Shirley Jackson's the Lottery Is Essay

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Other characters also make a strong contribution to the theme of the story. The character of Delacroix is important because this name reflects the role of religion in this brutality, again pointing the reader to the idea that religion is a contributing factor to mankind's brutality. "De la croix" is French for "of the cross," but the character's name has been bastardized by the villagers. This symbolizes how religion has been bastardized by society to become a tool by which violence is inflicted on others.

Some of the other names have evident symbolism as well. "Graves" is a clear symbol for death and escape from brutality. That Mr. Summers is the one who runs the lottery is an ironic name, given what the lottery represents. That his role is considered a civic duty, in line with organizing square dances and the teen club, reinforces the idea that the brutality of the lottery is something that is ingrained in this society, to the point where it is considered to be natural, normal and not even brutal.

Another critical character is Davy Hutchinson, Tessie's son. At the end of the story, the young child is given stones to contribute to the stoning of his mother, as are the other children: "The children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles." This illustrates most clearly the cycle of brutality, and the degree to which society is blinded to its inhuman nature. That the villagers would give the child stones with which to kill his mother will only reinforce the child's commitment to society's barbaric rituals. There is also a sense of innocence lost with this character becoming involved -- the child was also an option as a victim of the stoning.

Many of the remaining characters are given bland "everyday" names, and many names are used to identify the different villagers.

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This connotes that the issues in society are not limited to one fictional village with a barbaric tradition, but that these problems of violent and inhumanity are shared collectively. The villagers reflect American society -- they are all of us. Jackson is directing us not to pretend as though this barbaric behavior is limited to some distant people, but is instead reminding us that we are all a part of this violence. It is inherent in our culture, and in our species, and we should all be willing to accept our role in it.

The Lottery's theme is reinforced strongly both through setting and through characters. Each are intended to snap America out of its post-war euphoria, to realize that we still have a lot of darkness in our own society. Against the backdrop of fascism and communism, it may have been easy for Americans to view our society as being something positive and bucolic, and Jackson wanted to snap the people out of that, to remind everybody of our own darkness and the violence that we inflict on each other. The village, therefore, becomes America. Other villages that no longer have lotteries are probably references to other countries that have progressed in their values, while there remain segments of American society, driven by twisted religion and a refusal to accept change, that are still brutal and violent. That these traits are ingrained in society and reinforced through ritual, and that the violence is scarcely even recognized as such, is something that Jackson wants the readers to examine, and by ensuring that the characters are either representative of society as a whole, or particular elements of society (i.e. religion), emphasizes the point that she is making about the ugliness that underlies American society......

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