Shirley Jackson’s insights and observations about man and society are
reflected in her famous short story "The Lottery". Many of her
readers have found this story shocking and disturbing. Jackson reveals two
general attitudes in this story: first, the shocking reality of human’s
tendency to select a scapegoat and second, society as a victim of tradition and
ritual.
Throughout history we have witnessed and participated in many events, where, in
time of turmoil and hardship, society has a tendency to seize upon a scapegoat
as means
of resolution. The people of the village had been taught to believe that in
order for their crop to be abundant for the year, some individual had to be
sacrificed. "Lottery in June,
corn be heavy soon", said Old Man Warner. The irony here is that villagers
are aware that this act is inhumane but none want to stand and voice their
opinion, for fear of going against society’s standards and being outcast or
being stoned. "It’s not the way it used to be," Old Man Warner said
clearly. "People ain’t the way they used to be." Fear that if they go
against society they might be chosen as the lottery winner or there might be a
truth, after all, that it would disrupt their corn season. "Some places
have already quit lotteries," Mrs. Adams said. "Nothing but trouble
in that," Old Man Warner said stoutly. "Pack of young fools."
In stoning Tessie, the villagers treat her as a scapegoat onto which they can
project and repress their own temptations to rebel. The only person who shows
their rebellious attitude is Tessie. She does not appear to take the ritual
seriously, as she comes rushing to the square because she "clean forgot
what day it was". The villagers are aware of her rebellious attitude and
they are weary that she may be a possible cause for their crops not to be
plentiful. "It isn’t fair, it isn’t right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed,
and then they were upon her.
We can understand how traditions are easily lost through the handing down of
information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one
generation to another. It is how traditions that lose their meaning due to
human forgetfulness can cause dreadful consequences to occur. Although
"the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original box, they
still remembered to use stones". Do people just pick and choose which part
of a tradition they want to keep? We tend to remember the actions and
the objects necessary to proceed with a ritual, but we always seem to forget
the purpose or the reason behind it. Are we correct in still continuing the
tradition even though,
there is a victim involved? It seems we, as part of a society, are scared of
being ridiculed if we change or end a tradition because everyone around us will
still behave in the manner they were taught. "The people had done it so
many times that they only half listened to the directions," shows that the
meaning and purpose behind the ritual had been lost and they were just acting
it out through repetition.
The villagers, who remember some bits of history about those forgotten aspects
of the ritual, aren’t even definite about the accuracy of their beliefs. Some
believe that the "official of the lottery should stand" a certain way
when he sang the chant, others believe that he should "walk among the
people". No one exactly remembers the how and why of the tradition, most
have become completely desensitized to the murderous rituals. Because the
adults have forgotten the tradition’s history, the children know even less and
they are desensitized to murder, thinking it’s just another fun holiday like
Christmas.
Jackson expressed clearly how violence that occurs around us or that we cause
is pointless and has no purpose. Yet this violence and evil grows from a seed
within our hearts and minds waiting to free itself in times of panic and
turmoil. We need to learn to find solutions to our problems instead of putting
the blame on others as means of a remedy. When there are no other corrupt and
sinful human beings to kill, society will turn on itself. Even caring and
normal human beings can throw stones. Forgotten traditions can also be
extremely dangerous as Shirley Jackson points out in her short story. People
hear what they want to hear and choose what rituals to keep for traditions. The
simple game of telephone proves that as a society, we are just like the
villagers, forgetting the original words but continuing on as if the words we
know are the original.