Analyzing the Characters of “The Lottery”: Continuing Evil
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” we see a typical small town with tree lined streets and flowers, friendly neighbors, and children playing. This gives the town a warm and comfortable feeling. The summers here not only bring blue skies and warm temperatures, but also, the lottery. The people gather every June 27th, at 10am, in the center of town, and a “winner” is chosen. The “winner” is then stoned to death by the same people they call friends. This is the norm for this town. By examining a few of the characters in this story, the reader gets a chilling picture of how blindly following tradition can justify an evil like no other.
Community leader, Mr. Summers, has his own coal business and is married, but has no children of his own. He gives his time leading the different activities in the town, such as dances, Halloween parties, and heading the teenage club. He is also in charge of running the lottery. Making up the slips of paper that will go into the black box, and conducting the actual lottery, are his two most important jobs.
He greets everyone with a smile, and makes “small talk,” in spite of the event that is about to take place. Jackson says, “Mr. Summers was very good at all of this; in his clean white shirt and blue jeans, with one hand resting carelessly on the black box” (134). He was very relaxed, and seemed almost oblivious to the horrific event about to happen. He wanted things to run smoothly and quickly. “Well, now, guess we better get started, get this over with, so’s we can get back to work” (135). He speaks like it is any normal day.
Mr. Summers knows everyone in the town but must follow lottery procedure, and ask the questions that he already knows the answers. Jackson states, “Although Mr. Summers and everyone else in the village knew the answer perfectly well, it was