The Lottery Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Lottery - Research Paper Example That is the main reason why the lottery happens every year although not everyone truly looks forward to it. This research paper takes a critical look at this story to establish how the writer uses imagery and other devices to communicate the central theme of the danger of blindly following customs. These exposes underlying backwardness and hypocrisy with which the administrative authority run its affairs (Hattenhauer, p.171). It goes further to draw comparisons and contrasts between Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery† and Jane Glaspell’s â€Å"A Jury of Her Peers† focusing on the main characters that are both females living in a male dominated and conservative societies. They symbolize change as they are the ones out to change how things happen by their actions and words. â€Å"The Lottery† The friendly tone that Jackson uses to write the story and the way that she describes the days’ events leading up to the lottery draw actually manages to initially hide the darkness that is actually represented by the lottery (Smith, p.170). No doubt that not a single person in the town ever looked forward to the lottery draws every year because nobody wants to end up being pelted to death with stones just because your name was drawn out of a box. Before we establish the kind of lottery to be done, the preliminary preparations does not depict any kind of violence to give the image of a typically organized society. The man in charge of the process is very shabby and carries a black box that has been used for a very long time without being replaced; this depicts this tradition as an old custom that has no place in the modern society. According to Smith (p.117), the lottery as a practice feeds the blood lust of the villagers and the hypocrisy of the practice. In fact, it could also represent a study of the human psyche that shows how nobody truly knows his neighbor and how mundane activities could actually hold an evil intention behind it. The event is organized in a very shambolic manner with pieces of paper used to write the residents’ name for selection purposes. These events were organized in order to connect with the gods and ancestors for favour of blessings and abundant harvests. The writer however punches holes in the exercise even saying that these people did not even have an idea why they were taking part. They preserve this archaic tradition because it was passed down generations but no factual explanation of when and how it was started. According to Showalter (p.411), the lottery practice in the town itself presents society’s weakness and their ties traditions that they continue to practice even though everyone has already forgotten why the tradition started in the first place. Never mind the fact that they continue to practice legalized murder just because the society is afraid of what might happen if they actually stop the practice of murdering a person from the town every year as an o ffering for an excellent harvest. I find it hard to believe that nobody in the town questioned the reason for the lottery and its outcome. Even harder to fathom is why the townspeople pretend to be excited by the lottery when it is not something that normal thinking people would look forward for annual participation (Duffield, p.62). It can't just truly be all about not wanting to ruffle any feathers when it came to townspeople participation in the event. Why would somebody be afraid of being rejected by their neighbors for not wanting to participate in a bloodbath year after year? No. This was a town that rejected change and the disruption of traditions for some reason. The lottery ends in murder committed annually in a very inhuman way; the