We had to read "The Lottery" for English lit.
Click here to read it.
At first I didn't realise what happened to Tessie until I looked closely at the text.
Well, the story is really relevant to today's society. In today's society, there are many traditions and discriminatory practices that are not abolished even though they are outdated and inefficient, which in the story are represented by the lottery. An example of a discriminatory practice that is officially abolished but still practised by some people would be racial segregation. The
A lot of the relevance to today’s society is also from its themes. This is part of a literature worksheet so I can’t divulge the reasons behind the themes otherwise my classmates will copy them. I promise I’ll post them after the assignment is submitted.
Anyway, the main themes that can be found are “the inherent evilness of mankind” and hypocrisy.
The inherent evilness of mankind is very relevant to today especially because of advances in technology like computer games and movies that have violent content, causing people to be influenced by them. Many would not have believed that a 20-something foreigner studying in Nanyang Technical Institute who had great grades would later on stab one of his teachers then jump to his death. However, it did happen, probably because he got addicted to Warcraft, which he played a lot. After that, his grades dropped and his scholarship was withdrawn. Basically, my point is that it is possible, improbable, yes, but definitely possible, for even the man next door, a hardworking student, or a quiet, unassuming bank clerk to someday commit an atrocious crime that makes the headlines.
Hypocrisy is also a major theme. Nowadays, people are becoming more and more unscrupulous. Friendships nowadays are sometimes formed purely for gain from someone or to “have friends in places”. Sometimes people in leadership positions tell their employees that because there is an economic downturn they should tighten their belts, but they themselves are spending extravagantly, renovating their offices and buying new dustbins *ahem*. Some people in the American government criticised the Chinese government for having advanced surveillance and not giving anybody any privacy. However, they themselves voted in favour of such a scheme in America. The Americans have also criticised China for not giving their people any freedom (holding political prisoners et cetera) when there are still people in America who live on the fringes of society and have no freedom of speech. America also says it’s dangerous for other countries to have nuclear weapons (like N. Korea). But America itself stockpiles nuclear weapons. If countries such as N. Korea or Iran can’t be trustworthy to stockpile nukes, what makes America trustworthy? There is nothing that qualifies America to be “The Holder of the Nukes” that has the privilege to wield these weapons when others don’t have this “position”. I’m not saying everybody should be allowed to have nuclear weapons, I’m saying that everyone should not have nukes. If America wants others to not have nukes, it should dispose of its own stockpiles first.
I conclude that The Lottery is relevant to today’s society and no one should say that it is taboo. If you say that The Lottery is utter nonsense, then you’re a hypocrite because you’re definitely guilty of some of the crimes mentioned above (I am too. Everybody is).
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
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I have also read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. My reaction is slightly different from yours. I enjoyed it because it is so thought-provoking. Examples:
ReplyDelete1.It reflects how survival requirements force man to be inhumane to mankind. To balance population growth so as not to overtax food resources human lives are sacrificed by stoning to death, the persons whose name is randomly picked up,just as a lottery system picks up a number,BUT for reward purposes instead.
2. It reflects how a community's interest overides that of its constituent unit--that of a family.So if the unfortunate victim is a parent or immediate member of the family, family members have to accept this in the interst of thier clan or community.Does this sound familier? Individual rights or feelings have to yied to the larger interests of the community, group or nation which they belong to.
3. Presumably, the imposition of death by a chance draw is condoned because no better alternative,at the time this was practised,had been found. And, over time, such a practic became 'normal', or inflexibly traditional. Is this not also familiar? Tradition tends to override rational thought. A similar parallel is the archaic American Red Indian practic of abandoning their ill or aged members of their family on mountain tops for vultures to end their lives speedily. As their nomadic way of life would be hampered by such members holding back their need to constantly roam in search of food. Fortunatly, mankind is always exploring ways of improving thier livelihood. Through higher demand for food,occasioned by explosive population growth,being matched by more efficient ways of procuring food supply, tradition or entrenched practices can be discarded. Death sentences need no more be imposed by a lottery system.
4. One also wonders why an indiscriminatory
lottery system was relied on. Would it have been much humane or equitable for the sickly and/or aged to be preselected for the draw and not the community at large,particularly as the healthier and younger members are likely to bere economiclly productive?
5How ironic hat a ottery which today confers rewards, sometimes very handsomely, on those picked, in earlier days, imposed a dreaded penalty.
6.It reflects the changing values of mankind. What is acceptable practice in preserving a clan or society morphing into entrenched tradition,is challeged not just by scientific advances in food prouction but also by changing moral values (including the politcally streamlined concept of human rights) and religious beliefs.
I hope that your comments and this one leads to more reading and enjoyment Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"
Mind Stirrer
By the way, you can infer from Old man Warner's dialogue with Mr Adams that the lottery is because of superstition that one person needs to be killed in order for the harvest to be large, not to control population
ReplyDeleteI am disappointed with the wrong diagnosis of Mind Stirrer. The Thinker had pointed out that the basis for the "The Lottery " narrative was not economic survival but a plea for a better harvest fuelled by the superstitious belief that sacrificing human lives would ensure this. Sush a practice is more reprehensible than one based on sheer human survival. It reminda me of ancient times when high priests would rip off the hearts of the human sacrificial lamb to offer to the gods to secure bountiful harvests. It is thus no suprise that today such supersitious practices have vanished from the face of the earth. Mind Stirred.
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