The Lottery

A story about the actual human sacrifice for a community that lives in a small village is a sickening one and maybe a story that multiple people ignore. But the short story, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson is exactly that, a tale about human death for the betterment of the harvest in the community. The story stuck me in a number of ways but Jackson’s tale did exactly what it set out to do. It was written to shock those who read it into a state of self reflection. The main character actually loses his wife to the sacrifice and rather than step up and make a claim to save her in the community gathering he simply lets her perish to the hands of tradition in the village. The story struck me because of the amount of apathy found throughout the people with regards to changing a tradition that many of them saw as timed.

            The fact that the town would not speak up about the time worn tradition that has taken a number of lives from the community. I am interested in the field of politics not only because of the interest in the subject, but I fully believe that when you are given the voice and the means to change those things that are wrong humans have the responsibility to fix it. The townspeople were all a part of the lottery and all had an equal opportunity to receive the death penalty Personal responsibility was lacking in the city and it led to the murder of yet another citizen for the sake of a good harvest. At what point do we need to say that something is wrong regardless of tradition and habits? I believe that the point is found when we realize we are doing something with no real logical reasoning or evidence behind our behavior.

            Life is comprised of decisions that we make and those decisions that affect us. We all have a duty to the people in our lives and ourselves to right the wrongs that we see. It left a taste of disappointment but also provides room for improvement in the group think that we see so often communities. Life is as good as we wish to make it.