An Excerpt from Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"
Consider the following:
What choices does the director make to highlight the tension and emotional climate of this short story?
Why does this community hold the lottery?
Does this story present a conflict? If so, explain.
With the exception of Tessa, why are there no dissenters?
What rituals or sacrifices exist in our world today? Are there some that have outworn their purpose or reason?
What choices does the director make to highlight the tension and emotional climate of this short story?
Why does this community hold the lottery?
Does this story present a conflict? If so, explain.
With the exception of Tessa, why are there no dissenters?
What rituals or sacrifices exist in our world today? Are there some that have outworn their purpose or reason?
Comments
2. I think the lottery they hold is the way of worshipping or praying to their imaginative god, thereby receive their pursuits and wishes.
3. The story present 2 kinds of conflicts. 1)Superficially, person vs. person. The whole village stands against Tessie. 2)Essentially, person vs. society. The real murder of Tessie is not the villagers, since they don't hold hatred toward her personally. The real murder is the trandition, which should be gradually deserted as human beings becomes increasingly knowledgeable and wise.
4. If I were one of them, I won't do anything either. At least I am not the one who has to sacrifice. If I stand out, support Tessie and a re-drawing is conducted, there is a possibility that I would be the one to be stoned. Therefore, why would I? (Considering that to desert the lottery at this point of time is impossible, since only very few people in the village showed little intention to stop this annual event).
5. This is where the key prolbem comes in: people who living in the society are usually unaware of the problems they are conducting all the time. For example, if everyone know that the lottery is wrong and should be stopped, the lottery won't happen. Just because most of them cannot realize the problem and treat the lottery as a annual routine, the tragedy of Tessie occured. It's really difficult for people who is living in a specific point of time to point out what mistakes they are making. Conversely, it's quite easy for your decendants to summerize if you did right or wrong on specific things. The developing of mentality and knowledge takes time.