Shirley Jackson
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The works of Shirley Jackson tend to the macabre because she typically unveils the hidden side of human nature in her short stories and novels. She typically explores the darker side of human nature. Her themes are wide-ranging and border on the surreal though they usually portray everyday, ordinary people. Her endings are often not a resolution but rather a question pertaining to society and individuality that the reader must ask himself or herself. Jackson’s normal characters often are in possession of an abnormal psyche. Children are portrayed as blank slates ready to learn the ways of the world from society. However, adults have a hidden side already formed and lurking beneath the perceived normality of the established social order. We see this best in Jackson’s most famous short story, The Lottery. Jackson’s uses many elements of fiction to demonstrate how human nature can become desensitized to the point of mob murder of a member of their own community. One of the ways she does this is through character. While the shocking reason behind the lottery and the gruesome prize for its winner are not received until the ending, the characters come back to haunt us for their desensitized behavior earlier in the story. For example, the children in the beginning of the story innocently gather stones as normal children might, yet their relish in doing so becomes macabre once we find out the purpose for whic
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mpletely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained” (Jackson 2).
We see this effect in another way in the fact that the residents of the town have no original thought or action of their own. As long as things are carried out the way they always have been, they do not complain against the official law of the land. In fact, at the opening of the lottery Jackson emphasizes how official and properly the event is conducted “The lists to make up…the official swearing-in…the official of the lottery…a recital of some sort…the official of the lottery…rattled off duly each year…the official of the lottery…this part of the ritual…the official of the lottery…the official to speak…seemed very proper and important” (Jackson 3). In other words, these people have come to not question authority, even when it might go against morality and community.
The people in The Lottery never are heard to speak in opposition to the authority of the town customs. When they do, they are labeled foolish or absurd for wishing to change the long-practiced rituals of the town. Thus, they would rather follow tradition even if it includes murdering one of their own each year than oppose tr
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Approximate Word count = 1721
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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