It Isn’t Fair, It Isn’t Right
What a world we live in—senseless and endless acts of violence and mistreatment all for the sole purpose of rationing. For centuries, we, as people, have resorted to violence to prove a point. Whether for punishment, revenge, or just pure anger, violence has always been a choice. A choice that many have made without a second thought. It scares most people, because plenty of those whose early childhood was surrounded by subtle religion, learning about various forms of violence from things considered to be sacred and holy, like the Bible, completely caught them by surprise. Stoning, hanging, and blood and valor, are all its featured acts of violence. Justified or not, it’s purely inhumane. What gives us the right to inflict pain on others? What have they done to deserve this? Surely it isn’t enough to cause even worse harm to them. And yet, every single day, we still find ourselves in the midst of cruelty and hatred.
Upon first reading Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery,” one would assume the stones mentioned at the beginning of the short story were of no significance. Just simple objects used to set the tone of the tale ahead. What is not expected, though, was that these same simple objects would ultimately be used to end a mother’s life—or so the reader was led to believe. Jackson’s discreet use of foreboding hints helps us determine whether or not something bad is about to happen, but it isn’t until the end that we truly learn what the stones would be used for. Over and over, we hear Mrs. Hutchinson, a character in the story, repeat how the lottery isn’t fair. The lottery is a system of names being drawn from a box. Said name was the unfortunate soul that would be stoned once the drawing was over. “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. ‘It isn’t fair,’ she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. [...] ‘It isn’t fair, it isn’t right.’ Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.” (Jackson 7). While we've been made aware of the existence of the stones from the very first two paragraphs, it isn’t until the lottery drawing is over that we understand what they would be truly used for—and in the most abrupt and inhumane way possible.
Now if the text is reread, with all understanding of the timeline of events, one would notice that the idea of stoning was made evident from the beginning of the story. Once the mention of the stones was presented, the possibility of stoning was birthed. But nowhere in the story was there seemingly a motive, or an excuse per se, as to why these villagers felt the need to stone Mrs. Hutchinson. Being that this story was published in the mid-1940s, long before technology and the internet, it’s safe to assume the cause is something that could only have affected the local townspeople. In another line, we learn that this lottery has been around for decades, as certain citizens have participated in it for as long as they lived, “‘Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery.’ Old Man Warner said as he went through the crowd. ‘Seventy-seventh time.’” (Jackson 4). While we may not know when the lottery was first introduced, we do know it has been around for at least 77 years. Seventy-seven years of cruelty and unfair treatment of humans towards other humans. But the question remains again; what did Tessie Hutchinson do to deserve her stoning? Plenty of others can be asked from this understanding alone. How did Old Man Warner avoid being stoned for 77 years? Why are women chosen to be stoned? Why are children even involved in the first place? Questions there may possibly never be an answer to. But if one were to take a guess, it could be worth mentioning that this story was written shortly after World War II. Plenty of Americans still lived on edge, and this practice could be seen as a way of ridding the town of negativity or bad luck. Sort of like a purging, if you will. But as long as there doesn’t appear to be a motive, then the cruel human-on-human treatment cannot be justified.
Amongst other things, we learn that other towns have or are planning to get rid of the lottery completely. Whilst the town members don’t all agree with it, there’s a sense that the younger generation will grow out of it. But to understand the cruelty means to understand what the gain and cause of the lottery is. Why do the members of this town feel that stoning a random person, man, woman, or child, every so often is justifiable? What do they gain from it? It could be safe to assume it slows down the growth of the town. But that isn’t reason enough. The long-standing idea of killing to control a population is outdated, and there are many other practices that can be used in place of this. And it appears that the lottery does not happen once a year, but rather once a month or a week at best. Jackson writes, “‘Seems like there’s no time at all between lotteries any more.’ Mrs. Delacroix said to Mrs. Graves in the back row. ‘Seems like we got through with the last one only last week.’” (Jackson 3). Oddly enough, for a town that seems to hold onto the idea of the lottery so dearly, they sure do love to host one more often than the last. To truly comprehend why this pointless act of random violence is even needed in this community, we need to understand how it really is a lottery. It seems as though the names aren’t picked at random, and the drawing is rather rigged. The chances of Old Man Warner escaping death for 77 years in a row are slim to none, and the fact that someone who was so nervous about it from the beginning ended up being the chosen victim remains baffling.
All in all, the unfair use of power and violence to prove an unknown point just can’t be justified. While we don’t know what the cause is, what we do know is that it really just isn’t fair. Mothers and fathers and children alike should not have to suffer at the hands of a wooden box. Drawing names from it and praying that yours isn’t picked, because it’ll be the last thing you ever do. And for as long as we’ve walked this earth, violence has always been a choice among those who want power. Hurting all those who oppose you and stand in your way, just to get what you want. It isn’t fair, and it never will be, because we can’t know peace until we know violence. We can’t know love until we know hatred and this cruel world is no place for people who can’t accept that. It isn’t fair, and it just isn’t right.
References
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery” (1948). 23 Jan. 2005.
