Abdurrahman Shaleh R

F21113335
THE LOTTERY
Shirley Jackson

Summary
On a late summer morning, the villagers of a small New England town gather
to conduct their annual lottery. There is an air of festivity among them,
especially the children. Only a few in the crowd reveal slight hints of tension
or unease.
The lottery has a long history in this and surrounding towns. The people who
run itin this town, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graveswork hard to preserve the
rituals that have been passed down from year to year. Changes have crept
in, and some old-timers such as Old Man Warner regret what they perceive
as a loss of a heritage that has preserved the happiness and prosperity of
the town over time.
All the villagers finally arrive, Tessie Hutchinson being one of the last. Mr.
Summers

conducts

the

preliminaries,

ensuring

that

each

family

is

represented and that those who are absent have someone on hand to draw
for them. Finally the lottery begins: Heads of families step forward and draw
small paper slips from the black box that Mr. Summers keeps for the
occasion. As this goes on, townspeople engage in small talk, and the air of
festivity gives way to a pervasive aura of nervousness.
When all the slips are drawn, Bill Hutchinson discovers that he has picked the
one marked with a black spot. Immediately Tessie begins complaining that
the drawing was not conducted properly. Others encourage her to be a good
sport, however, and her protests fall on deaf ears. She and the other
members of her immediate family now come forward and draw slips, as

various townspeople whisper apprehensively. Tessie draws the slip with the
black spot. Mr. Summers commands, Lets finish quickly.
The townspeople now move off to a cleared spot outside the town, Tessie in
the center of the group. A desperate woman now, Tessie entreats the crowd
to go through the ritual again, doing things fairly. Ignoring her protests, the
men, women, and children of the town begin stoning her.
Characters Analysis
1. Tessie Hutchinson - The unlucky loser of the lottery. Tessie draws the
paper with the black mark on it and is stoned to death. She is excited
about the lottery and fully willing to participate every year, but when
her familys name is drawn, she protests that the lottery isnt fair.
Tessie arrives at the village square late because she forgot what day it
was.
2. Old Man Warner - The oldest man in the village. Old Man Warner has
participated in seventy-seven lotteries. He condemns the young people
in other villages who have stopped holding lotteries, believing that the
lottery keeps people from returning to a barbaric state.
3. Mr. Summers - The man who conducts the lottery. Mr. Summers
prepares the slips of paper that go into the black box and calls the
names of the people who draw the papers. The childless owner of a
coal company, he is one of the village leaders.
4. Bill Hutchinson - Tessies husband. Bill first draws the marked paper,
but he picks a blank paper during the second drawing. He is fully
willing to show everyone that his wife, Tessie, has drawn the marked
paper.
5. Mr. Harry Graves - The postmaster. Mr. Graves helps Mr. Summers
prepare the papers for the lottery and assists him during the ritual.

Marxism Analysis
In the short story, The Lottery, Shirley Jackson talks about tragic event
happens in small village. In the beginning of the story, the villagers seem like
they are united. They participating the Lottery, which take place in the
village every year. But as the story move closer and closer to the end,
readers will discover that the winner will be stone to death. This is a
tradition of the village, Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon. Every times this
kind of event takes place; another human life is taken in the exchange of the
villages harvest.
Base on Karl Marxs philosophy there are those who controls all the power in
a society and there are those who works the powerful one; and the ideal
society happens when everyone shares the same amount of power and
wealth. In this case, the old, black box controls all the power, which decides
every villagers life.
In this story, two main characters make up the leader class: Mr. Summers
and Mr. Graves. As part of the upper class, they control all that surrounds
them, including the minds of the working class. Mr. Summers is the more
obvious example: The lottery was conducted as were the square dances,
the teen club, the Halloween program by Mr. Summers, who had time and
energy to devote to civic activities . In stating that only Mr. Summers has
the time and energy for these activities, Jackson insinuates that he is not
part of the proletariat; like most dictators, he is extremely wealthy and has

probably never worked a day in his life, making him unable to relate to the
peoples needs and struggles.
Despite his lack of empathy, he is given absolute power over the working
class, controlling all community activities, and, in effect, their minds. Though
not as outwardly controlling as Mr. Summers, Mr. Graves is entrusted with
several powers over the lives of the proletariat. He is Mr. Summerss second
in command: Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves made up the slips of paper
With this, he is essentially given power over life and death. Furthermore, as
postmaster, he controls all mail in and out of the village; with control over
communication, Mr. Graves also holds control over the minds and free
expression of the villagers. Over all, the upper class establishes control
through fear, this being the entire point of the lottery.
The lower class, on the other hand, is composed of downtrodden workers
who are not allowed to think for sheer lack of time and energy. It is clear that
some in this working class wish to rebel, to give up old rituals and loyalties,
and overthrow their oppressors. Mrs. Hutchinson is the first example of this:
Just as Mr. Summers finally left off talking and turned to the assembled
villagers, Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her
sweater thrown over her shoulders, and slid into place in the back of the
crowd. In being late to the lottery, Mrs. Hutchinson subconsciously
communicates her distaste for the community leadership and the lottery.
She slides into place just as Mr. Summers has finished speaking, showing
her disrespect for his words and ideas. Those who do not rebel against the
lottery share a silent fear of it: A sudden hush fell through the crowd as Mr.
Summers cleared his throat and looked at the list. Though not explicitly
stated, it is clear from the actions of the villagers that they fear the lottery,
and rightly so: they fear for their lives. Kept tired and ignorant by their

leaders, they do not realize the true source of their problems, and do not
push for rebellion.
Because of this large difference between the classes, social change is made
extremely difficult. This is expressed mainly through subtle symbolism; first,
Mr. Summerss insistence that the box be changed: Every year after the
lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year
the subject was allowed to fade off without anythings being done. In this
case, the black box represents the old, decadent society, while the lottery
represents a sort of election. Every year after his election, Mr. Summers
insists for the peoples sake that society must be changed; however, once
he is secure in his position, he is free to do nothing.
The masses, kept ignorant and downtrodden by their work, simply let go of
this social change, unable to see how it could benefit them. As the box
deteriorates, so does their society. Another subtle hint is shown through Mrs.
Hutchinsons reaction to the results of the lottery: You didnt give him time
enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasnt fair!. Mrs.
Hutchinson is essentially stating that Mr. Summers kept her husband busy
and hurried in a ploy to prevent him from thinking. This is a strong theme in
a society where the wealthy lord over the proletariat; without the ignorant
masses, the wealthy could not rule, and so Mr. Summers must keep them
unaware of the true workings of the lottery.
As a whole, this story was a great example of what happens when society is
radically divided between two classes. When the wealthy are given absolute
power, their nature is to lord over the proletariat using tactics of fear and
manipulation. The proletariat is then left unable to think for itself, mindlessly
carrying on with its assigned duties. Through characterizing the upper and
lower classes as she did, as well as showing the extreme difficulties faced in
pursuing social change, Jackson has perfectly conveyed this idea.

As the philosophy for Marx says, there are needs for class struggle in order to
create the ideal society. Tessie argues for herself in the end, other villages
stopped the events, and the condition of the lottery box, these are some
examples of the struggle. Sooner or later these villagers will realize that the
lottery event should be stop, because they are putting their own life at risk.
References
https://www.enotes.com/topics/lottery
http://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-lottery/characters.html