Think of the Hunger Games... but no fight and no reason.
This was the first time I had ever read "The
Lottery," although I had heard of it before. The story dumbfounded me; as
soon as I finished reading it I said aloud to myself, "WHAT?" I was
not entirely sure of what had happened, so I searched the internet for an
explanation, and I found one. I could not believe that these people chose
someone randomly, someone who was their friend, and stoned them to death. Some
aspects, mainly the lottery itself, reminded me of the reaping in Suzanne
Collins' The Hunger Games. Shortly thereafter, I found myself
questioning Shirley Jackson's sanity, which brought me back to Suzanne Collins.
Who decides to sit down one day and pen a story about the random drawing of a
name which results in death? The poor family lost their mother, the poor town
had to live with the guilt of killing their friend. The fact that they saw
nothing wrong with any of this astounded me. I would love to sit down and talk
with Shirley Jackson about her....inspiration for "The Lottery." Who
know what I could discover? Maybe a tortured soul, a certifiable loon, or just
a woman who wanted a little excitement in her life.
I believe that Shirley Jackson subtly used symbolism
throughout "The Lottery." I would like to jump around a bit, as I
feel that later symbols complete earlier ones. First I would like to touch on
the single black dot. The dot symbolized the stones, which therefore means the
dot symbolized death. Jackson
wastes no time adding a deeper meaning to it. Everything is laid out plainly to
understand. Second, the box symbolizes waiting and the "clock of
life" ticking down. It's hard to believe I am saying this but I believe I
can tie the story to the 2000 movie, Gladiator.
You see, throughout the film, Russell Crowe's character, Maximus, is searching
for a way to kill the emperor because he feels that he cannot join his family
in the afterlife until that deed has been done for the betterment of Rome. A
door is seen throughout the film, and at the end, when he finally dies, he can
pass through the door into the afterlife. The door in the movie is the box in
the story.
It is hard to take a liking to any of the
characters in the story, so I think I will go with my favorite being the third
person narrator. I had known the narrator would be a nameless third person, as
my teacher had said it would be. But you cannot take a liking or disliking nor
can you take a judgment toward the narrator because you do not know him. He may
be a bystander or someone in a later time retelling the days of the Lottery.
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