Lottery

The Lottery

"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" (Jackson 263). A pleasant, warm environment, in the middle of the summertime employs serenity; however the townspeople are meeting as they do every year to hold an organized stoning and it is soon evident it is some sort of savagely oppressive society. Jackson's publish of The Lottery shortly after World War II has some critics suggesting she intended to question the desire for warfare, and confront the selflessness of the world's political "tyrants."

In The Lottery the entire community is branded with every mundane procedure and detail of the selection, and Tessie's awareness of them is proof that she participates in the annual massacre. The ritual has been around so long it is essentially programmed into their brains. Even though Old Man Warner is the only one who knows the meaning of the ritual, the other residents feel obligated to continue the lottery because it gives "a place and a meaning in the life of the generations" (Griffin 1). Respectively, warfare has become such a common thing in our lives that it has almost become natural for us to accept it is justifiable to kill another human being. The community even goes as far as to recite a "perfunctory, tuneless chant" even though none of them know if they are even performing it correctly (Jackson 264). The chant carried on by the community is a

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symbol of how customs and traditions, regardless of origin, can be passed through generations and become mindlessly accepted into our lives without second thought.

The time after the both the World Wars left many Americans, amongst people all over the world, questioning and opposing political war efforts. The fact Jackson places the story in the same time period it was published "upsets the reader's sense of complacency," as claimed by Jay Yarmove of the University of Cincinnati. The general public held the idea it was highly improbably and unrealistic for this to take place, "[Ð'...] that despite assurances during the late 1940s that Ð''it couldn't happen here,' a microcosmal holocaust occurs in this story," making the reader reconsider his or her initial opinion(1). The United States involvement in the World Wars also initiated a nationwide indifference with our government's decision-making and created an impending threat of social reform and protest. Likewise, Mrs. Hutchinson opposes the outcome of the lottery, "It isn't fair, it isn't right," she says, when only just before she was content with stoning anybody else, even her husband or children (Jackson 269). In actuality, she is not concerned with whether the lottery holding is right or wrong, but with persuading the others to believe that it is wrong so that she may have a chance to escape before the harm is done. It's safe to say that most humans would react the same way.

The manner Mrs. Hutchinson taps Mrs. Delacroix on the arm as a farewell and how the crowd splits "good-humoredly" because they are anxiously awaiting the drawing and the guilt-free murder illustrates the "evil inherent in human nature" (Coulthard 1). This savagery is innate to mankind and fuels a desire for violent, inhumane ways to resolve conflict and the "all-too-human tendency to seize upon a scapegoat" (Nebeker

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100). Even Mrs. Hutchinson contains these traits, but when she is chosen to be sacrificed she changes her thoughts on the lottery, trying to sympathize her way out of it. Mrs. Hutchinson