The second story that anyone could ask me about and I would immediately know what to say is The Lottery. Shirley Jackson did such a great job at keeping the ending hidden. I wasn't a big fan of the short story for the first four pages. It moved to slow, with more detail then I really cared for dealing with a box and rituals, after all - it's just a lottery. Well, around page five is when you start to get the hunch that something isn't right, that this lottery isn't normal. Before, I just wasn't quite sure what it was for, could have been money, or food, or no taxes, but definitely something pleasant none the less. Now you realize you don't want to win the lottery. My first reaction is death, but then I second guessed myself by saying there was no way.
Well - there was a way. By stoning her. It is a story that speaks volumes, because it seems to be in a whisper the whole time until you reach the plot twisting climax. I read this story and just assumed it was back in an earlier century. So when you look at the date it was intended for, 1948, it especially seems ridiculous. That is how our society is though. We don't go around randomly stoning one person each year, but when push comes to shove, you don't want to be the one shoved. It is amazing how quickly some people can throw friends "under the bus" when it means they advance further in life, or how so many people have a mindset to not truly care for neighbors and reach out. We are becoming a society where pure kindness and caring shown through face to face interactions of one reaching out to another is dwindling. Sure, maybe you would be sad if someone in your dorm got robbed, but as long as it wasn't you, some might even help the robber. Obviously The Lottery is an extreme example, but still.
Many of us aren't living our lives with the care and love we are called to do, and a huge factor is because it is normal not to. It was normal and expected to stone one person each year. It is normal for divorce to happen and it is expected by most here to receive presents Christmas morning. The society you grow up in has the serious ability to shape you, your beliefs, your expectations in and from life.
I know this post was kind of all over the place, sorry.
Caitlin-
ReplyDeleteYou could say that the ending of The Lottery is surprising but it really does define a part of our society. Although it is hard to believe that people could be so intentionally cruel to their neighbors, it happens every day. I thought the craziest part of this story was when someone handed some pebbles to little Davy to help stone his mother. Jackson seems to be saying that we teach generations every day to act out against their peers.
Miss Stowe,
ReplyDeleteThat last paragraph (not the one in which you apologize) definitely has been a cause for thought in my mind as of late. The things we do, and reciprocally the way we react to the things we do depend largely on the culture in which we are raised. This ties in directly to our conversation partners. All of us were probably surprised by at least one thing we learned from our conversation partners about their respective countries' cultures. One obvious example I learned from my Columbian partner was about the amount of crime and how much of a norm it had become in his country. It is normal there because he was raised there. Davy will grow up and understand that stoning a person every year is the normal thing to do. Cultural norms have a way of defining the way we react to certain things.
I really agree with you about the way that society shapes the way we act as adults. It's unfortunate that children can grow up thinking that morally reprehensible things (such as stoning a fellow member of the village) are normal. Comparing the story to life today as you did is truly chilling, as society has the ability to shape the lives of young people for better or for worse. Sadly, it seems to be drifting towards worse...
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