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The Lottery

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'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson is a collection of short stories that delve into the darker aspects of human behavior, often focusing on themes of cruelty, indifference, and societal norms. The title story, "The Lottery," stands out as a chilling portrayal of a small town's annual tradition that takes a sinister turn. Jackson's writing style is praised for its ability to evoke unease and tension, as well as for its exploration of complex human relationships and societal issues.

Characters:

The characters typically represent ordinary individuals grappling with unsettling situations, often highlighting societal norms and expectations, particularly focusing on women's experiences.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is subtle, using simple yet effective prose to build unease and psychological tension, bringing everyday situations into a disturbing light.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot revolves around a seemingly normal town's annual lottery that culminates in a horrifying and shocking twist, serving as a critique of conformity and blind tradition.

Setting:

The settings typically include small towns and ordinary environments, creating a contrast with the disturbing themes, making the horror feel more relatable and shocking.

Pacing:

The pacing often allows for gradual buildup of tension, with several stories featuring abrupt endings that contribute to an unsettling atmosphere.
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. The people of the village began to gathe...

Notes:

Shirley Jackson's collection "The Lottery and Other Stories" was the only one arranged and published by her during her lifetime.
The stories share an air of eeriness and a fractured worldview despite their diverse themes and characters.
Jackson expertly transforms mundane situations into unsettling narratives.
Many stories focus on the psychological tension underlying ordinary events, often exploring themes of conformity and societal expectations.
The titular story, "The Lottery," is a classic, known for its shocking and dark twist.
Readers often feel a haunting sense of unease that lingers after reading Jackson's works, showcasing her skill in evoking discomfort.
Character names, particularly "James Harris," recur throughout her stories, creating subtle connections.
The collection contains social commentary on prejudice, particularly regarding race and gender roles, reflecting the norms of the 1940s.
Jackson's writing has been described as straightforward yet rich with underlying tension and emotional depth.
"The Lottery" sparked controversy upon its publication in 1948, resulting in a significant amount of reader backlash, with many canceling subscriptions to The New Yorker.
Despite being over seventy years old, the themes in "The Lottery" remain relevant today, touching on blind tradition and the darker aspects of human nature.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings for The Lottery include themes of violence, racism, and psychological distress, particularly due to the horrific nature of the ritual described in the title story.

From The Publisher:

One of the most terrifying stories of the twentieth century, Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" created a sensation when it was first published in The New Yorker in 1948.

"Power and haunting," and "nights of unrest" were typical reader responses. Today it is considered a classic work of short fiction, a story remarkable for its combination of subtle suspense and pitch-perfect descriptions of both the chilling and the mundane.

The Lottery and Other Stories, the only collection of stories to appear during Shirley Jackson's lifetime, unites "The Lottery" with twenty-four equally unusual short stories. Together they demonstrate Jackson's remarkable range-from the hilarious to the horrible, the unsettling to the ominous-and her power as a storyteller.

Ratings (77)

Incredible (16)
Loved It (37)
Liked It (20)
It Was OK (3)
Did Not Like (1)

Reader Stats (130):

Read It (83)
Want To Read (36)
Not Interested (11)

4 comment(s)

Loved It
3 months

****4.0****

This took me by surprise

Review Soon.

 
Loved It
4 months

I love Shirley Jackson's work! I read

The Lottery for the first time in high school. I like that this story is a criticism of upholding traditions without evaluating if the traditions are moral/beneficial or not. I think this story also reflects the patriarchy and how Jackson herself often felt attacked and ganged up on by the men in her life.

Overall, just great. An excellent example of the folk horror genre.

 
Loved It
5 months

I had to read this in highschool (The Lottery). It was incredibly well written but very dark. It left an impression on me.

 
It Was OK
6 months

“It isn’t fair,” she said.

Average rating: 3.2. (With the benefit of hindsight, I've adjusted some of my initial ratings.)

The Lottery and Other Stories includes some fantastic short stories—my favorites being

Like Mother Used to Make, Seven Types of Ambiguity, The Tooth, Got A Letter From Jimmy, and, of course,

The Lottery—but also a fair number that didn’t work for me. Many aren’t so much

stories as they are “slice of life” vignettes that present a certain character or theme. That is, many lack not only a discernible story structure (beginning > middle > end), but

any kind of narrative movement that takes the characters from one state to another. They often don’t even have endings: the scene just stops.

Perhaps this is typical of short stories and I am just too inexperienced with the form to know what to expect. Regardless, it’s not something I care for or particularly resonate with. (Notably,

The Lottery and Other Stories is very different from Jackson’s

Dark Tales, the only other short story collection that I’ve read and that was comprised of stories that usually featured a shocking twist or open ending that strongly implied a specific character decision/action—in other words, short stories as I typically think of them.)

That said, it’s difficult to be

too harsh on short stories simply because they’re so short. I can’t be that upset about something that only takes a few minutes to read, especially when they’re as beautifully written as Jackson’s. At worst, I’m apathetic, hence the preponderance of two-star ratings below—though there are a couple that I thought were decidedly bad.

And, to reiterate: there are definitely fantastic stories in this collection! I enjoyed reading it as a whole, and would still recommend it to those who love Jackson’s work.

Below are my thoughts on each story.

The Intoxicated: 2/5. A high school student makes a few dark comments about the end of the world—and that's it. This very much set the tone for the collection (though I didn’t realize it at the time): it’s a single scene with a slightly tense atmosphere, but nothing much happens. I didn’t find the characters or subject matter very interesting or entertaining. This one fell flat for me.

The Daemon Lover: 4/5. I really enjoyed the concept of this one, which is horrifying and sad at the same time. It did feel a little long, as the middle part repeats the same basic plot beat several times. The ending isn’t exactly satisfying as it doesn’t provide definitive closure, but it felt appropriate for the plot.

Like Mother Used to Make: 5/5. I loved this, one of the few Jackson stories that features a male main character (and it’s a fascinating character study). The setting is rendered in vibrant orange and green (horrific as decor colors but very mid-century—and who am I kidding, I’d probably love it in a so-ugly-it’s-cool kind of way), which gives the story a wonderful flavor and sense of place. The story itself is strangely compulsive, driven not so much by events that happen as by a lingering sense of dread and tension, which Jackson is so marvelous at creating. Loss of control over one’s home seems to be a recurring theme in Jackson’s work, and it’s a nightmare that resonates very strongly with me. Truly bizarre ending.

Trial By Combat: 3/5. I didn't feel any real tension, though I suppose it’s interesting to see just how crippling a fear of confrontation can be, and just how much someone flagrantly violating societal norms can get away with if they’re confident. Notable to find kleptomania again in her work (first in

Hangsaman and again in

Family Treasures).

The Villager: 2/5. Jackson seems to have an interest in the idea of stolen lives (also explored in

Like Mother Used to Make:). Unfortunately I didn’t think this was entertaining or interesting, and nothing really happened.

My Life With RH Macy: 3.5/5. Apparently written as a reflection of Jackson’s own experience working at Macy’s, the tone and style are very bizarre. This is one of the slice-of-life stories I actually kind of liked because it’s just so weird.

The counter head was named 13-2246, and she was very kind to me. She sent me to lunch three times, because she got me confused with 13-6454 and 13-3141.

I wrote Macy’s a long letter, and I signed it with all my numbers added together and divided by 11,700, which is the number of employees in Macy’s. I wonder if they miss me.

The Witch: 1/5. On of my least favorite in the collection (and thankfully the shortest). Sure, there’s a bit of shock value when a character says something disturbing, but nothing really

happens, and Jackson doesn’t seem to be exploring any particular themes or characters in any meaningful or new way.

The Renegade: 4/5. I really liked this one—the atmosphere and tension is superb. Jackson may be at her best when writing about unappreciated housewives. In this case, our main character constantly feels inadequate and is browbeaten by nasty neighbors and the nightmare that is suburbia and children. I did feel like she fumbled the ending, though, especially given that it had one of the strongest plots so far.

The bright sunlight across Mrs. Nash’s kitchen doorway, the solid table bearing its plates of doughnuts, the pleasant smell of the frying, were all symbols somehow of Mrs. Nash’s safety, her confidence in a way of life and a security that had no traffic with chicken-killing, no city fears, an assurance and cleanliness so great that she was willing to bestow its overflow on the Walpoles, bring them doughnuts and overlook Mrs. Walpole’s dirty kitchen.

After You, My Dear Alphonse: 3.5/5. An insightful character study of subtle racism/uppitiness, but it doesn’t really go anywhere plot-wise.

Charles: 4/5. The twist is obvious from the beginning, but I’m just glad to get a story with an identifiable plot and ending. It’s well-done, if not anything special.

Afternoon In Linen: 4/5. Strange little story about a strange little girl. I'm not sure if she just doesn't like being the center of attention (relatable) or if it's something darker. Oddly compelling, and also confusing. One to revisit.

Flower Garden: 4/5. One of the longer stories in the book. It’s interesting that Jackson chose the main character that she did—it makes the unexpected turn midway through quite painful and sad. All told, it’s an insightful character study and social commentary in addition to being a solid story.

Dorothy And My Grandmother And The Sailors: 2/5. Another one I disliked. It felt like a teenager rambling on about how she spent her weekend—there’s no structure, or tension, or point. The characters are lackluster, the themes aren’t interesting.

Colloquy: 4/5. Perhaps the weirdest and most confusing of the lot. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and style, and only wish it were longer and a bit more fleshed-out.

Mrs. Arnold took a deep breath. “Doctor,” she said, “how do people tell if they’re going crazy?”

“Everyone else seems to understand,” she said, “and I don’t. Look.” She leaned forward and gestured with one hand while she spoke. “I don’t understand the way people live.

“Look,” she said, “did there use to be words like psychosomatic medicine? Or international cartels? Or bureaucratic centralization?” “Well,” the doctor began. “What do they mean?” Mrs. Arnold insisted. “In a period of international crisis,” the doctor said gently, “when you find, for instance, cultural patterns rapidly disintegrating…”

Elizabeth: 1.5/5. A story about a lonely, hack literary agent should have had great potential, but it goes nowhere (even though it's almost ridiculously long). It also lacks thematic focus. This one was a bit of a slog.

A Fine Old Firm: 1/5. Extremely disjointed and pointless on every level.

The Dummy: 1/5. This felt like a scene cut from a larger book. It’s unclear who these characters are and why they matter. There might have been a story here if told from the perspective of the girl in the green dress.

Seven Types of Ambiguity: 5/5. A perfectly executed examination of the kind of everyday malices that evil little people enact on others without doing anything illegal. (This one has all male characters—highly unusual for Jackson.)

Come Dance With Me In Ireland: 3/5. There's the barest whisper of a beginning, middle, and end—but I still didn't really care for it.

Of Course: 3.5/5. Essentially plotless, but I liked the mid-century suburbia feel and thought the characterizations were interesting. Jackson perfectly captures the slow realization of realizing you’re talking to a crazy person who’s going to be a nightmare to deal with.

Pillar Of Salt: 4.5/5. A major reason I read Jackson is because of the way she writes unstable women who slowly go mad, so this one really worked for me. The atmosphere was great. But, once again, the non-ending was a letdown.

This taxi went slowly and bumped as it went; she had begun to notice that the gradual decay was not peculiar to the taxis. The buses were cracking open in unimportant seams, the leather seats broken and stained. The buildings were going, too—in one of the nicest stores there had been a great gaping hole in the tiled foyer, and you walked around it. Corners of the buildings seemed to be crumbling away into fine dust that drifted downward, the granite was eroding unnoticed. Every window she saw on her way uptown seemed to be broken; perhaps every street corner was peppered with small change.

The beach pleased her; it was oddly familiar and reassuring and at the same time that she realized this, the little tune came back to her, bringing a double recollection. The beach was the one where she had lived in imagination, writing for herself dreary love-broken stories where the heroine walked beside the wild waves; the little tune was the symbol of the golden world she escaped into to avoid the everyday dreariness that drove her into writing depressing stories about the beach.

Back in their apartment again it seemed to Margaret that the marble in the house lobby had begun to age a little; even in two days there were new perceptible cracks. The elevator seemed a little rusty, and there was a fine film of dust over everything in the apartment.

Men With Their Big Shoes: 3/5. I like this in concept, but it felt a bit flat in execution (something about the tone or characters just didn’t work for me). The ending was confusing and completely random.

The Tooth: 5/5. Clara, feeling "funny" and on whisky, codeine, and sleeping pills, takes a red-eye bus alone to go to a dental appointment… Fantastic setup and an altogether thoroughly Jackson story. I can practically feel Clara’s toothache, and the rising tension and sense of dread (and gradual loss of sanity) is terrific. The ending might not be conclusive in terms of plot, but it is in terms of character, and that works for me. One of the longer stories.

Inside the bus, traveling on, she was nothing; she was passing the trees and the occasional sleeping houses, and she was in the bus but she was between here and there, joined tenuously to the bus driver by a thread of lights, being carried along without effort of her own.

The dentist smiled with the same tolerance as the nurse; perhaps all human ailments were contained in the teeth, and he could fix them if people would only come to him in time.

It was when she stepped a little aside to let someone else get to the basin and stood up and glanced into the mirror that she realized with a slight stinging shock that she had no idea which face was hers!

Somewhere between here and there was her bottle of codeine pills, upstairs on the floor of the ladies’ room she had left a little slip of paper headed “Extraction”; seven floors below, oblivious of the people who stepped sharply along the sidewalk, not noticing their occasional curious glances, her hand in Jim’s and her hair down on her shoulders, she ran barefoot through hot sand.

Got A Letter From Jimmy: 5/5. Another favorite, even if it was short and pretty plotless. I just loved the style—it’s almost stream-of-consciousness, with Jackson highlighting a really interesting contrast between the main character's rapid-fire, unhinged thoughts and restrained, polite comments.

SOMETIMES, she thought, stacking the dishes in the kitchen, sometimes I wonder if men are quite sane, any of them. Maybe they’re all just crazy and every other woman knows it but me, and my mother never told me and my roommate just didn’t mention it and all the other wives think I know….

The Lottery: 5/5. Undoubtedly Jackson’s best short story, and one I’ve read several times before. The horror doesn't wear off. This is I think the only story I've read of hers without an identifiable “main” character, and without much character exploration at all. The twist is shocking on the first read-through, but all the signs of an underlying

wrongness are there—and the building unease is just as (perhaps more) unsettling when rereading. The contrast with the beautiful weather and cheery disposition of the villagers is what truly solidifies the horror. And, of course, it’s a thought-provoking social commentary.

 
 
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