The Lottery

By Shirley Jackson (1948)

The Dystopian Society in Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

▪ A dystopia is defined as an imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of
a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or
totalitarian control.

▪ It often elicits a worst-case scenario in which a society has gone corrupt. In The Lottery, citizens live
in a dehumanized state, conform to uniform expectations, and worship a figurehead. Its these traits
that make Shirley Jackson’s short story a depiction of a dystopian society.

▪ Many of the events that occur in The Lottery prove that this dystopian society is maintained through
a totalitarian/philosophical control.

▪ From the first page or two, the village may appear sound, but as one digs deeper he/she is able to
truly understand the dystopian aura of the story, and the idea that when information in a society is
so heavily restricted – and propaganda so widely accepted – it can create a dystopian cycle that has
no end in sight.
Jackson’s “The Lottery” was published in the years following World War II, when
the world was presented with the full truth about Nazi Germany and the
Holocaust.

In creating the dystopian society of her story, Jackson was responding to the fact that
“dystopia” is not only something of the imagination—it can exist in the real world as
well. Jackson thus considers human cruelty—especially when it is institutionalized, as
in a dystopian society—and the societal structures that feed and direct this cruelty.
THE BACKLASH WAS IMMEDIATE

• “The Lottery” attracted instant controversy: Hundreds of readers

cancelled their subscriptions to The New Yorker and wrote letters
expressing their rage and confusion about the story.
• In one such letter, Miriam Friend, a librarian-turned-housewife, wrote
“I frankly confess to being completely baffled by Shirley Jackson’s ‘The
Lottery.’ Will you please send us a brief explanation before my
husband and I scratch right through our scalps trying to fathom it?”
• Others called the story “outrageous” and “gruesome,” and one
reader from Massachusetts wrote, “I resent being tricked into reading
perverted stories like ‘The Lottery.’”
SOME PEOPLE THOUGHT THE STORY WAS NON-FICTION.

Jackson received a number of letters asking her where these

rituals took place—and if they could go watch them.

“I have read of some queer cults in my time, but this one

bothers me,” wrote one person from Los Angeles.

“Was this group of people perhaps a settlement descended from early

English colonists? And were they continuing a Druid rite to assure
good crops?” a reader from Texas asked.

“I’m hoping you’ll find time to give me further details about the bizarre
custom the story describes, where it occurs, who practices it, and why,”
another reader ( from Georgia) requested.
Summary

Every citizen gathers in the village square to take part in the annual lottery
- The children collect rocks for the tradition
- One person from each family draws a piece of paper from a box and one person draws the paper
with a black dot
- The person who drew the marked paper is bound and stoned to death by the members of the
village
- Citizens live in a dehumanized state due to the constriction of their beliefs/traditions
- Citizens have a fear of letting go of traditions and of people who want to disrupt the norm
- Information, independent thought and freedom are restricted by being forced to participate in the
lottery
- Citizens conform to uniform expectations for fear of being considered a social pariah
- Individuality is frowned upon because citizens are not allowed to have own beliefs
The beginning of “The Lottery” doesn’t seem very odd. The people seem
relatively normal, the adults are working, yet there is a sense of
uneasiness. It soon becomes clear that the “lottery” that keeps getting
mentioned is what causes this sense of unease. Yet the reader is still
unaware of what part of this lottery is making them uncomfortable, and
it starts to become clear that winning the lottery is not a good thing.
The story becomes darker and darker as one realizes that no one really
even knows the origin of the ritual and why it cannot be done away
with. It becomes clear that “The Lottery” is an example of a dystopia,
because propaganda is used to control the citizens, which leads to the
freedom of information being heavily restricted. This happens to the
point where citizens from different towns rarely speak with one
another.

In the "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, dehumanization is a result of society's

pressuring of the masses into practicing old traditions.

“
One must question why this information is restricted (or
rather, has it simply been forgotten?) how it came to be this
way, and why the citizens don’t work to change it.

Why do you think writers imagine and write about terrible

societies?
QUESTIONS

How does The Lottery upset reader expectations?

Is it important that the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost?
What do you suppose the original ceremony was like? Why have some of the
villages given up this practice? Why hasn't this one?

How does the loss of the lottery's origins pose a profound ethical question?

What kinds of values do the townspeople seem to hold about the social roles
of men and women? Do these roles have any connection to the lottery?

Who supports the lottery? Who might want to stop it? What kinds of
arguments are produced for and against the lottery?

What is the significance of Tessie's final scream, "It isn't fair, it isn't right"?
What aspect of the lottery does she explicitly challenge; what aspect goes
unquestioned?
Questions

The Lottery is a different sort of story when you read it for the second time. What elements
(such as Mrs. Hutchinson's attempt to have her daughter, Eva, draw with the family) might take
on a different meaning the second time through?
Techniques

Point of View
Symbolism
Allegory
Foreshadowing
Metaphor
Subversion (upsetting readers’ expectations)
Other?

Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more

importantly, can we trust her or him?