Reader Response #2: The Lottery “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson and published in 1948. The title of the story initially leads readers to believe the story is going to be about someone winning some kind of prize. Even the opening of the story seems to protest any foul play or cruel behavior. What the reader is introduced to is a seemingly friendly gathering of a small village community, members all gathered around anxiously awaiting their drawing for the lottery. The village members all chatter amongst one another in a tone that kind neighbors would take with one another. To the surprise of the reader, the story provides a shocking twist. The story is not about someone winning a prize. Instead the story reveals that the lottery is a barbaric and inhumane practice in which the person who is drawn is subsequently stoned to death by the member of the community. Upon first reading the story, I sat there shocked staring at the book, not fathoming what I had read. I ended up going back to the beginning and reading it again. It was after my second time reading the story that the dark, yet brilliant mind of the author finally mesmerized me. From what I gather, Jackson was obviously trying to portray humanity’s ability to be cruel toward their fellow man. The author also pointed out that we are drawn toward such graphic dramatizations because of the pointless inhumanity and violence that we are so inexplicably capable of. Although we do not go around stoning member of our society after holding some archaic and twisted lottery, society as a whole has treated individual members without kindness. Take, for example, society’s treatment of African American’s just before the Civil Rights was won in the 1970s, or the way society has responded so disdainfully toward bisexual couples. Again, it is not that we go around murdering this people, but our cruelty, our lack of empathy does provide some insight into the coldness that exists in our own hearts and “The Lottery” brings that coldness to the forefront. While there is nothing about the story that I actually liked, especially considering how dark and dreary the outcome was, I do admire what the author was trying to do. She certainly succeeded in shocking her audiences with the unforeseeable twist that arose at the end of the story. I did not expect the ending that I read. Even when I realized that the woman of the family who drew the winning ticket was arguing against the winnings, I had not ever thought that perhaps someone would die as a result. The fact that children were also allowed to participate in the drawing is what really made my stomach churn. Jackson certainly provided a detailed enough picture in such a few short pages to pull a physical reaction from me. I cannot rightfully say that the story was a good one, but it definitely was brilliant. It still amazes me that an author can write so descriptively and so intelligently that he or she can pull physical, mental, and emotional reactions from the person reading the story. In this case, I had several reactions to the story. Not only did I feel disgusted at how the community members were so eager to stone the woman to death, I also felt a mind-numbing sensation at the fact that such violence and cruelty closely mirrors our own modern society without the archaic practices. As a modern society, we cut down the individual members of society in new ways. While we may not string them up to hang them, we do string them up publicly for the purpose of cruelty and humiliation. Just look at cyberbullying or mass shootings. This coincides with Jackson’s point that society, no matter how sophisticated and revolutionized has the ability to perform acts of hatred toward one another to the point that it does irreversible harm. While we may not all act this way, we all have it in us to do so. Perhaps just beneath the surface, the ability to act so barbarically lies just beneath the surface. Luckily for us, most of us are able to keep that barbaric attitude at bay.