A Literary Analysis of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

A Literary Analysis of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery", ironically gives the lottery a bad
meaning. The lottery in this story is used for a public stoning, contrary to the
first thing that comes to a reader's mind when they think of winning the lottery; a
big sum of money. The reader sees both literal and metaphorical meaning of this
story because for one it shows for face value what the entire story is about, and
hidden behind it is the notion of the scapegoat being picked like a lottery number.

The setting of the story in respects to the story's environment served to

illustrate the mood of that particular time in the story. It serves a small role in
words, but adds detail to enhance the feeling the reader gets when reading the
story. The setting takes place in the town square, where the story starts out with
"the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and
the grass was richly green." An ambience of cheerfulness and buoyancy fills the
air. Also, some foreshadowing is being used because the town square is a clue that
the lottery must hold some kind of importance. Another piece of foreshadowing is
when "Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie... eventually made a great pile of stones in
one corner of the square...," which hints at the impending doom of the lottery
winner. The only place where setting is a factor is the beginning, because the
setting stays the same, and the environment does not change in the two hours that
the story took place in.

Essentially, this story is told in the limited omniscient point of view. The
histories of selected characters were told, but the thoughts of the characters were
omitted from any part of the story. The point of view is used to conceal what is
going to happen next. By using limited, the thoughts of the characters are left
out, and therefore, since they know what the lottery is, they surely think about
it. If the author was to put the thoughts of the character in the story, then the
ending would have been given away at the start of lottery ritual, because the
dreadful consequences of drawing the black dot would be all the people are thinking
about.

Many Characters are introduced into this story. Flat characters are introduced in
the beginning of the story, either setting up stones or adding to the mood of the
story. "The men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting
and rain, tractors and taxes" This is both a flat and stereotypical group of
people, just to add to the casualness of the scene at the start of the story. Flat
characters were also used to say things pertaining to the events of the story. When
the Hutchinsons were being called up to the box, some women say things like this:
""Be a good sport, Tessie." Mrs. Delacroix called, and Mrs. Graves said, "All of us
took the same chance."" The author also balanced the flat characters with round
characters. The round, developing protagonist, Tessie Hutchinson, is presented
indirectly throughout the story, and is motivated by the choosing of her family to
change her style of thinking to opposing the lottery and its injustices.

A round static character who officiates the lottery is Mr. Summers. He has "time
and energy to devote to civic activities" and is a "...round-faced, jovial man ...
and people were sorry for him, because he had no children and his wife was a
scold." His position is to carry out the idea of the lottery, and to see through
that the operation runs smoothly. He is the personification of the antagonist,
while the real antagonist is the box, which represents the institution of the
lottery.

The struggle between the protagonist and antagonist was a physical struggle for
Mrs. Hutchinson to protest the fairness of this lottery. The lottery struggles
against the protest, by staying resolute. "Although the villagers had forgotten the
ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones." The
ending of the story came as quite a surprise. The conflict is resolved with Tessie
being stoned. It is fairly achieved because the lottery's purpose was unknown until
the time when Mrs. Hutchinson is stoned by the villagers. That is when the reason
for the lottery and the protest against it by Mrs. Hutchinson is revealed to the
reader directly. The device of suspense is utilized when the people of the village
must open their papers and see who is the one picked for the lottery. There is no
telling who was picked, and the reader at that point does not even know why they
are picked, but the possibilities for what the lottery may be keep the reader in
suspense to see who the winner is, and what happens to them.

Chance in the story is used as the basis of the entire plot. Everyone gathers in
the town square to partake in this event of chance, and whoever gets picked will
have to pay the price. The author uses chance to initiate the story and to send the
message of her theme, that in life scapegoats for anything are chosen seemingly
randomly, and are not fair at all. The explicit theme opposes popular notions of
life because people want to live in a perfect world. Jackson uses the institution
of the lottery to give the audience a reality check of what is going on in the real
world. Tessie Hutchinson sums up the moral of the story that her use as a scapegoat
"...isn't fair, it isn't right,"" right before she gets stoned.

The author's use of symbolism reinforces the meaning of the story in showing that
the scapegoat problem of society is wrong. The lottery and the stones symbolize the
way and the fashion in which people today are used as scapegoats. Other minor uses
of symbolism are shown through characters of different generations. There are the
children, the adults, and Old Man Warner, who represent the past, present, and
future respectively. For the children "School was recently over for the summer, and
the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together
quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play." There really isn't
much to worry about for them, and they do not understand much about this stoning,
they seemingly do what they are taught by the adults, but some children do not like
to see this, showing a slight longing for change in the future when little Nancy's
"school friends breathed heavily as she went forward switching her skirt." Another
time later in the crowed someone yells they hope it is not Nancy. There is a
longing to preserve the youth so they can go on in the future. The present, in Mrs.
Hutchinson is shown as a state of protest, wanting change from the past, and
lastly, Old Man Warner's static attitude stays throughout the story, an attitude to
keep things the same. In response to the lottery being removed in some places he
says ""Nothing but trouble in that,"..."Pack of young fools."" The use of past
present and future shows some hope for the future because the present is working to
break away from the bonds of the past, and slowly attempt to phase out the bad
institution. However, it is up to the reader to determine to what extent it will be
phased out since the ending shows the present being chastised.

My estimate of this story is that the message of the story teaches about life, and
the reality of life. The ending of the story is quite unfair since Tessie is chosen
by a complete random drawing to get stoned, and it shows the position of many
scapegoats today. Corporations that fail most always find one person to blame for
the entire failure of the company. It shows that in the future, blaming people
without any basis should not be done, after seeing how many people today are being
targeted.

This story does not show any type of formula, since it ends up surprising the
reader with the protagonist losing in the end. She does not get what she wants, so
she ends up being beaten by the system. This type of story would not be for the
immature reader as the reader expects for the winner to get something good, but the
author pulls the rug from under them and gives them an ending other than expected.
The mature reader reads this as a fact of life, and recognizes the faults of
society.

Category : Literature

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