Shirley Jackson's 1948 short story The Lottery is an exploration of what it means to belong or not belong to a culture and set of traditions. Jackson sets the scene comfortably, describing a small, traditional village from the 1920s to the 1940s, where everyone knows each other, children play together, women and men speak in naturally separate ways due to the differences in their daily lives. Men, in this traditional world, hold political power. This may not be ideal for a modern reader like you or me; Yet for the average reader in the late 1940s and early 1950s, fresh from two world wars and facing a steadily stabilizing economy, this peaceful little conservative village would be considered idyllic. And that was the goal. Although Shirley Jackson describes what, for many of her readers, would have been a perfect life, she uses it to draw stark contrasts between our apparent civility and the barbarity of unquestioned cultural traditions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The post-World War II culture was one that Americans were proud of. We see ourselves today as a society that has moved beyond racial segregation, the oppression of women and the criminalization of homosexuality. And we are proud of it: we have accomplished a lot and can look back and see progress. Likewise, people who lived in the aftermath of two world wars saw themselves as proud victors over injustice. Rather than accepting the new steps they had taken and looking for other ways to improve, many people thought they had achieved just the right amount of justice and power. Shirley Jackson challenges this by designing a beautiful small village, what we think of today as the 1950s ideal, where the residents believe they have achieved the ideal measure of progress, although they are engaging in a tradition which would be considered barbaric by most of Jackson's audience. . She describes natural life bursting from the ground on the “morning of June 27,” “the gentle warmth of a summer day” in the air, and flowers “blooming in profusion.” She goes on to describe people gathering in the square, in the same way that some people gather for religious celebrations or for political processes. They are calm, perhaps a little nervous, but enjoying the good weather and each other's company. A real sense of community is built in just a few paragraphs before the lottery begins. The lottery itself is ambiguous; however, it inspires a feeling of distrust, of dread in most readers. This is mainly because a modern reader is aware of this horror technique. We're very familiar with the "too good to be true" trope, where adorable little children are truly horrible monsters and the nicest person is the killer. For the target audience of 1948, this story may have been a little unsettling, due to the description of a custom they did not understand. However, they would have been much less likely to see where the story would go than we are today. Instead, unease is created by xenophobia, a questioning of foreign cultures – which is exactly what Jackson meant. By leading readers to think about why they are uncomfortable with the town's traditions, Jackson begins to open them to evaluating their own customs. This is further reinforced by dissenting voices in the public..

Essay / Shirley Jackson's 1948 short story The Lottery is an exploration of what it means to belong or not belong to a culture and set of traditions. Jackson sets the scene comfortably, describing a small, traditional village from the 1920s to the 1940s, where everyone knows each other, children play together, women and men speak in naturally separate ways due to the differences in their daily lives. Men, in this traditional world, hold political power. This may not be ideal for a modern reader like you or me; Yet for the average reader in the late 1940s and early 1950s, fresh from two world wars and facing a steadily stabilizing economy, this peaceful little conservative village would be considered idyllic. And that was the goal. Although Shirley Jackson describes what, for many of her readers, would have been a perfect life, she uses it to draw stark contrasts between our apparent civility and the barbarity of unquestioned cultural traditions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The post-World War II culture was one that Americans were proud of. We see ourselves today as a society that has moved beyond racial segregation, the oppression of women and the criminalization of homosexuality. And we are proud of it: we have accomplished a lot and can look back and see progress. Likewise, people who lived in the aftermath of two world wars saw themselves as proud victors over injustice. Rather than accepting the new steps they had taken and looking for other ways to improve, many people thought they had achieved just the right amount of justice and power. Shirley Jackson challenges this by designing a beautiful small village, what we think of today as the 1950s ideal, where the residents believe they have achieved the ideal measure of progress, although they are engaging in a tradition which would be considered barbaric by most of Jackson's audience. . She describes natural life bursting from the ground on the “morning of June 27,” “the gentle warmth of a summer day” in the air, and flowers “blooming in profusion.” She goes on to describe people gathering in the square, in the same way that some people gather for religious celebrations or for political processes. They are calm, perhaps a little nervous, but enjoying the good weather and each other's company. A real sense of community is built in just a few paragraphs before the lottery begins. The lottery itself is ambiguous; however, it inspires a feeling of distrust, of dread in most readers. This is mainly because a modern reader is aware of this horror technique. We're very familiar with the "too good to be true" trope, where adorable little children are truly horrible monsters and the nicest person is the killer. For the target audience of 1948, this story may have been a little unsettling, due to the description of a custom they did not understand. However, they would have been much less likely to see where the story would go than we are today. Instead, unease is created by xenophobia, a questioning of foreign cultures – which is exactly what Jackson meant. By leading readers to think about why they are uncomfortable with the town's traditions, Jackson begins to open them to evaluating their own customs. This is further reinforced by dissenting voices in the public..

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