The Lottery Response Instructions (Spoilers)The Lottery Response Instructions (Spoilers)
Please respond to one of the following two prompts and use specific examples / details from the text to support your answer.
1. Throughout history, people have blamed festering problems within their communities on one or more individuals, exiling or executing these suspects, regardless of their actual guilt or innocence. One notable example from United States history is the Salem Witch Trials of the early 1690s—during which 200 citizens of Salem, Massachusetts, most of them women, were accused of witchcraft and 20 were executed. Some historians suggest that the trials were a way to resolve the quarrels of a deeply religious community being torn apart by ongoing disagreements. In other words, witchcraft wasn’t the real issue: those condemned by the trials were scapegoats for other problems in the community.
In “The Lottery,” one person is chosen at random every year for ritual slaughter, presumably to ensure a bountiful harvest. These chosen effectively serve as sacrificial scapegoats. Old Man Warner says, “Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (297). His comment suggests that most townsfolk have long forgotten the reason why the ritual began, and that it now persists merely as a superstition—a generalized fear that, if the ritual isn’t performed, some unknown calamity will visit the town. Better to sacrifice someone—anyone—than to risk that.
If you want to do a deep dive on the subject, please feel free to check out the following video: The Invention of Blame (The Scapegoat Mechanism)
Tessie Hutchinson is The Scapegoat in “The Lottery.” To begin, research a society that employed a scapegoat or human sacrifice. Write a response in which you connect your research to The Scapegoat in “The Lottery.” Consider the following: What similarities exist between your research and “The Lottery”? What differences exist? What do scapegoats explain about human nature? Support your ideas with specific textual examples from “The Lottery” and from your research. Please provide citations for all direct quotes and paraphrased examples via parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page.
2. Social mechanisms are the things that make us as individuals think and behave a certain way in a particular society. In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson seems interested in exploring specific social mechanisms/tactics and how they influence the town to keep the ritual going even after they’ve long forgotten the original meaning of the tradition. Some of these mechanisms include (but are not necessarily limited to)
the power of authority
fearmongering
the understanable desire for continuity/ fear of the unknown/ fear of change
imitating others
the desire for a leader
Part of the ritual’s terror is that no one knows its origin. The villagers don’t know why they have to kill a member of their community each year, and no one questions the necessity of it either. They just do it because it’s something that’s always happened, and this mindless continuation of tradition, rather than the ritual itself, is perhaps the most horrifying aspect of the story. How does this kind of socialization happen? Choose one or more of the mechanisms/tactics above and discuss how they are used to ensure people’s conformity and the continuation of the ritual. In your answer, be sure to include specific details from the text to support your answer.
Guidelines and Grading Criteria:
Focus: In your answer, don’t try to provide an overview of everything that the text has to say. Focus on something fairly narrow.
Organization: Writing exhibits a logical progression of ideas with a clear structure.
Support: Writing makes excellent use of the source to analyze, discuss, and develop ideas.
Minimum 300 words
Uploaded as a single file (Word document or PDF)
Remember, try to avoid giving a play-by-play summary of the plot.
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