Forget Saw V or Hostel II: 'The Lottery' is truly terrifying. And it's one of the most horrifying texts you'll ever encounter. 'The Lottery' is a story of a small town basically devouring a member of its own community. According to her, while individuals may be great, a group of people is whole 'nother animal. She thinks you-and anyone and everyone-would race off that bridge if your community decided it was necessary. If you've even had to talk to your mom (or pretty much any other authority figure) you've probably heard the refrain, 'If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump, too?'Īnd your answer was probably 'No.' You're not a lemming or a BASE jumper you don't even like heights.īut Shirley Jackson thinks you're lying. What is The Lottery About and Why Should I Care? Luckily, enough people loved 'The Lottery' that became one of the most widely-anthologized short stories of all time.and helped establish Jackson's position as one of the great American horror writers. But Shirley Jackon's story held up an upsetting mirror to the American Dream and showed us that, even though fascism had been vanquished, there was still more than enough terrifying madness to go around. People really, really did not want to be reminded of the evil that lurked in the hearts of men.especially in a story that showed that evil triumphing over all-American family values. The super-conservative 1950's were dawning. The anonymous, generic village in which 'The Lottery' is set, in addition to the vicious twist the story gives to a common American ritual, enhanced the contemporary reader's uneasy sense that the group violence in the story could be taking place anywhere.or everywhere. (Check out the Encyclopedia Britannica for more on the tale's publication history.) Shirley Jackson's implicit critique of the brutality underlying the rituals and values of America's small towns outraged magazine readers, many of who petulantly cancelled their New Yorker subscriptions.

Unsurprisingly, this story caused major controversy when it was first published.

'The Lottery' doesn't end with a joyous winner screaming, 'I'm going to Disneyland!' It ends with a desperate woman screaming, 'It isn't fair, it isn't right.' As in, killed by fellow townspeople throwing stones until the victim's skull is crushed. It's about a small Vermont town that holds a lottery to determine who.will be ritually stoned to death. Innocence is lost.īecause ' The Lottery' ain't about that kind of lottery. They flip to the table of contents and see a story, adorably titled 'The Lottery.' What could it be about? A sweet story about a poor guy who wins millions? A family that gets a new yacht? A woman who wins an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bahamas?Īnd then they start reading. We can imagine it now: a literary lad in a Don Draper fedora or a bookish lass in a crisp knee-length skirt. The poor suckers who first read the story in the Jissue of The New Yorker.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson