The Lottery Allegory Analysis

Written by Shirley Jackson, the short story “The Lottery” focuses on a village with a tradition that provides fate by random chance. Jackson writes this story almost in a journalistic style. For example, "The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green" (Jackson 132). The story seems to be completely stripped of superfluous information and chockfull of clandestine significances meant to deliver maximum impact to the reader. For example, the word lottery is defined as “an outcome governed by chance”. However, in this particular allegory Jackson uses the title to elude the readers mind from the ending to come. Throughout the entire

Although each person is a separate entity, throughout the majority of the story Jackson refers to the village or the families as a whole. Jackson an example of this when she talks about when “the village began to gather in the square” (Jackson 132). This is significant as it relates to our society because of how we tend to group people together, rather than look at people as individuals. For instance, like our society, there was a censes of sorts. “There were lists to make up-of heads of families, heads of household in each family, members of each household in each family” (Jackson 134). This “list” for the lottery relates to how our society breaks families down from top to bottom and the gender rolls they play. “Soon the men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes. They stood together way from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed. The women wearing faded house dresses and sweaters, came shortly after their menfolk, they greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip as they went to join their husbands” (Jackson 133). Jackson uses this theme in the story to parallel with our society and the way “traditional” families are viewed and operated. This represents anonymity in our society. Instead of being viewed as individuals, we are viewed with labels that society has put on us. For instance, when Mr. Summers says, “Wife draws for her husband.” (Jackson 135) and then asks, “Don’t you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?” (Jackson 135). This quote exemplifies the subordinate position of women. This is a great example of the downfall in the society Jackson was living in back in