Question: Once you have read the entire story, what is ironic about the discussion of the traditional or ritualistic activities that surround the lottery? what point do you think Jackson may be trying to make?
Answer: The ironic thing is that we don't know clearly why many people take part in this traditional lottery celebration. Once I have read the entire story, I had many doubts. Why some boys selected a lot of stones in one corner of the square or in their pockets? What's wrong with the men stood away from the pile of stones and the women wearing faded clothes? There are a three-legged stool and the black box, but why they put the box on the stool? They sang "a perfunctory tuneless chant", but we always think that chant should be holy. It is also strange that some people made up the slips of paper and put them in the box, and then the box was put way, sometimes one place, sometimes another.
I'm not very clear about that final purpose that Jackson tries to make. Maybe he just want to state and describe many detail screens, and these screens are also not related many strange details in the main body in order to give people a feeling of lottery again and again.
Hi Lin,
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a difficult story, and Jackson really makes her readers grapple with some difficult questions. I think her intention goes a little bit deeper--why this story, and what can we take from it?