In a patriarchal society, women are dominated by men who hold all authority over them. The insidious nature of this ideology, although not as accepted as it once was, has stood the test of time; long enough that the idea of men being superior to women can appear to be natural. Since the beginning of time women have been depicted as unstable, taken the blame, or have been subject to discrimination and stripped of their rights due to the rules of a patriarchal society. Women’s rights were possibly taken away ever since Eve bit into the apple and committed the first sin. Rights that are perhaps only given to Men, as written in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, “that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights….” A patriarchal society has been what could be considered a long-standing tradition in the United States, one that many deem old-fashioned and unfair. In the story, “The Lottery,” the author, Shirley Jackson, highlights the socially constructed patriarchal system that overpowers love, logic, and reason; and shows that people will blindly follow tradition no matter how reprehensible it may be. The paradoxical ideology that men are superior to women and everything is normal, is symbolized in the story, beginning with the beautiful day on which the story takes place.
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The title alone, “The Lottery,” used by the author as possibly an illusion to fool the reader that everything is not only okay but great. Perhaps the author purposely intended to mislead the reader, allegorically illustrating society’s blind-eye towards the subordination that women have always faced and the normalcy that has been prescribed to it. At the end of the story, the beautiful day suddenly turns dark and deadly following an age-old tradition of the lottery, the winner is stoned to death by the entire village of about three hundred people, and even the children participated. The author cleverly displays, through the characters and the text, the stereotypes of gender representation, and people’s disinclination to violate the rules of tradition, no matter how illogical the rules may be. Throughout the story, the author illustrates the separation between the male and female roles in society. At the beginning of the story, the people of the village began to gather in the town square to draw for the lottery; the children were the first to arrive. The young boys gathered rocks while the girls “stood aside” watching them. And it wasn’t until one boy, Bobby Martin, who stuffed his pockets with stones leading the other boys to do the same, possibly hinting to people’s eagerness to do what others do and that traditions are socially constructed starting from a young age. The idea that men come first and are superior to women is highlighted by the author’s description of the men approaching the town square ahead of the women. The men were described as having important conversations about, “planting and rain, tractors and taxes.” They talked quietly, stood together and “smiled rather than laughed,” showing they were all calm and collected. Soon after, the women started to arrive wearing, “faded house dresses and sweaters,” illustrating their lower class in comparison to men. When the women greeted each other, it was not with important topics, but with “gossip” instead. However, despite the tragedy that is about to unfold, the men, women, and children remain complacent as if it’s just another day. Often, outdated traditions seem to be held to higher standards by older generations. Symbolic to this is the black box that is used in the drawing for the lottery. The box was described as faded and growing shabbier each year. With this, the author paints the picture of a fading tradition while at the same time showing the power it stills holds within many people. The eldest man in the village, Old Man Warner grew angry when hearing the people around him talk about other villages thinking of giving up the lottery and in some places, it was already gone. The word spreading throughout the crows that the lottery is disappearing in other places could be seen as a sign that people in the town are open to change their traditions if others had done it first.
The title alone, “The Lottery,” used by the author as possibly an illusion to fool the reader that everything is not only okay but great. Perhaps the author purposely intended to mislead the reader, allegorically illustrating society’s blind-eye towards the subordination that women have always faced and the normalcy that has been prescribed to it. At the end of the story, the beautiful day suddenly turns dark and deadly following an age-old tradition of the lottery, the winner is stoned to death by the entire village of about three hundred people, and even the children participated. The author cleverly displays, through the characters and the text, the stereotypes of gender representation, and people’s disinclination to violate the rules of tradition, no matter how illogical the rules may be. Throughout the story, the author illustrates the separation between the male and female roles in society. At the beginning of the story, the people of the village began to gather in the town square to draw for the lottery; the children were the first to arrive. The young boys gathered rocks while the girls “stood aside” watching them. And it wasn’t until one boy, Bobby Martin, who stuffed his pockets with stones leading the other boys to do the same, possibly hinting to people’s eagerness to do what others do and that traditions are socially constructed starting from a young age. The idea that men come first and are superior to women is highlighted by the author’s description of the men approaching the town square ahead of the women. The men were described as having important conversations about, “planting and rain, tractors and taxes.” They talked quietly, stood together and “smiled rather than laughed,” showing they were all calm and collected. Soon after, the women started to arrive wearing, “faded house dresses and sweaters,” illustrating their lower class in comparison to men. When the women greeted each other, it was not with important topics, but with “gossip” instead. However, despite the tragedy that is about to unfold, the men, women, and children remain complacent as if it’s just another day. Often, outdated traditions seem to be held to higher standards by older generations. Symbolic to this is the black box that is used in the drawing for the lottery. The box was described as faded and growing shabbier each year. With this, the author paints the picture of a fading tradition while at the same time showing the power it stills holds within many people. The eldest man in the village, Old Man Warner grew angry when hearing the people around him talk about other villages thinking of giving up the lottery and in some places, it was already gone. The word spreading throughout the crows that the lottery is disappearing in other places could be seen as a sign that people in the town are open to change their traditions if others had done it first.