LITR 5439 Literary & Historical Utopias

 Research Posting 2009

Courtney Heintzelman

Utopias, Dystopias, and The Lottery

            Embarking into the genre of utopian literature this semester, I did not quite know what to expect.  However, as soon as the class discussion turned to dystopias, I immediately thought of “The Lottery.” My first exposure to Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” was in a Freshman English course, and this profound work has stayed in my mind since.  In my initial read of the text, eight years ago, I was shocked at its ending, so I went back and reread it several times.  With each read I found myself loving Jackson’s artistic capability more and more.  The hinting of what is to happen, the anti-prejudicial ideas, the religious meanings of things, and most importantly, the symbolism that is through out the story, are all intricately woven through out the text.   Although I already had a great respect for the work, I had previously never associated the story with utopian literature.  I understand that this is in no way a utopia, but I wonder if it could fit the parameters of a dystopian text?

The story is focused on one specific day, June 27, in a town that relies on crops for survival.  Like many other cultures of the past, the townspeople sacrifice one person a year in the belief that the sacrifice will bring a plentiful harvest (Griffin 44).  When the chosen one, Tessie Hutchinson, realizes that she is about to die, she tries to stand up to the town’s people and plead with them to save her life.  Prior to the start of the current drawing, a few of the town’s people mumbled that the lottery was unnecessary and outdated.  However, those people, and even Tessie’s family did not stick up for her.  None of her friends tried to save her, either. 

            Even though I had already known about a lot of the symbolism in the story with the names and objects, the research I came upon further explained a plethora of the symbolism throughout the text.  Jay A. Yarmove eloquently explains the symbolism of the date of the lottery.  His explanation focuses on two specific dates on either side of June 27:  The summer solstice and Independence Day (242).  Also, the number 27 is three cubed.  The number 3 is in reference to the Trinity (Cervo 183).

In researching “The Lottery,” I found that one of the main ideas behind this text was not just that of conformity, but of how atrocious human nature can be (Coulthard 226).  When Jackson wrote “The Lottery,” it was shortly after the end of WWII.  Many Americans questioned how the Germans could’ve let so many war atrocities happen.  “The Lottery” helped to show how even civilized people can commit such heinous acts of violence (‘“The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson” 232). 

            I found most of my research from articles posted on EBSCOhost via the Internet.  I did, however, find a small literature review with bibliographical information on Shirley Jackson in Literature and its Times.  However, considering how famous (infamous?) this story is, there really isn’t much published on the work.  A. R. Coulthard expresses that one reason for this “is because the story seems such a transparent attack on blind obedience to tradition that little or no exegesis is necessary” (226). 

            At this point in the class, the focus has been on utopias.  Utopia, Looking Backward, and Herland all have certain characteristics that they equally share.  For example, all of the utopian novels have common themes of gardens, millennial events, reawakenings, love interests, and collective dining.  Dystopias, on the other hand, don’t share all of those same qualities.  What I can relate “The Lottery” to is Ayn Rand’s Anthem.  These two texts share the common idea of the collective not questioning their society and its practices.  For the few exceptions that do, they keep their thoughts to themselves. Also, the history of the land and its practices has been forgotten. In “The Lottery” most people don’t even remember why they have a lottery; the people just follow tradition.

            In response to my previous question: yes, I do feel “The Lottery” can be seen as a dystopian text.  However, my mind may change once the class gets further involved with dystopian texts.  I look forward to seeing if my conclusion is correct. 

Works Consulted

Cervo, Nathan. “Jackson’s ‘The Lottery.’”  Explicator 50 (1992): 183-85.

Coulthard, A. R. “Jackson’s ‘The Lottery.’” Explicator 48 (1990): 226-28.

Griffin, Amy A.  “Jackson’s ‘The Lottery.’” Explicator 58 (1999): 44-46.

‘“The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson.” Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events That Influenced Them. Eds. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 235-39.

Jackson, Shirley.  “The Lottery.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1995. 196-201.

Yarmove, Jay A. “Jackson’s ‘The Lottery.’” Explicator 52 (1994): 242-45.