Conformist can be as horrible as they can especially when guided by a tradition which normalizes bad behavior and actions. This is what The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is about—banality of evil.
The story revolves in a traditional and somewhat a yearly ritual in a community. This ritual became an annual community activity where people are gathered together and prepare for the lottery. But this kind of lottery is not what everyone expects for it is something dark and disturbing. Whoever wins in the lottery will be murdered by throwing rocks at them until they die.
As the story unfolds, it implied that this lottery has been passed down through generations and became normalized. The lottery plays a significance in understanding that people can be bad or be a murderer by having a strong grip at their tradition.
I find the key theme of this short story a bit alarming because it shows that when people view their actions normal, they tend to live with it and pass it down to their children. Thus, leading to a confused morality. Confused morality pertains to the behavior of the people participating in the lottery. Instead of being blissful for this annual event, they tend to be more nervous to know who will win. And if someone wins, they kill it instead of celebrating with them. This is why, there is a confusing ethics happening in the story. There is a lot of contradictions between the people’s actions and their behaviors.
For instance, the story opened by showing children who are gathering rocks. It connotates something playful because the scene might be interpreted as children having fun. However, as the story progresses, we can infer that these children took part in making the lottery a success for they provided the needed rocks for the lottery winner.
Even though the short story has a lot of disturbing themes and elements, it never fails to supply needed assessment for human traits. This is scene when the story ends and it leave me something to ponder: Why is it that people can make such things? The answer to that would be, the people are free to do good or bad actions, they are also free to have good or bad behaviors; however, goodness or badness are sometimes characterized by what they believe in, by what culture they have and by what conformity they tend to possess.
Therefore, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery might contain a lot of idiosyncrasies and dichotomies, this is still a great piece of writing which may be useful for readers to relate themselves aiming to understand various, contradicting human traits.
Tags: The Lottery, Shirley Jackson, literature, story review, themes and symbolism, modern relevance, cultural impact, LifeThinker.
