Shirley Jackson』s well-known short story, 「The Lottery,」 not only
describes how a small village carried on an age-old tradition, but also
portrays many aspects of the cruelty common to humanity.
In the story, through drawing lots, all the villagers took part in
choosing a person to be stoned to death in exchange for a good harvest.
Whether the person was a dying graybeard or a five-year-old naive girl,
when the one was chosen, the villagers all gathered in the square and
attended the sacrificial ceremony of the year. According to the story,
when Tessie was drawn out, Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she
had to pick it up with both hands. She then turned to Mrs. Dunbar:
「Come on, hurry up.」 In these descriptions, we can perceive that these
villagers seemed to be even looking forward to this brutal tradition and
were in haste of joining the stoning.
What』s more terrible in this story was that the lot-drawing destroyed
family feelings. In the original story, after Bill Hutchinson drew out
the paper with a black spot on it, according to the tradition, all the
Hutchinson』s, including Tessie, Bill, and their children, Nancy, Bill,
Jr., and little Davy, had to draw lots to find out which one of them was
to die. When Nancy and Bill, Jr. turned around to the crowd and held
their slips of paper above their heads while opening the slips at the
same time, both beamed and laughed. They were excited for they wouldn』t
be put to death, but they didn』t even think about the fact that they
would have to stone one of their parents to death by their own fair
hands. Still, family members of the sacrificial lamb were required to
participate in the stoning or at least stand in the crowd and watch
their beloved die in their presence. Upon learning that Tessie, the
beloved mom, was going to be sacrificed, someone gave little Davy
Hutchinson a few pebbles to throw at her. The cool and detached
relationship between the family members was conspicuous.
But what』s worse in the whole story was the despair and isolation that
surrounded Tessie after she was drawn out. Group violence left her with
no hiding-place. All she could do at that moment was watch the
villagers, including her spouse and sweet kids, approach her with stones
in their hands, ready to descend upon her. Tessie stood in the center
of a cleared place, and she held her hands out desperately as the
villagers moved in on her. 「It isn』t fair,」 she said. A stone hit her
on the side of the head. 「 It isn』t fair, it isn』t right,」 Mrs.
Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her. The chosen one had no
right to fight back and there was no room for negotiation or
communication. She was left with a strong sense of hopelessness and
despair.
「The Lottery」 is an impressive short story, and many levels of cruelty
in human nature are disclosed through the description of how the
tradition was conducted. In this story, many aspects of humanity are
revealed and we would do well to study the story carefully.