The Lottery
The author wrote the story “The Lottery” in 1948 when the World War II happened. She describes the Jew’s condition by writing the story. In our opinion, winning the lottery seems lucky, but in this story, the one who gains this “fortune” means that he or she would face a disaster.
This story took place in a small village. It was a sunny day in June. Every villager assembled in a square, waiting for the lottery to conduct. Mr. Summers, the host of the activity, was conservative and a male of supporting patriarchy. He insisted that the representative of the family should be a man unless there is no adult male in the family.
Finally, the result announced. The “lucky” winner was Hutchinson. Mr. Hutchinson was quiet, staring the paper while Mrs. Hutchinson yelled “It wasn’t fair.” Instead of comforting his wife, Mr. Hutchinson said “Shut up” to her. There were five members in the Hutchinson’s family, and Mr. Grave selected five slips and put them in the black box. Unfortunately, Mrs. Hutchinson was the one who got the slip with a black spot. Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The poor Mrs. Hutchinson was hit by stones from every direction.
Unlike other villages choosing to abolish the cruel ritual, this village resisted to change. The story reminded me of a traditional story. It reads that Chinese people believed that gods in the heaven controlled their lives. As they found that they might offend the gods, they choose a female to please the gods by hitting the stones toward the female until she died. In addition, “The Lottery” obviously showed the obedience to authority and patriarchy. At the end of the story, Old Man Warner was saying “Come on, come on, everyone” when Mrs. Hutchinson was suffering. The situation in the story is just like how Nazi had severely prosecuted the Jewess. The author wanted to express how brutal and cold-blooded Nazi was and indicated...