Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery is one of the most famous and controversial stories in American literature. First published in The New Yorker in 1948, it generated more letters to the editor than any story the magazine had ever published. The Lottery takes place in a small farming village where every year the residents hold a lottery to select one person to be stoned to death as a sacrifice to ensure a good harvest. The story explores themes of ritualized violence and conformity in small town America. But why did Jackson choose to write this provocative story in 1948? There are several key reasons:
Postwar Anxiety in America
The Lottery was published just three years after the end of World War II. America had just emerged from the devastating global conflict that claimed over 400,000 American lives. The postwar period was marked by anxiety and uncertainty as the country adjusted to peacetime and new global tensions arose. Many Americans were concerned about the rapid social changes taking place and there were fears about the dangers of mass conformity. Jackson’s story spoke to these anxieties by portraying a disturbing ritual of deadly groupthink in a seemingly idyllic small town. The story served as an allegorical warning about the dark side of traditions, peer pressure, and blind obedience to authority.
Impact of the Holocaust
While Jackson reportedly wrote the initial draft of The Lottery before World War II, the postwar publication took place less than 3 years after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. Images of Holocaust atrocities including genocide, mass graves, and gas chambers were still fresh in public consciousness. Jackson’s story of an annual ritual human sacrifice likely evoked associations with the extreme conformity, bystander apathy, and senseless violence under the Nazi regime. The Lottery raised troubling questions about human nature and the thin line between civilized society and barbarism.
Critique of Patriarchal Tradition
As a woman writer, Jackson was also commenting on the oppressive traditions of the patriarchal society she lived in. The Lottery portrays a social order where men run the town and control the lottery, women draw the marked slips of paper, and female protest is silenced. The ultimate victim, Tessie Hutchinson, is condemned for questioning the ritual by the men of the village. Jackson’s story can be read as an indictment of a male-dominated culture that enforces cruel customs at the expense of women’s lives and voices. The random murder of a woman each year symbolized the casual violence, scapegoating, and disregard for female lives embedded in patriarchal traditions.
Rise of Fascism and Stalinism
In the late 1940s when Jackson conceived the story, fascism and Stalinist totalitarianism posed threats to democracies like the United States. The conformity, mob mentality, blind allegiance to barbaric practices, and persecution of individuals in The Lottery evoked the dynamics of fascist and authoritarian societies. Jackson hints that the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust were not anomalies – the same inhumanity could unfold anywhere. The story functions as a warning about how ordinary people could fall prey to the dangers of demagoguery, anti-intellectualism, and deadly mass movements.
Impact of the Atomic Bomb
Jackson wrote The Lottery in the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those unprecedented events exposed the world to the horrors of nuclear war and raised deep questions about humankind’s capacity for evil using technology. While not overt, The Lottery evokes associations with nuclear holocaust by portraying an annual ritual sacrifice that wipes out whole families. The primitive stoning ritual evokes a primal fear of annihilation similar to the apocalyptic new threat of nuclear weapons. Jackson hints that human nature has not evolved as far from its murderous origins as people might like to think.
Historical Context
To fully understand why Jackson wrote such a controversial story in 1948, it is important to examine the historical context she was writing in. Here is an overview of the key events and societal factors that shaped the postwar climate when The Lottery was published:
World War II Aftermath
– Over 400,000 American soldiers died in World War II, leaving collective trauma.
– Use of atomic bombs on Japan raised moral questions about technological destruction.
– America emerged as a global superpower and the free world’s defender against fascism.
– But postwar era also marked by anxieties about Soviet communism and Cold War.
U.S. in the Late 1940s
– U.S. economy booming and transitioning from wartime to consumer economy.
– Baby Boom kicked off, with birth rates soaring.
– Conservative cultural ethos and pressures to conform to domestic suburban idyll.
– However, authoritarian and nationalist impulses remained from wartime.
Status of Women
– Woman encouraged to return to domestic roles after working during wartime.
– Second wave feminist movement still in early stages.
– Limited career options for women outside homemaking.
– Persistent gender-based discrimination and violence often not questioned.
Race Relations
– After wartime contributions, African-Americans faced resurgent racism and discrimination.
– Beginning of Civil Rights Movement with desegregation of military.
– But race riots and KKK resurgence demonstrated enduring racism.
– Strict racial segregation and prejudice still practiced widely.
This complex postwar landscape of prosperity and optimism mixed with fears, tensions, and conformity created the atmosphere for Jackson’s provocative story which cut against the wholesome visions of small town life in the late 1940s. The Lottery raised troubling questions about whether evil practices could be lurking beneath the veneer of civility.
Jackson’s Life & Views
Shirley Jackson’s own background and personal experiences informed the subject matter and themes of The Lottery:
Unhappy Childhood
– Grew up in prosperous but dysfunctional family in California.
– Suffered from anxiety and loneliness as a child.
– Had contentious relationship with mother who disapproved of her ambitions.
– Father was unfaithful which led parents to become estranged.
Non-Conformist Woman
– Rejected traditional female roles expected of her.
– Eloped at college age to marry literary critic Stanley Hyman.
– Pursued writing career despite society’s norms at the time.
– Had unconventional bohemian lifestyle.
Experiences as Wife & Mother
– Difficult balancing writing with raising 4 kids and household.
– Suffered from depression, psychosomatic pains, obsessive disorders.
– Husband Stanley had numerous affairs she reluctantly accepted.
– The Lottery reflects anxieties about raising children.
Professional Author
– Wrote novels, short stories, memoirs, children’s books.
– Most famous works had dark themes about domesticity.
– The Road Through the Wall explored dark secrets beneath suburbia.
– The Lottery established her trademark shock ending in story.
Jackson clearly drew on her own outsider perspective and personal experiences as a woman to highlight darker themes of conformity, scapegoating, and ritualized violence in The Lottery.
Analysis of The Lottery
Examining the literary devices, narrative elements, symbolism and meaning in The Lottery also provides insight into why Jackson wrote the story:
Ordinary Small Town Setting
– Takes place in timeless farming village in contemporary America.
– Residents are ordinary people going about daily life.
– Setting is familiar, not exotic, making horror more shocking.
Detached Objective Tone
– Written in third person limited point of view.
– Calm, observational prose, even during stoning murder.
– Heightens disturbing aspects by underplaying the violence.
Ritual and Tradition
– Lottery treated as long-standing annual tradition.
– Customs followed automatically without true meaning.
– Blind adherence to groupthink norms.
– Scapegoating justified by appeal to “tradition”.
Sacrificial Murder
– Randomly chosen person stoned to death by community.
– Collective act binds villagers in shared complicity.
– Sacrifice seen as necessary to ensure good harvest.
– Killing renews community and maintains status quo.
Conformity and Fear of Standing Out
– No one objects to the lottery despite reservations.
– Mrs. Hutchinson punished for defying etiquette rules.
– Individual dissent silenced by mob mentality.
– Fear of standing out and being different.
Jackson highlighted the darkest potential consequences of blind conformity, pointless rituals, mob mentality and petty cruelties in everyday society. Her story exposed the dangers of failing to question traditions and collectivism gone wrong.
Initial Backlash & Criticism
Given its provocative subject matter, The Lottery generated backlash when it was first published:
Most Controversial Story in New Yorker History
– Hundreds of New Yorker subscribers cancelled subscriptions.
– Over 300 letters poured in expressing outrage and disgust.
– Terms like “perverted” “gruesome” and “degenerate” used.
Banned in South Africa
– Immediately banned in South Africa for containing “implications of ruthless authority.”
Critics Found It Disturbing and Offensive
– Many critics called the story pointless, sadistic and objectionable.
– Some journals refused to publish it based on violent content.
– Labeled “the most brilliant, effective, nightmarish horror story” by one critic.
No Explanation from Jackson
– Jackson gave no interviews explaining meaning or motive for years.
– Preferred readers debate and create own interpretations.
– Refused to defend herself against backlash.
The overwhelmingly negative response confirms the story provoked strong emotions and moral objections regarding violence, cruelty, and human nature. But it also demonstrated society’s conformist pressures to suppress unorthodox ideas.
Longevity and Impact
While immediately controversial, The Lottery has proven to be hugely influential over time:
One of Most Famous Short Stories Today
– Still widely read and analyzed in American high schools and universities.
– Considered a classic exemplar of short horror fiction.
– Elements analyzed in courses on literature, feminism, anthropology.
Study of Human Psychology
– Taught as study of crowd psychology, conformity, peer pressure, scapegoating.
– Demonstrates how people can behave cruelly when norms and anonymity enable.
– Shows potential for evil exists in everyone.
Inspired Imitations
– Paved way for more shocking short horror stories to enter mainstream.
– Established modern horror trope of terror hiding behind mundane.
– Inspired imitators in genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror.
Adapted to Other Media
– Adapted into ballet, radio and TV plays, opera, films, comics, art.
– Notably adapted in a 1969 short film by Larry Yust with script by Jackson.
The Lottery remains impactful as both a work of literature and a timeless moral warning about the dangers of conformity, scapegoating, and rituals gone wrong. Its longevity demonstrates great literature can be unsettling and controversial yet stand the test of time. Jackson consciously crafted a story outside the mainstream mold and in doing so, created a masterpiece.
Conclusion
Shirley Jackson’s 1948 short story The Lottery endures as a shocking parable about the potential for evil lurking beneath the veneer of small town America. She wrote this unorthodox tale in the postwar years when anxiety about conformity was running high, gender roles were starting to be questioned, and the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust were fresh in public memory. By portraying an annual ritual murder in a seemingly idyllic village, Jackson forced society to confront the uncomfortable truth about traditions, peer pressure, scapegoating, and the human capacity for senseless violence. The immediate backlash against the story from a conformist culture demonstrated the strong emotions and deep unease it provoked. But over time The Lottery became a revered and analyzed classic, proving that literature need not play it safe to have a lasting impact. Jackson deliberately crafted an unsettling mirror exposing the dark side of both human nature and unquestioned social customs. The story’s lasting power and influence stem from its timeless themes that still send a chilling warning decades later.