Analysis of the Theme of “The Lottery”

摘要：“The Lottery” is a famous short story by American writer Shirley Jackson. The theme of the story is to criticize old beliefs and rituals that were governing people’s mind and behavior. The short story achieve this through characterization and the application of symbolism.

摘要：《彩票》是美國作家雪莉·杰克遜的一篇著名短篇小說，它通過生動的人物刻畫和象征手法的運用，揭示了禁錮人們思想和行為的荒誕傳統和儀式，批判美國當代社會信仰缺失狀態下人性的淪喪。

關鍵詞：theme; Characterization; symbolism

關鍵詞：主題；人物刻畫；象征主義

作者簡介：郭妮（1981.8-）女，湖北武漢人，湖北師范學院外語學院英語系講師，英美文學碩士，研究方向為美國文學。

[中圖分類號]：I106[文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2012)-11-0014-02

The lottery was not a funny thing in which everybody can try his luck， but a very cruel and heavy thing， for the selected person will become a sacrifice and be stoned by other villagers.

Shirley Jackson wrote the story to criticize old beliefs and rituals that were governing people’s mind and behavior through characterization and the application of symbolism.

The lottery， as a ritual， governed the mind and behavior of most of the villagers like a hard and fast rule， with the exception of a few. They were so submissive to it that they would rather bear the annual torture of waiting for the result of the lottery and viewing the inhuman scene in which a member of their own community was stoned，than do something to change the ritual.

Children， the first characters appearing in the story， were the most innocent and naiuml;ve group of people in the village. Thus it is natural that they regarded any gathering as fun. It was also possible that their parents had taught them the lottery was good for their harvest. However， would it be fine for the children to see one of their old acquaintances or elder friends or even their own parents be stoned? Wouldn’t they feel miserable? But none of the children was aware that the lottery was not really a fun thing and they took it as a game and arrived at the lottery ahead of time. One of them stuffed his pockets full of stones and all the other boys followed suit. They even selected “the smoothest and roundest stones”. Their behavior should be attributed to the ignorance of the adults.

Men in the village talked and smiled instead of laughed when they waited for the lottery. From “their jokes were quiet” we can see they were either too timid to make any noise or very obedient and respectful to the coming lottery. All that some of them could do is to complain and detest in their hearts and not to show their true feelings towards the annual public affair.

As a representative of the older generation， Old Man Warner insisted on not only carrying out the lottery every June， but also operating it seriously. He firmly believed in the ridiculous old saying that “Lottery in June， corn be heavy soon.” He was unsatisfied to see Joe Summers， the host of the lottery “up there joking with everybody”. Also he prided in his long history of participating in the lottery. He said， “Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery” as he went through the crowd， so that he can convince everybody the importance and respect of the lottery demanded.

There were very few characters that were not totally submissive to the lottery. During the whole process， only the Adams mentioned about the quitting of the lottery in some north villages. But they were immediately refuted by Old Man Warner， “Pack of crazy fools”. Then they could say nothing more and do nothing about it.

Tessie， the sacrifice of the lottery， was another who challenged the lottery. She made her excuse that she had completely forgotten the lottery after arriving at it later than anyone else. And when her husband chose the slip of paper with a black spot she yelled that it was unfair. When Mr. Summers asked Bill if he had any other households in the Hunchinsons， Tessie took up the right to answer， and she did that in a very aggressive way: “There’s Don and Eva. Make them take their chance.” All these words and actions reflected that she was not respectful of the lottery and the hosts of the lottery at all. However， Tessie’s rebellion against the lottery was very limited. She screamed that it was unfair only when her family was chosen and when she was going to be stoned instead of opposing the lottery from the beginning of it. So if someone else were selected as the sacrifice， she would have felt fine.

Besides the obedience the villagers characterized， the writer created the names of the characters with connotative meanings to show the evil of the lottery. For example， A leader in the lottery， Mr. Summers’ name implied that he was too powerful a person in the village who suppressed the villagers just like the intensity of sunshine to people’s eyes. Mr. Grave implied that he was the person who brought death to people.

The writer used techniques of symbolism to criticize the decay of the old rituals controlling people’s mind. The black box used for the lottery was unchanged for years and became shabbier and shabbier year by year. Nevertheless， “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” It represents the inhuman ritual practiced one year after another in the town.

The writer also criticized the old rituals by saying that the inhumane old ritual had tensed human relationships and squeezed the selfishness out of the people in the village. Friendship， kinship and love have completely vanished as the lottery went on.

After the first round for selecting a family， Mrs. Dunbar eagerly let her elder son go and tell her husband that Bill Hutchinson had got the lot. They didn’t have to worry this year then， and it seems as if Bill Hutchinson’s families were total strangers. In the second round of drawing lots， the danger of being chosen reduced to the range among just members of one family. When Bill’s son Bill Jr. and daughter Nancy， opened their lots， they both beamed and laughed. How ironic it was! Did they feel exhilarated just because they had a narrow escape and one of their parents would be chosen and stoned? If so， how sad it was! When Bill found his lot was also blank， he went over his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. There is nothing more can be shown than his selfishness in his behavior. The rotten lottery forced them to become selfish.

Through characterization of the children， men and the force of the old people in the town and the use of symbolism， the old beliefs and rituals that were governing people’s mind were criticized， so that it warns people to reevaluate those things people take for granted.

參考文獻：

[1]、Jackson， Shirley. “The Lottery”. 1949. Rpt. in The Norton Anthologyof Short Fiction. Shorter ed. Ed. R. V. Cassill. New York: Norton， 1978. 317-324.

[2]、陳幸子. 探索人性深處——謝莉·杰克遜短篇小說《彩票》賞析[J]. 山東師范大學外語學院學報. 2000 (2): 43-46。