Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, addresses the age-old mystery of human nature. Jackson once said about the meaning of her literary work, “...I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village, to shock the story’s readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives.” In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, the dark side of human nature is cleverly presented through the villagers’ participation in the lottery, the contrast of the setting from beginning to end, and the characterization of Tessie Hutchinson. Jackson's conveys about human nature that even the most kind-hearted human beings are capable of committing such great atrocities.
The villagers’ willingness to participate in the lottery shows the inhumanity within them. The lottery event is completely ironic because winning the lottery is usually associated with great things such as happiness, money, and luxury, however, in this story, winning the lottery means death. No matter how illogical the event may seem, they are willing to sacrifice their logic to participate in such a bloody event. It is interesting to note that the people are even nonchalant about the whole event. For example, when Mrs. Hutchinson arrives to the event, Mr. Summers says, “‘Well now,’. . . ‘guess we better get started, get this over with, so’s we can go back to work. Anybody ain’t here?’” (433). It is as though the day is just another day for Mr. Summers and he treats the lottery as though it is merely trivial. In addition to this, it is also noted that “The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions; most of them were quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around” (433). This is another example showing the nonchalant attitude of the people. The town had done this event so many times that it has become nothing to them- simply trivial. They...