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Shirley Jackson “The lottery” and Reexamining Human Nature:

Shirley Jackson “The lottery” and Reexamining Human Nature: . In her short story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson makes a statement about human nature based on the blind adherence to some rotten traditions and beliefs. .

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Shirley Jackson “The lottery” and Reexamining Human Nature:

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  1. Shirley Jackson “The lottery” and Reexamining Human Nature:

  2. In her short story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson makes a statement about human nature based on the blind adherence to some rotten traditions and beliefs.

  3. To dramatize her concepts, Jackson borrows an ancient myth and places it in a 20th century American village. Villagers are driven in their social behavior by wicked traditions that Jackson symbolizes in the game of the lottery that looks both ugly and disgusting.

  4. The story opens with the scene of children innocently collecting stones that may be used to stone one of them. The adults of the village are reserved, serene and numb; each one of them seems to be concerned only with his own and personal well-being.

  5. Family relations are suspended; even one’s children and parents do not concern him/her. Mrs. Hutchinson’s children and husband leave the house to participate in the lottery (which is supposed to be an important event) without telling her.

  6. There seems to be a mystical force that drives people like animals to the game of the lottery without daring to disturb traditions or question the meaning or the value of the unnecessary sacrifice. They always have Old Man Warner to remind them of the necessity of making the lottery. “lottery in June,” he says to them, “corn be heavy soon.”

  7. The villagers seem to be trapped and terrorized by the phantasm of the lottery. They surrender without little or no questioning of the value of the lottery. The first drawing is conducted and Mr. Hutchinson emerges a “winner” and the second drawing lands on Mrs. Hutchinson.

  8. As soon as Mrs. Hutchinson is chosen for the sacrifice, all villagers, including her own children, jump on her as animals on their prey. They freeze their brains and remember to use stones.

  9. We may disagree with Jackson’s perception of human beings, but the atrocities committed by man against his fellow human beings in our present time are enough reasons to question the nature of human beings. Is man more than an animal?

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