“The Lottery” Analysis Following traditions that have been in effect for even the longest times are not always the right thing to do as society evolves, and can even be quite dangerous especially due to the inherent evil of human nature. This way of thinking is very clear in the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Humans are extremely capable of committing violent acts when they are accepted by society and practiced by tradition. Being this story was written in the post-World War II era, this event was still fresh in Shirley Jacksons mind in the composition of this story. “The Lottery” is describing the human evil that exists in the ordinary, normal person. Over the course of WWII, the Nazi’s were a major group that killed minorities
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The people in this town are just your ordinary, everyday citizens but when they come together as a group, the inherent human evil implanted in them as believed by Jackson begins to surface. Although the story builds up to show how evil human nature can be, it is the ending conclusion that really illustrates what humans, more specifically, normal everyday humans are really capable of doing. The death in the lottery is done by that of stoning, where everyone in the village all participate together in throwing rocks at the unlucky winner of the drawing. This horrid act is even escalated due to the fact that not only do adults partake in the event, but children do as well. Even family members of the one chosen. Tessie Hutchinson, the chosen one to be stoned to death has a family member of hers, little Davy Hutchinson help aid in the killing of her. Someone gave him a “few pebbles” (INSERT PAGE NUMBER) to participate in the tradition. Jackson makes sure to include this in the story to show that the next generation is being taught this tradition and it will continue to be carried on, and Davy Hutchinson will be one of them. This inherent human evil condoned by society allows for the continuation of it because in this small town when they are together as a group this brutality arises no matter the …show more content…
The oldest man in the village whom has participated in the most lotteries, Old Man Warner makes a quite ironic statement upon the village. He believes that the continuation of this lottery helps halt the barbaric nature that humans would soon return to if the lottery was forbidden. He thinks that citizens would come home from work each day and feel the overwhelming need to just go out and commit a murder. A very questionable belief but it is his nonetheless. The lottery is a very barbaric method in itself, it seems like he is just trying to justify the actions of the group as a whole being he has been part of the tradition for a magnitude of years. Old Man Warner swears things are better now with the lottery, and people “ain’t the way they used to be” (INSERT PAGE NUMBER) referring to his belief that people are “less evil” with this tradition of the
The people in this town are just your ordinary, everyday citizens but when they come together as a group, the inherent human evil implanted in them as believed by Jackson begins to surface. Although the story builds up to show how evil human nature can be, it is the ending conclusion that really illustrates what humans, more specifically, normal everyday humans are really capable of doing. The death in the lottery is done by that of stoning, where everyone in the village all participate together in throwing rocks at the unlucky winner of the drawing. This horrid act is even escalated due to the fact that not only do adults partake in the event, but children do as well. Even family members of the one chosen. Tessie Hutchinson, the chosen one to be stoned to death has a family member of hers, little Davy Hutchinson help aid in the killing of her. Someone gave him a “few pebbles” (INSERT PAGE NUMBER) to participate in the tradition. Jackson makes sure to include this in the story to show that the next generation is being taught this tradition and it will continue to be carried on, and Davy Hutchinson will be one of them. This inherent human evil condoned by society allows for the continuation of it because in this small town when they are together as a group this brutality arises no matter the …show more content…
The oldest man in the village whom has participated in the most lotteries, Old Man Warner makes a quite ironic statement upon the village. He believes that the continuation of this lottery helps halt the barbaric nature that humans would soon return to if the lottery was forbidden. He thinks that citizens would come home from work each day and feel the overwhelming need to just go out and commit a murder. A very questionable belief but it is his nonetheless. The lottery is a very barbaric method in itself, it seems like he is just trying to justify the actions of the group as a whole being he has been part of the tradition for a magnitude of years. Old Man Warner swears things are better now with the lottery, and people “ain’t the way they used to be” (INSERT PAGE NUMBER) referring to his belief that people are “less evil” with this tradition of the