What Is The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Sexism

Shirley Jackson’s life influenced the way she wrote all of her novels, including “The Lottery” and We Have Always Lived in a Castle. Shirley Jackson endured both sexism and abuse during her childhood and adulthood which she took out in her writing. According to Shirley Jackson, she wrote, “The Lottery” because both she and her children were treated unfairly in North Bennington and because of her abusive relationships with both her mother and husband. Shirley Jackson wrote We Have Always Lived in a Castle because she was treated unfairly her whole life by people closest to her and in this novel like the villagers in her novel who do not treat the Blackwoods fairly even though they all are aware of their family issues.

“The Lottery” is

“The Lottery” is about a barbaric ritual that takes place in a small town each year and requires all the villagers to draw sheets of paper to determine a winner. The winner of the Lottery must be stoned to death due to a misguided belief that this will help their crops grow even though most of the villagers don't remember that this is the reason they still perform the ritual. The message of the story is that people who do not question rituals they take part in, are going to face the consequences without understanding of what they are really doing. Shirley Jackson claims she wrote this story based off the villagers in North Bennington, where she and her kids lived, and how they treated her. Shirley Jackson’s biographer, Judy Oppenheimer, stated that Jackson and her children recall numerous accounts of receiving anti-semitic comments directed towards Stanley Edgar Hyman, Shirley Jackson’s husband. The story also relates to Jackson’s life and how she was treated unfairly, for example when Tessie Hutchinson was chosen to be stoned to death. For all of Jackson’s life she was treated unfairly just like Tessie Hutchinson and everyone who had to be stoned to death because of the tradition of the lottery. This relates to the period of time

The young girl named Merricat lives in isolation from the village, with only her sister and her Uncle Julian due to her parents' death. Merricat never understood the disapproval and hatred she received from the villagers, which relates to how Shirley Jackson was treated by her mother. Shirley Jackson’s mother never approved her writing and her choice of lifestyle as an adult. Jackson began to experience serious anxiety and agoraphobia due to the hate she experiences from the ones closest to her. According to the interview of Shirley Jackson in “The New Yorker”, even her marriage with Hyman, who she thought was a kind man who didn’t think she was ugly, who understood her and loved her, and who believed in her as a writer. Jackson’s mental health deteriorated after she realized he was unfaithful during the marriage. In the early stages of their relationship, Hyman’s behavior drove Jackson into such anguish that he worried she might be mentally ill. Ruth Franklin, the author of A Rather Haunted Life (a biography of Shirley Jackson), stated that she “accepted a relationship with a man who treated her disrespectfully and shamed her for legitimate and rational desires” because of she wanted someone to appreciate her since her mother didn't’. As stated in the