A Synopsis of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

Paper Summary:

In this synopsis of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson the author looks at many features of the book. He starts with a look at the false feeling of normal life that Jackson gives in the beginning of the book talking about how the villagers are carrying on with their regular chores at the beginning of the big lottery day. But as the author progresses he points out how Jackson introduces a dichotomy between tradition and change, youth and age, as one of the characters declares that several neighboring villages have abandoned the lottery. The author concludes that Jackson portrays the villagers as being locked in an immature developmental state, an unyielding, unquestioning, and mindless obedience to tradition as they are unwilling to abandon the lottery.

From the Paper:

"Ms. Jackson's short story begins with the gathering of a small village's inhabitants as they prepare for their community's yearly lottery. As the lottery box is brought out, mothers are noted rushing with morning chores, as children boisterously play about the town square, while the men of the village slowly gather, discussing diurnal aspects of village life. These early elements of normalcy combine to allure the reader into false sense of security-a sense that what is about to happen is a positive event steeped in tradition. For example, Mr. Summers, who oversees the lottery, "spoke frequently about making a new box, but no one like to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the [old and dilapidated] black box" (Jackson 384). Here, the reader logically equates tradition with merit, for as Erich Fromm notes, "obedience to tradition [is] identified with virtue . . ." (381)."

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