There is almost an unsettling notion about how easily humans can succumb to ritualistic activities and blindly follow tradition. Whether it be as simple as the celebration of Christmas, which has lost its anti-materialistic nature, or more sinister practices like Sati, a woman immolating herself on her husband’s pyre. What’s even more so, is the idea that a contemporary, democratic America could participate in an activity like the latter. In Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, she exaggerates with the concept of how America could divulge in a sacrificial ritual, where its purpose has long since been forgotten. While her whole story is filled with symbolism, irony, and other literary device, perhaps one of the most key elements in explaining the
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So again, the reader has to stitch together bits of information to find that the time the story is in, is the mid-twentieth century. There is the section that mentions the “coal company” Mr. Summers owns. Coal was of utmost importance in the mid-twentieth century because of the massive energy needs for World War II and trains. Both were big interests in the 50’s. Jackson also mentioned that the town people were talking about tractors, an invention that did not come about until the late nineteenth century. This means the story has to take place sometime after then. However, while some clues lead one to believe the story took place in the 50’s, Jackson left out the year and gave only vague detail because she wanted the story to always reflect onto current times. In short, since The Lottery is adaptable to any modern time to come it enforces the idea that contemporary America, regardless of century, has the threat of succumbing to holocaustic …show more content…
There is little information to go by but there are details a reader can piece together that the town is in America where “square dancing” was popular and “coal company” was a common workplace, more specifically, in New England. The events of The Lottery, could hypothetically happen in any modern rural village. Back in the late 40’s, when the story was written, New England was largely populated by these small farming towns, such as the one in the story that only had three hundred people living there. Along with this, the names Jackson used, like Clark, Harry, and Steve, were popularly used in New England around that time. Following the idea of New England names, Tess Hutchinson shares the same last name as a famous woman who lived there centuries before; Anne Hutchinson, who was banished for her contradicting belief of the Puritanical norm (much like Tess was herself). By making the victim’s name the same as another of similar circumstances from hundreds of years before, it shows that history can repeat itself. Moreover, by placing the location of the town in New England, it connects The Lottery to the infamous witch trials. The cause of these executions, like Tess’ stoning, were from blindly following the societal tradition. Simply put, New England as a setting supports the meaning of the story by establishing that America, in the past, has committed
So again, the reader has to stitch together bits of information to find that the time the story is in, is the mid-twentieth century. There is the section that mentions the “coal company” Mr. Summers owns. Coal was of utmost importance in the mid-twentieth century because of the massive energy needs for World War II and trains. Both were big interests in the 50’s. Jackson also mentioned that the town people were talking about tractors, an invention that did not come about until the late nineteenth century. This means the story has to take place sometime after then. However, while some clues lead one to believe the story took place in the 50’s, Jackson left out the year and gave only vague detail because she wanted the story to always reflect onto current times. In short, since The Lottery is adaptable to any modern time to come it enforces the idea that contemporary America, regardless of century, has the threat of succumbing to holocaustic …show more content…
There is little information to go by but there are details a reader can piece together that the town is in America where “square dancing” was popular and “coal company” was a common workplace, more specifically, in New England. The events of The Lottery, could hypothetically happen in any modern rural village. Back in the late 40’s, when the story was written, New England was largely populated by these small farming towns, such as the one in the story that only had three hundred people living there. Along with this, the names Jackson used, like Clark, Harry, and Steve, were popularly used in New England around that time. Following the idea of New England names, Tess Hutchinson shares the same last name as a famous woman who lived there centuries before; Anne Hutchinson, who was banished for her contradicting belief of the Puritanical norm (much like Tess was herself). By making the victim’s name the same as another of similar circumstances from hundreds of years before, it shows that history can repeat itself. Moreover, by placing the location of the town in New England, it connects The Lottery to the infamous witch trials. The cause of these executions, like Tess’ stoning, were from blindly following the societal tradition. Simply put, New England as a setting supports the meaning of the story by establishing that America, in the past, has committed