Wow. I definitely sensed something bad was going to happen throughout my reading of "The Lottery", but I never imagined anything like that. Author Shirley Jackson does a remarkable job in her attack of groupthink and the status quo. Her story has such an effect on people because the gruesome ending causes the reader to question why "Because that's how it's always been done" is a valid excuse for anything.
While reading "The Lottery", I found myself engaged not because of the plot or dialogue, but because of the foreboding atmosphere that Jackson managed to create with her characters. As a reader, the sentences themselves did not interest me; the necessity of knowing what happened in the small town on the twenty-seventh of June each year drove me rapidly towards the conclusion. The foreshadowing was created by Jackson's descriptions of character interactions: tight faces, deliberate head nods, and jokes that yielded only smiles; no laughs. At the conclusion of the first page, I was certain that something bad was happening. However, the story let slip no hints or clues as to the actual event other than the confusing collection of rocks by the young boys in the village.
When the lottery process began to take place, I found myself in the shoes of one of the village members. In a town of three hundred people, there appears to be little chance of my name being chosen. However, the worry of a friend or family member being chosen is much stronger. Living in a village so small, I know almost everybody. Even if somebody I know well isn't chosen, it would still be a jarring experience to stone the girl who I saw in school every day for ten years but was a few grades ahead of me, or the guy who runs the bank that my dad used to work with. Obviously my empathetic experience would be different if I'd been raised in an area where a practice like the lottery took place like the characters in the story, but I can hardly imagine being comfortable killing someone, let alone in such a horrible way.
Funnily enough, I was watching TV with my roommates last weekend when an episode of South Park came on. While South Park is both crude and offensive, I count myself a fan because of the creativity of the writers. This episode was no different, as Britney Spears played the part of Tess Hutchinson. Throughout the episode, all the characters other than Stan, Kyle, and Cartman (the main characters) were attempting to take pictures of Britney Spears, playing the part of paparazzi. When Stan has finally had enough and asks his dad why they won't leave Britney alone, his dad explains that she, like other random celebrities before her, has been chosen to be sacrificed for the harvest (a strange reason in current times, but we'll go along with it). The episode even has an old woman with a camera telling her friend who is running ahead with the others to take pictures of Britney, "You'll have to go ahead and I'll catch up with you." While it may not be the best adaptation, I found it to be interesting and told my friends about the connection. The episode ends with the entire cast endlessly flashing their cameras in a circle around Britney, a perfect comparison to Tessie in "The Lottery."
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your paragraph in which you placed yourself in the shoes of one of the village members. You did a very good job grabbing my attention and making me feel like I was standing in the circle of villagers as the names were being drawn. Your concept of worrying more about a friend or family member being chosen than yourself was interesting but very true. When I read this story I did not think about this, however after reading your reflection, it makes perfect sense and I must say that I completely agree with this idea. Unlike you however, I was not expecting a bad ending to this story. Jackson does a effective job showing the emotions of her characters as you have mentioned above, however I was not expecting the ending that unfolded. Reflecting upon this story, answering the question why, is a harder task than expected. While tradition holds the lottery to take place year after year, answering the question “Why” with “Because that’s the way its always been done” is a hard answer for me to accept.
David Belpedio
Nice post Brian! I really enjoyed the part where you compared the social sacrifice that we read about in the "Lottery" to a South Park episode. Stan's dad Randy, one of my favorite characters, must have been directly referencing the "Lottery" when he said that Britney was chosen as a sacrifice for harvest which, I can imagine, its humorous and comedic effect. This, to me, gives the writers of South Park creative merit for being able to incorporate English Literature into their crude cartoon series. After reading it, it made me think about other possible short stories that we have read that can be connected to new adaptations or other current popular stories.
ReplyDeleteI had a very similar reaction when I read "The Lottery." While I knew from the start that something sinister was going on, it was never quite clear until the end what was happening. The ending was shocking, of course, and I think it was made even more so because of the suspense leading up to it. The construction of the story is truly incredible, and is very effective in criticizing the effects of mob mentality on our society.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't the first time that I read "The Lottery," but I remember that my original reaction was also very similar to yours. I definitely was not expecting the gruesome stoning at the end. I thought it was interesting how you put yourself in the town, I had not thought of it that way before. Once in those terms, it takes on a new disturbing level since I would know the person being stoned and would most likely have had a lot of interaction with them in my life in the village. Her story makes readers think about actions from a perspective other than their own like you said in your opening paragraph. It is easy to see why people were taken back by the gruesome nature of the story when it was published, especially given the time it was published.
ReplyDeleteWhile not a South Park fan myself, there was still a lot of truth to what you said. When you said Shirley Jackson challenges the validity of the excuse, "because that's how it has always been done" I realized how much tradition affects our culture both for good and for bad. Traditions have authority; they are normally passed down from older generations and rarely questioned. For the most part, I think tradition is a good thing and makes cultures unique. But there are instances where we ought to be skeptical of just blindly following tradition.
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