Conformity Exposed In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Title Shirley Jackson was the author of “The Lottery”, who published this short story in The New Yorker at a very conservative point in time. Society has their norms; historically, anything going outside of or beyond them is unacceptable. The 1940s was a time of racism, gay-bashing, and general unacceptance. Many people were unsafe, so conformity was a necessity for most to survive. A short story like this being published in a newspaper would’ve inspired anger in the masses. Unlike in out very desensitized day and age, people were sensitive to anything remotely graphic or inappropriate in nature. A controversial piece of literature like this in mainstream media would cause a predictable outrage and excessive backlash. Some things are better left unsaid; or unpublished, like this work should have been. The focus

A small town engages on an annual ritual of having a lottery of death. Everyone from the elderly to the children were subjected to the risk of being stoned to death, by people they’ve known all of their lives. The Hutchinson family were the unfortunate victims of chance. Once Bill Hutchinson is found to have the paper with the infamous dot on it, and Tessie abandons her habitual conformity. Who knows how many people she herself has stoned in her lifetime, in the name of the sacred tradition? They have the elders vouch for it vehemently; Old Man Warner even calls those in the towns who stop the lottery a “pack of crazy fools”. No one disagrees with him. Yet when Tessie’s own life is at risk, she begins trying to bring in other people to draw with her family. Tessie Hutchinson becomes irate and exclaims to Mr. Summers, “ ‘Make them take their chance!’ “ A woman attempts to throw her daughter and her daughter’s husband in attempt to save her own life. This part of the story speaks to selfishness of people. Oneself will always come first and self-preservation is man’s top priority. It’s that oneself is