- This page is about the short story; see lottery for the gambling game.
The Lottery is a short story by Shirley Jackson, first published in 1948 in The New Yorker.
In it, a small town gathers on a warm, early-summer morning to carry out their annual lottery. In the lottery, one person in the town is randomly selected for death by stoning. The selection takes place in this way: first each family draws slips of paper, one of which has a black circle on it. The family receiving the circle draws again, selecting one member for death. In the story, the woman who is murdered is named Tessie Hutchinson. The story eerily contrasts the modern, typical details of the villager's lives -- Mrs. Hutchinson is washing dishes before coming to the ritual, and the Lottery head is described as wearing blue jeans -- with the barbarity of the lottery ritual.
It is a social commentary on how society blindly follows tradition, even if the event is misunderstood or has no current relevance. After writing this short story, Shirley Jackson received many death threats and warnings not to go to Canada.
The full text of the story is widely available online, including at this site. (http://www.americanliterature.com/SS/SS16.HTML)
|
