The lottery by Shirley Jackson
Man’s ability (and need) to rationalize
generally unacceptable actions
The first thing that I find that
directs my thought of the Lottery is the fact that the town hasn’t quit the
lottery. On page 294 Mrs. Adams says “Some places have already quit lotteries”
while Old Man Warner responds, “Nothing but trouble in that – Pack of young
fools”. This evidence demonstrates the mentality that the town does these
stoning but for the good of the town. Old Man Warner is a great example of
people who will justify the horrible things that they are doing thinking that
the other towns who have stopped are condemning themselves or are “fools”. The
whole town I believe feels this same way with the way that they act nonchalantly
about the whole thing, simply wanting to hurry up so they can go back to their
normal day. Old Man Warner is really the only person who speaks out and goes to
tell and demonstrate to the reader that the town feels it’s a necessity to
continue. The whole situation really reminds me of the sacrificial killings
that people found that were happening in the Maya culture. They didn’t go about
stoning the sacrificial person but instead went in a harsher route just
straight cutting out the person’s heart and letting the blood just spill
everywhere. Another example that I think of was a documentary, don’t remember
the name since I was flipping through the channels and didn’t clearly recognize
the channel, but they were talking about how camels, all different breeds of
them, were used in different cultures. The main point that really connects with
the story was the fact that every year they would have a celebration for the lama
(cousin to the camel) they bred and with the celebration they would sacrifice
one of the lama’s cutting its throat and letting the blood soak into the ground
believing that their God was taking the blood back into the earth and taking it
as a good luck and prosperity sign. The fact that both the lottery, the Maya’s
and the rural community with the lamas both believed that the sacrifices that
they were doing were essential for the community to have luck or prosperity
shows that people mask their actions with the idea that if they don’t do it
something will go wrong.
