To me, a mob mentality describes how people who are in a large group can make unusual decisions or act in ways that they would not normally act because they are in a large group of people. Although we may try to be individualistic and stand for our beliefs, it is human nature for most of us to tend to follow the behaviors of others. Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" highlights the effects of a mob mentality; including making usually unacceptable behaviors acceptable, people feeling less responsible for their actions, and those involved conforming to society and losing their individuality. "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson shows the effects of a mob mentality, including making people feel less responsible for their actions. When
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Anyone with common sense knows that telling your wife or any other women to shut up is unacceptable behavior, but on page 6, Shirley Jackson writes "'Shut up, Tessie,' Bill Hutchinson said" (6). Usually, telling your wife to do anything along the lines of "shut up" would be unacceptable behavior. Even if Bill did not see anything wrong with what he said, someone would usually speak out against Bill and tell him that he should not talk to his wife or any woman like that. Instead, the others completely disregard what Bill said and move on with the lottery, because of their mob mentality. Another example of usually unacceptable behaviors becoming acceptable is on page 8, when Shirley Jackson states that, "A stone hit her on the side of the head" (8). Throwing stones at anyone's head should and would usually be unacceptable behavior but because it is tradition and it is what everyone else does, it is labeled as acceptable behavior. Why should we allow certain behaviors or actions to be acceptable just because every one else is doing …show more content…
If there was no mob mentality in "The Lottery", people would be able to express themselves and make decisions on whether they wanted to participate in the lottery or not. Conforming to society is exemplified when Shirley Jackson says that "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example" (1). This sentence is a perfect description of how easy it is to conform to the actions of others and lose your individuality. Would the boys have followed his example if it weren't for the effects of their mob mentality? The children simply did it because it was what every one else was doing. "The Lottery" includes many more examples of people conforming to the actions of others, such as, "Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her" (Jackson 8). I envision this scene as a large group of people running up to Tessie while throwing stones at her. I imagine a couple of people beginning to walk up to her and as more people follow the example, the mob gets louder and more violent the closer it gets. People slowly tagging along to the mob as more people join in is a perfect example of conformity. Although some people may have not wanted to stone her individually, they joined the crowd because of the mob
Anyone with common sense knows that telling your wife or any other women to shut up is unacceptable behavior, but on page 6, Shirley Jackson writes "'Shut up, Tessie,' Bill Hutchinson said" (6). Usually, telling your wife to do anything along the lines of "shut up" would be unacceptable behavior. Even if Bill did not see anything wrong with what he said, someone would usually speak out against Bill and tell him that he should not talk to his wife or any woman like that. Instead, the others completely disregard what Bill said and move on with the lottery, because of their mob mentality. Another example of usually unacceptable behaviors becoming acceptable is on page 8, when Shirley Jackson states that, "A stone hit her on the side of the head" (8). Throwing stones at anyone's head should and would usually be unacceptable behavior but because it is tradition and it is what everyone else does, it is labeled as acceptable behavior. Why should we allow certain behaviors or actions to be acceptable just because every one else is doing …show more content…
If there was no mob mentality in "The Lottery", people would be able to express themselves and make decisions on whether they wanted to participate in the lottery or not. Conforming to society is exemplified when Shirley Jackson says that "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example" (1). This sentence is a perfect description of how easy it is to conform to the actions of others and lose your individuality. Would the boys have followed his example if it weren't for the effects of their mob mentality? The children simply did it because it was what every one else was doing. "The Lottery" includes many more examples of people conforming to the actions of others, such as, "Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her" (Jackson 8). I envision this scene as a large group of people running up to Tessie while throwing stones at her. I imagine a couple of people beginning to walk up to her and as more people follow the example, the mob gets louder and more violent the closer it gets. People slowly tagging along to the mob as more people join in is a perfect example of conformity. Although some people may have not wanted to stone her individually, they joined the crowd because of the mob