Shirley Jackson’s Tale The Lottery

The Lottery: A Tale of Human Interaction

The lottery is a tale of human interaction, with a focus on the evils that result from that interaction. The townspeople are portrayed as cruel and unjust in the tale because they wanted to kill an innocent person to guarantee a fair harvest and the sacrifice atoned for their sins. Shirley Jackson’s own life, which was fraught with cases of deception and violence by those close to her, such as her husband, who publicly lied, and her mother, who frequently mocked her beauty, may have served as inspiration for this novel. Therefore, it is the cruelness present in some of her relationships that may have motivated Shirley Jackson to come up with the story which is centered on the evil nature of human beings.

Shirley Jackson’s Background

Shirley Jackson was born in 1916 in the city of San Francisco where she would develop a passion for writing poetry (Biography). She would later head to New York for her college education eventually enrolling in Syracuse University where she would also serve as the editor of the campus magazine. After completing her education, she would pursue a professional career as a writer writing short stories for various publications like The New Yorker (Biography). It was in 1948 that Jackson wrote and published “The Lottery” in The New Yorker magazine; the story drew a lot of confusion and outrage from the public due to the evil that was portrayed in the story (Heller).

The Evil Nature of Human Beings

In the story, Tessie is executed by the townspeople on account of winning the lottery as a form of sin atonement. During the stoning, Tessie is betrayed by her community who do not listen to her cries for help and proceed to stone her even if she had not committed any sin (Jackson 8). It is at this moment that the character and the reader are exposed to the evil present in that community with friends like Mrs. Delacroix seeking to maximize her pain by picking a large rock.

Parallel with Shirley Jackson’s Marriage

Shirley could have used the story of “The Lottery” to represent her marriage to Stanley Edgar Hyman. Jackson met with Stanley while studying in Syracuse, with Stanley initiating the relationship because he was impressed with one of the stories that Jackson had published in the college magazine (Heller). For a time, Jackson found the relationship fulfilling since it was aiding in her recovery from depression and anxiety occasioned by the abuse of her childhood.

Betrayal and Abuse in the Story

However, this would later change when Stanley turned on her and began his abuse by cheating and later confessing to Jackson without showing any remorse. Stanley would narrate his sexual encounters with other women and would reprimand her if she protested against his promiscuity (Heller). This situation is similar to that Tessie finds herself in when the townspeople turn on her and begin to stone her mercilessly without showing no remorse.

Unfairness and Betrayal

Before the stoning happens, the town appears peaceful just like Jackson’s relationship to Stanley was in the beginning, but as the story progressed, it became evident that all was not well and culminated in the execution of Tessie by everyone. The execution was a betrayal to Tessie who was cornered and killed mercilessly by the people who should have been protecting her. Jackson’s relationship and the subsequent marriage to Stanley had turned out to be a betrayal with the latter breaking the trust that he had used to get close to Jackson. Stanley openly cheated on his wife despite her being the breadwinner of the family.

Jackson’s Struggles and “The Lottery”

Shirley was left to take care of everything by herself as she was the one who took care of the house, children, husband, and also found time to write stories that the family depended on to survive (Heller). Despite being the breadwinner, her salary was controlled by her husband who used the money as he wished. Jackson may have used Tessie as an embodiment of the struggles she was going through in her marriage. Tessie was forced to atone for the sins of the townspeople so that they may have a good harvest that season; therefore, Tessie unfairly bears the weight of the sins of the whole community. Just like Tessie, Jackson was forced to bear the whole weight of taking care of the family, including her husband, which by any standards was unfair to her.

The Tolerance of Evil

Despite the suffering Jackson experienced in her marriage with Stanley, she did not leave, which could have been occasioned by the abuse she suffered from her mother who taught her to accept abuse by constantly criticizing her (Heller). This was also depicted in the story whereby, even though the townspeople did not like the lottery and other towns had abolished it, they could not abandon the practice because they had grown accustomed to the violence. The townspeople had become exposed to the evil act so much that some like the old man who had been to 76 executions could not remember a time without it and therefore, did not wish for it to end (Jackson 4).

Personal Motivation and Interpretation

“The Lottery” is credited with having received a record mail response from the readers who inquired about the meaning behind the story. While it is evident the story was an illustration of the evil nature of human beings, the motivation to write the story may have come from some of Jackson’s personal life, which had numerous abusive relationships. Jackson may have been reacting to the emotional abuse she was facing from her mother and husband at the time. The abuse was also a continuation of what Jackson was experiencing with her mother who did not show her any love and emotionally abused her constantly by criticizing her. Shirley Jackson was a great writer who turned the challenges she faced into strengths by using them to build her writing career.

Works Cited

Heller, Zoë _x0093_The Haunted Mind of Shirley Jackson._x0094_ The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 19 June 2017, Retrieved from, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/the-haunted-mind-of-shirley-jackson.

Biography. _x0093_Shirley Jackson._x0094_ Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 17 Nov. 2016, Retrieved from, www.biography.com/people/shirley-jackson-9351425.

Jackson, Shirley. “The lottery.” The New Yorker 26 (1948): Pp 1-8.