“The Lottery” 607say that the box symbolizes tradition: It is based on
a story, is passed down from generation to genera-
tion, changes very slowly over time, but nevertheless
is believed to serve an important function within the
community.
Jackson conveys her cautionary message on
tradition by establishing a tension between the
brutality of the ritual practice and the fact that it
has lost much of its specificity and functionality
over the years. Indeed, “the people had done it so
many times they only half-listened to directions,”
and over the years certain parts of the tradition “had
been allowed to lapse” and “had changed with time.”
At one point, a villager named Mr. Adams mentions
that “over in the north village they’re talking of giv-
ing up the lottery.” Mr. Adams’s mere mention of
another town abolishing the tradition is met with
howls of disapproval by the aptly named “Old Man
Warner”: “Pack of crazy fools . . . listening to the
young folks, nothing’ good enough for them. Next
thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to liv-
ing in caves.” Old Man Warner’s dictum—“Lottery
in June, corn be heavy soon”—suggests that the rit-
ual might once have held a functional, agricultural
purpose that now seems outdated, given the mod-
ern setting of the story, complete with coal plant,
bank, and post office. Like the tattered box, Old
Man Warner may also represent tradition, which is
continually threatened by and hostile to new ideas
and attitudes, here represented by “the young folks.”
At the end of the day, it seems that tradition itself
is reason enough to continue the lottery; Old Man
Warner reminds us: “There’s always been a lottery,”
and to think of changing it, well, “Nothing but
trouble in that.”
Rereading the story, one cannot help but read
Old Man Warner’s words ironically. We know that
the lottery is “nothing but trouble,” and as there is
no convincing explanation for why one villager has
to die a horrific death each year, the fact that “people
ain’t the way they used to be,” might actually be a
positive step away from blindly following a tragic
tradition. Nevertheless, the arbitrary violence that
punctuates the end of the story serves to reinforce
the author’s highly negative opinion of some tra-
ditions and human beings’ willingness to uphold
them—even to murderous ends.
The author further expresses her condemnation
of unthinking tradition with sarcasm “although
the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the
original black box, they still remembered to use
stones.” The troubling, ironic cruelty attributed to
the followers of the tradition is Jackson’s way of
condemning the violence potential latent in those
who too gullibly accept custom. In so thematizing
convention, the author encourages us to discuss and
debate traditions in our own towns and cultures, and
to imagine ways in which they might benefit from
some collective rethinking.
David Michelsonviolence in “The Lottery”
If we examine the literal language used to describe
the events that transpire in “The Lottery,” the only
act of violence—if we can even call it that—occurs
at the very end of the story, when, after Tessie is
selected in the annual lottery ritual, “a stone hit her
on the side of the head.” Despite this simple descrip-
tion of violence, the story’s implied violence—a
continued, brutal stoning-to-death suggested by the
final line, “and then they were upon her”—has a tre-
mendous power to unsettle even the most hardened
of readers. After all, “The Lottery” concludes with
the assumption that the community stones Tessie
Hutchinson to death. However, it is not evident
that this is in fact the case. Might they simply want
to scare Tessie? Is she to be stoned until she is hurt,
perhaps to teach her a lesson? Or will the stones
fly until she dies? Most readers of “The Lottery”
assume the worst case scenario because of a series
of textual clues that slowly add up to, but in no way
solidify, the conclusion that Tessie is executed. Such
inferences drawn from the text, fueled by our imagi-
nations, have made “The Lottery” one of the most
enduring nonviolent representations of violence in
American short fiction. The implied violence at the
end of the story is made all the more terrible by two
factors: first, our growing realization of having been
duped by the story’s tone; and second, the means of
killing Tessie is purposefully brutal.
In its effect on readers, “The Lottery” sneaks up
on us like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The opening
pages paint a commonplace setting and the tone
of the story is initially one of happy anticipation.