Abstract the Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Transcription

1 Abstract the Lottery by Shirley Jackson Although Shirley Jackson s short story The Lottery is widely read, it has received little critical review in the decades since it was published. This analysis of the text illuminates Jackson s intertwining of the story s theme, point of view and language. One finds that each of these three an integral part depends on the other. One must examine Jackson s linguistic techniques in order to understand how the point of view is so effective in constructing the story s theme. Her linguistic techniques include: the use of the article the, the lack of adverbs and adjectives in the syntactic structures and the use of words with ambiguous semantic descriptions. Shirley Jackson is a contemporary American writer who has drawn little critical attention; however, her short story The Lottery has interested some critics and puzzled many of its early readers. When the story first appeared in The New Yorker, many readers wrote the editors of the magazine asking for an explanation for the story s meaning (Gibson 193). However, Jackson never appeased the readership with an answer. Many of the story s critics use the scapegoat archetype as a point of departure for their criticism (Friedman; Brooks, Warren). Other critics explore various political, social or religious aspects of the story ( Allen; Bobbitt; Bagehee; Bogart; Kosenko; Nebeker), Throughout all of the criticism, critics have neglected to analyze Jackson s use of language in creating the story s point of view. Jackson is successful in creating the story s theme through her use of point of view, and she creates the story s point of view through a mastery of linguistic tactics. 2 One must examine Jackson s linguistic techniques in order to understand how the point ofview is so effective in constructing the story s theme. Jackson s use of third person objective point-of-view has a two-fold effect. The most obvious effect of the point-of-view is the irony and surprise at the end of the story. More subtle and effective, however, is the way the story s point-of-view demonstrates to the reader how he blindly proceeds forward while reading the story without questioning the meaning of the lottery just as the characters blindly proceed in the action of the story. Jackson accomplishes this through her effective use of language that utilizes the reader s presuppositions or prejudices to build the irony he experiences at the outcome of the story. Jackson creates the narrator s objective point-of-view through the article the, the lack of adverbs and adjectives in the syntactic structures, and the use of words with

2 ambiguous semantic descriptions. The Lottery s order of orientation begins with the time, then the participants, the place, and finally the event. Within the orientation, the narrator repeatedly uses the article the. Due to the repetition of this word, the reader is expected to share the knowledge of in what year the morning of June 27th takes place, what the fresh warmth of a full-summer day feels like, and what the flowers look like. The same familiarity is used by the narrator in referring to the participants. She introduces the participants as the children, the men, and the women. The event takes place in the village, and the event is the lottery. However, even before the orientation in the story, the reader is affected by the same technique used in the title: The Lottery. Jackson is highly aware of the affect the familiar use of the has on the reader. Because the article the is used frequently, the reader has no background-foreground distinction made for him; therefore, he enters the story and continues through it with his own prejudices because the narrator gives him no other information. This familiarity also gives the 3 reader a false sense of security the narrator will not violate his presumptions. Jackson uses past tense verbs throughout the story; therefore, the reader believes the narrator has knowledge of the story s final outcome. The reader s sense of appropriateness is violated, therefore, when the narrator does not prepare the reader for the tragic outcome with language that would signal the reader to expect the ending. Jackson uses the reader s own prejudices in her process of making the reader. The narrator s initial description of the characters creates the reader s surprise at the story s horrifying ending as well as the perpetuation of his presumptions. The narrator does not describe the people as barbaric, backward heathens; they are simply the people of the village. Eventually the reader learns the people s names: Jones, Hutchinson, Delacroix, Summers, Martin, Dunbar, Graves. However, the names are multi-cultural, and without a physical description of the people, the reader is left with an unbiased opinion of the participants. The only insight the reader has into the characters is the sparse dialogue; the reader is not privileged to the thoughts of the characters. Therefore, the narrator has forced the reader to proceed with his own prejudices of a lottery as an innocent affair and the people as just average, simple people. Jackson realizes if the reader sees the people in the story as ordinary people, the impact of their brutality will be greater. The reader may identify with the characters throughout the story because their personalities are non-imposing, and with the lack of them, they could be anyone: even the reader.

3 When the narrator describes the boys of the village gathering stones, she uses nonemotional language, and her adjectives sound like the observations of an unknowing bystander: Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones (Paragraph 2). One would 4 expect the narrator who has witnessed the upcoming event, and is now recounting it, to be appalled at innocent children participating in such a beastly tradition, but the stones the boys gather are simply stones rather than stones of sin or stones of death, and the boys choose the smoothest and roundest stones not the most powerful or most deadly stones. But the reader is unaware of the outcome and has placed his confidence in the narrator and his own presumptions about the event, so he accepts the descriptions of the boys and their actions and interprets the scene through his own prejudices. As the narrator, in the beginning of paragraph 3, continues to introduce the participants, she uses very few adverbs to describe their actions: the men began to gather they stood they greeted one another *the women+ joined their husbands. However, in the last few sentences of the paragraph, she interjects some adverbs, but they are used to describe the interaction between parents and children: the children came reluctantly his father spoke up sharply Bobby came quickly. None of these adverbs reveal or foreshadow the tragedy about to take place, but they give the reader a false sense of security because the story is not void of adverbs; therefore, the reader is not impressed by anything unusual in the syntactic structure even though there is an absence of adverbs and adjectives in more crucial sentences. The narrator might have told the reader the men gathered reluctantly, or they stood wearily together, or the women greeted one another with apprehension, but she does not interject her judgments. As the people gather for the event of the lottery, the narrator reports pieces of conversations from the crowd, but without any narrative direction in the form of adjectival and adverbial introductions, the reader is left to make his own interpretations of the words and the scene reported: Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square clean forgot 5 what day it was, she said to Mrs. Delacroix Mrs. Delacroix said, You re in time though. They re still talking away up there (Paragraph 8). The narrator might have told the reader her voice quivered as she spoke, or she wrung her hands on her apron with distress as she spoke, but Jackson cleverly strings the reader along in order to illustrate an essential part of her theme: people are easily caught-up in traditions and do not examine what they have always taken for

4 granted. She accomplishes this by making the reader an example to himself. She shows him that he, like the characters in the story, does not examine what he assumes to be correct. He finally realizes he has been assumptive when he reads the ironic ending that contradicts all of the presumptions he has carried throughout the story. Not only is the reader not signaled to the tragedy by the absence of adverbs and adjectives in the description of the characters and their actions, but the word choice Jackson uses to describe the event of the lottery also perpetuates the incorrect presumptions of the reader. The last sentence in the first paragraph is exemplary of the narrator s objective presentation the story. The narrator does not interject moral judgment on the event; she simply reports it: in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days *but in this village+ it could begin at ten o clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner. The reader does not assume anything brutal or tragic will happen that is immediately followed by lunch. In the fourth paragraph of the story, the lottery is referred to as a civic activity and is categorized with square dances, the teenage club, *and+ the Halloween program because they are all conducted by Mrs. Summers. By placing the lottery in the same category with these other innocent events, Jackson leads the reader to presume the lottery is an innocent affair. In the fifth paragraph of the story, the description of the box, from which the lottery tickets are chosen, and its paraphernalia ring of 6 sentiment and affection to the prejudice ear of the reader: no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box the present box has been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it (Paragraph 5). The word tradition and the reference to its preservation form the reader s perception of sentiment and affection associated with the event. In the seventh paragraph, the narrator describes the preparations made for the lottery. The semantic descriptions present in the paragraph produce images of a celebration: there was a great deal of fussing to be done there were the lists to make-up there was the proper swearing-in of Mr. Summers. The deictic there, used to introduce each sentence, combined with verbs of preparation produce sentences that echo light-hearted tales of celebration. It may perhaps echo, for the reader, a Christmas tale where there are cookies to be made, and there are stockings and ornaments to be hung, or the reader may hear the echo of a wedding story being told: there were lists to be made, and there were flowers and dresses to be ordered. Whatever particular celebration comes to the reader s mind is not important, but the mood created by this echo is important to the final irony produced by such passages and the reader s presumptions they foster. The narrator describes Tessie Hutchinson s stoning with the same matter-of-fact attitude

5 present throughout the story, but now the reader is confused as to why the characters are picking up stones and is soon after horrified at the reason and ending. The narrator reports Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands (Paragraph 74), and Mrs. Dunbar had small stones in both hands (Paragraph 75). The narrator knows these stones are lethal weapons, but she does not interject with any comments that would allow the reader an understanding of the event about to take place. In the end, a stone hit her *Tessie+ on the side of the head and then they were upon her (Paragraphs 77, 79). The 7 shock of such an emotional scene being depicted with such non-emotional diction leaves the reader paralyzed. At that moment, the reader realizes his own stagnant attitudes and his need to examine all things he believes are true and valid, lest he become like the people of this village. Like many of the critics have discovered in their examinations of the story, Jackson unmasks the civilized man of all countries, times, and societies and reveals the primitive man who lurks beneath. He is primitive in many ways, but his most primitive aspect is his lack of analytical skills needed to develop a more advanced and healthier society for himself. This analysis of man is successful in reaching the consciousness of every careful reader. However, Jackson could not have hit this nerve within her readers if she had not mastered the art of point-of-view which creates the personal and literary experience for the reader, and it is her linguistic approach to creating the point-of-view which ultimately serves up the story s haunting theme. 8 Works Cited Allen, Barbara. A Folkloristic Look at Shirley Jackson s The Lottery. Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin 46 (1980): Bagchee, Shymal. Design of Darkness in Shirley Jackson s The Lottery. Notes on Contemporary Literature 9 (1979): 8-9. Bobbitt, Randy. "The Spiral of Silence: A Sociological Interpretation of Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery. Notes on Contemporary Literature 24.1 (Jan. 1994): 8-9. Bogert, Edna. Censorship and The Lottery. English Journal 74 (1985): Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, eds. Understanding Fiction. 2nd ed. New York: Appleton- Century-Crofts, Friedman, Lenemaja. Shirley Jackson. Boston: Twayne, Gibson, James. An Old Testament Analogue for The Lottery. Journal of Modern Literature 11 (1984):

6 Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery. American Literature. 24 September Kosenko, Peter. A Marxist/Feminist Reading of Shirley Jackson s The Lottery. New Orleans Review 12 (1988): Nebeker, Helen. The Lottery : Symbolic Tour de Force. American Literature 46 (1974):