In the short story “The Lottery”, the author Shirley Jackson writes of a small town presumably somewhere in the United States where an annual ceremony is held. In the lead up to the ceremony Jackson depicts the atmosphere in the town as the people prepare for this ritual that is known as the lottery. Jackson doesn’t mention throughout the exposition of the short story what the lottery exactly is but we find that there is an uncertain atmosphere surrounding the ceremony. In the preparation she mentions the names of various citizens that live in the small town and delves slightly into the dialogue that the village folk have surrounding this ritual. Once the box necessary for the lottery to start is brought out, the male of every household goes
…show more content…
It is discovered that the Hutchinson family is the one who draws the paper, following this, every member in the family has to draw once again, and this time the mother, Tessie is the one who draws the paper with the marking. Immediately after she begins to beg for a redrawing claiming that it was done unfairly, the reader still doesn’t know what exactly the lottery is, but judging by the reaction of Tessie it is safe to say that this is not something to be joyous about. After the lottery has ended the villagers all take up stones and start to stone the unlucky victim of the lottery ceremony. Throughout her short story The Lottery, Shirley Jackson uses different allegories to display how religions can brainwash people. She llustrates how often people overlook their morals and awful or illogical deeds because of their ritualistic habits and within the story she uses historical context to do portray this …show more content…
When reading this the similarities between this and what happened in the Salem Witch Trials is almost uncanny, women were killed in a male dominated setting for religious purposes and because of their own fear. In the Salem Witch Trials around 20 women were killed because of a mentality that was instilled by a religious fear of things that were unexplainable. Just like during the lottery people were not sure as to what caused a good harvest but because of the fact that it was something that they had been doing for so long, they did not even have to think twice when it came around to the time for the annual drawing. With the religious symbolism found within the box Nebeker writes that “For that which supports the present day box of meaningless and perverted superstition is the body of unexamined tradition or at least six thousand years of man 's history”. She brings up that in modern day religion we tend to do religious things so often without thinking about them just so we can say that we are doing the right thing and that this will make our lives better. Just as in the witch trials the people thought they were doing the right thing by convicting and murdering those innocent women. The people of the village in the story also believe deeply in what they are doing and even when Tessie was about to face certain death she did not cry for a stop to the lottery she instead
It is discovered that the Hutchinson family is the one who draws the paper, following this, every member in the family has to draw once again, and this time the mother, Tessie is the one who draws the paper with the marking. Immediately after she begins to beg for a redrawing claiming that it was done unfairly, the reader still doesn’t know what exactly the lottery is, but judging by the reaction of Tessie it is safe to say that this is not something to be joyous about. After the lottery has ended the villagers all take up stones and start to stone the unlucky victim of the lottery ceremony. Throughout her short story The Lottery, Shirley Jackson uses different allegories to display how religions can brainwash people. She llustrates how often people overlook their morals and awful or illogical deeds because of their ritualistic habits and within the story she uses historical context to do portray this …show more content…
When reading this the similarities between this and what happened in the Salem Witch Trials is almost uncanny, women were killed in a male dominated setting for religious purposes and because of their own fear. In the Salem Witch Trials around 20 women were killed because of a mentality that was instilled by a religious fear of things that were unexplainable. Just like during the lottery people were not sure as to what caused a good harvest but because of the fact that it was something that they had been doing for so long, they did not even have to think twice when it came around to the time for the annual drawing. With the religious symbolism found within the box Nebeker writes that “For that which supports the present day box of meaningless and perverted superstition is the body of unexamined tradition or at least six thousand years of man 's history”. She brings up that in modern day religion we tend to do religious things so often without thinking about them just so we can say that we are doing the right thing and that this will make our lives better. Just as in the witch trials the people thought they were doing the right thing by convicting and murdering those innocent women. The people of the village in the story also believe deeply in what they are doing and even when Tessie was about to face certain death she did not cry for a stop to the lottery she instead