apr. 2014, https://youtu.be/h9UN7IpxrNM .

“SON OF GOD ‘O Holy Night’ Song by Jewel.” YouTube , uploaded by FRESH Movie Trailers, 28 Jan. 2014, https://youtu.be/i7aaUzPfXEI .

“The Hunger Games: Katniss and Peeta Reaping Scene [HD].” YouTube , uploaded by KatnissEverdeen PeetaMellark, 3 Dec. 2013, https://youtu.be/e3PJ3Du_zDc .

“Wonder (2017) – Jack Will’s Redemption Scene (7/9) | Movieclips.” YouTube , uploaded by Movieclips, 11 Apr. 2018, https://youtu.be/29VjYkPPY2s .

“WW2 – D-Day. Invasion of Normandy [Real Footage in Colour].” YouTube , uploaded by KickFlip, 6 Dec. 2018, https://youtu.be/o6wG58VMFaA .

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Literary Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery

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Behind stories of lottery jackpot winners are thousands who lose what little they have

When a $1.4 billion lottery ticket was sold at a Neptune liquor store last month, the news spread across the Jersey Shore and beyond with the expected celebration that a local had won the enormous prize.

But what didn’t get attention, and rarely does, was the fact that calls to the Council on Compulsive Gambling hotline sharply increased as they always do when a major jackpot is on the line.

Most were also unaware that more lottery retailers operate in low-income areas, that most lottery tickets are purchased by a small group of buyers – many of those gambling addicts – and that one-third of big prize lottery winners eventually declare bankruptcy.

“No one is being informed as to the devastation and the effects if somebody develops an addiction to gambling through lottery tickets,” said Felicia Grondin, executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey. “It is a different form of gambling. Most people don’t look at it as gambling.”

More: Mega Millions jackpot winner in Neptune NJ: What we know

Far more people participate in lottery sales than in any other form of gambling – from sports betting to poker slots – according to a 2023 Rutgers Center for Gambling Studies report .

The research indicated that 73% of those who admitted gambling in the past year had purchased lottery tickets, with 59% saying they used scratch-offs. That’s compared to just 20% who visited a casino and 19% who bet on sports.

Experts say the popularity is due in part to the simplicity and ease of buying a lottery ticket, the quick access at local stores and on apps. The marketing of lottery tickets is also different than other kinds of gambling, they contend, because they promise a life-changing outcome.

“In a casino you tend to be selling a social environment, you are with friends. With sports betting you are engaged in the game and interested in the outcome,” said Alan Feldman, a distinguished fellow on responsible gambling at the UNLV International Gaming Institute. “With lotteries, it is pretty much a fantasy.”

More: New Jersey hit record $3.73 billion in lottery sales last year

NJ defends its approach

Missy Gillespie, chief communications officer for the N.J. Lottery, defended the agency and said no misleading promotions are involved.

“The New Jersey Lottery appeals to Jerseyans of age to play legally and responsibly,” she said via email. “There is no messaging that encourages anyone to purchase more tickets than they can afford to play. A player’s level of play is their choice, and we consistently reinforce messages that remind all players to play responsibly.”

That lottery message, responsible or fantasy, seems to be enough for local players like Lucy Patriarca, one of many customers buying their chances at Jersey Farms Deli and Grill in Brick Township on a recent Thursday morning.

“You’ve got to be in it to win it,” said Patriarca, who put $10 down on the Powerball jackpot, which stood at $1.3 billion that day and was later won by someone in Oregon. “I only play it when it’s big. I never win, but it’s worth a shot.”

Bill Stoney, 85, echoed that view, admitting he spends up to $100 per week on a mix of draw games like Powerball and MegaMillions, as well as scratch-offs, mostly for his wife.

“I just play and I don’t care if we win or lose,” Stoney said. “My wife likes it. It’s just for the fun of it.”

Selling a 'fantasy'

Harry Patel, Jersey Farms co-owner, said about 25% of his lottery customers purchase more than $100 worth of tickets per week, and at least one in 10 spend that much daily.

“About 80% of my customers are regulars and when you have a big jackpot it grows, it is a lot,” Patel said. “We had a big winner in 2022, she won $372,000 on Jersey Cash 5. She’s still a regular, she still plays.”

Arnie Wexler, a Bradley Beach compulsive gambler in recovery and founder of the Council on Compulsive Gambling, said promoting that fantasy prize is among the most misleading schemes because the multimillion-dollar jackpots are nearly impossible to win and play on an addict’s weaknesses.

“People see that and they say it could be me,” Wexler said. “It is the state’s way of sucking money from the public by using the dream of everybody that ‘this week I’m going to win the lottery.’”

Experts say such an approach violates the American Gaming Association’s Code of Conduct, which states gambling-related ads must not “contain claims or representations that gambling activity will guarantee an individual’s social, financial or personal success.”

More: What financial planning should the NJ Mega Millions lottery winner be doing right now?

Recent New Jersey Lottery ads that proclaim, “Anything can happen in New Jersey” and “Make your dreams come true” walk a fine line with that basic code, critics say.

“The advertising glamorizes gambling, there is nothing around that shows the public the dark side of it,” said Grondin.

Gillespie disagreed.

“The New Jersey Lottery is entertainment with a purpose,” she said via email. “Players understand the odds for jackpot games are very high and all odds are available.”

Gillespie noted that Garden State lottery players took home $2.23 billion in prizes in 2023, with more than 200 players winning $100,000 or more, including 58 players who received prizes of $1 million or higher. 

The odds are the worst of all gambling options, near 1 in 292.2 million for Powerball and about 1 in 302.6 million for MegaMillions, according to experts.

“Chances of winning the lottery are the same as being struck by lightning 12 times,” Wexler said. “They suck more people in the bigger the jackpot. That is the issue and they know it will work.”

And it’s the poorest and often most vulnerable who are targeted for lottery games, data indicates.

Target customers?

A 2022 study by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found that “stores in the vast majority of states that sell lottery tickets are disproportionately concentrated in communities with lower levels of education, lower levels of income and higher poverty rates, with larger populations of Black people and Hispanic people.”

More: Two biggest NJ lottery wins in 2023 came from Jersey Shore

New Jersey is no different.

A 2018 analysis by Gannett New Jersey found that two-thirds of lottery sales come from the state's poorest communities, those where the median household income is less than $81,800, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Stores in the poorest 10 percent of New Jersey neighborhoods, where the median income is less than $51,900, sell 26 percent of the lottery tickets in the state.

The wealthiest 10 percent, where the median income is more than $131,700, contribute only 3% of lottery sales.

“Look at where they concentrate the lottery outlets,” said Les Bernal, national director of Stop Predatory Gambling, a nonprofit involved in gambling education. “On every street corner in low-income communities they are selling $30 of scratch-offs, that is where the lottery outlets are concentrated. There is no question this preys upon low-income people.”

Gillespie said the lottery does not determine where its outlets are placed, simply responding to those that seek to provide them in their retail locations.

More: New Jersey lottery sells the most in the state's poorest neighborhoods

“The New Jersey Lottery grants retailer licenses to any retail business that expresses interest in selling our products as long as they meet the application criteria,” she said. “Places like Newark, Jersey City, and Hoboken will appear to have more retailers because they are in densely populated cities. New Jersey Lottery does not discriminate either for or against any retailer based on their race, gender, ethnicity, lifestyle or location and we do not target specific locations for licenses.”

Beginnings and beneficiaries

New Jersey state lottery dates back to 1969 when voters approved a measure to legalize the chance tickets, with an 81.5% majority. The first ticket was sold on Dec. 16, 1970, to then-Gov. William T. Cahill. (He lost re-election three years later after an illegal contribution scandal sent his former campaign finance chairman to jail.)

The state lottery paid its first $1 million prize in 1981 and reached its first $1 billion cumulative sales in 1986.

In 2023, the lottery reached its highest revenue total ever with $3.73 billion in sales, a 2.55% increase over 2022. Nearly 60% of those sales were from scratch-off tickets, which remain far and away the most popular.

Most of the money raised goes to the cash prizes, about $2.2 billion, with more than $1.5 billion in operating expenses, including more than $21 million to Northstar New Jersey, which manages the lottery.

Initially, the lottery’s profits – which top more than $1 billion annually – were slated for state education funds. But in 2017, under Gov. Chris Christie, the law was changed to help shore up the dwindling public employee pension fund for state workers such as police, firefighters and teachers.

Most of the proceeds, 77.78%, go to the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund, according to Gillespie. She said the remaining 21.02% go to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), with the last 1.2% for the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System.

The state is also spending more than ever on advertising the chance games, with $27.9 million spent annually promoting the lottery in recent years. That’s a sharp increase from 10 years ago when only $16 million went toward advertising. 

Publicity exacerbates problem

But advertising is only a small part of the message that drives lottery interest and sales, according to observers who point to media outlets that continue to report on growing jackpots and winners more often than those who suffer from the games.

“The media are absolutely a part of the system of promoting these games,” Feldman of UNLV said. “The media plays a significant role because the higher the jackpot, the higher the coverage and its promotion.”

Media ethics experts agree.

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“You’re always supposed to be balanced and many of these stories are not balanced, they don’t point out the possible negatives and the possible harm,” said Kathryn Quigley, chair of the journalism department at Rowan University in Glassboro and a media ethics instructor. “News organizations could and should do a better job of writing a more balanced story when writing about large jackpots.”

Chris Roberts, vice-chair of the Society of Professional Journalists Ethics Committee, echoed that view.

“When the jackpot is a billion dollars, it is news,” Roberts said. “But it is about truth and balance, covering all sides is something that’s simpl,e yet as complicated and as ripe with implications as a lottery.”

Back at Jersey Farms, players say they will continue to try their luck, despite the odds.

“The possibility becomes if I ever win, I’ll be happy,” said Ed Shannon, 79, who says his father was a gambler but never came out ahead. “He was broke.”

Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience who covers education and several local communities for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of three books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media, and an adjunct media professor at Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Reach him at [email protected] and at 732-413-3840. Follow him on Twitter at @joestrupp