Lamron Lit Corner: Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and the horrors hidden from us all
“Is everyone really crazy but me?”
~Shirley Jackson, The Lottery and Other Stories
To say women have been drowned away in the literary landscape of the past 400 years is no groundbreaking theory; it’s simply a fact. While plenty of women from Jane Austen to J.K. Rowling to Mary Shelley have made their names known worldwide for their works, how many untold stories lay on the wayside, never to see the praise they deserve? Or, perhaps even worse, how many stories were written to broad appeal and international recognition only for the author’s name to be lost in time?
I first read Shirley Jackson freshman year of high school when our class encountered, as many classes do during this period of their education, “The Lottery.” The piece has transcended into our collective minds as a near-perfect portrayal of the darkest sides of the human condition.
It begins with the simple, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day.” From there, we watch as the plot evolves into a horrific and gruesome portrayal of human nature, so accurate the reader cannot help but find themselves joining in on the town’s annual ritual. For those who haven’t read it, as rare as that may be, I’ll stop there. If you’re one of those people, I greatly encourage you to put this paper down and read it now. This story will never leave your consciousness.
Fast forward nearly six years to my undergraduate English education. Having only read one work by Jackson, a work long behind me if not completely instilled in my mind, hearing her name in passing brought a feeling to my mind like trying to remember a face in the crowd—How do I know that person?
Obviously, the publishers knew how to get readers to buy this collection— “The Lottery” is the first name on the cover even though it’s the last story that appears in the text, but to pick up this book solely to reread that one part is an injustice that is all too common. Before reading this piece, did you know who Shirley Jackson was? It is more than likely that you didn’t, but I will guess that you did know about “The Lottery.”
Imagine a whole collection full of stories all worthy of being taught in every school in every part of the world, hidden behind the big names of horror like Stephen King and H. P. Lovecraft. Stories that touch on the harshness of suburban life, of living in a war-burdened America, or something as simple as going to the dentist. Imagine the missed potential from a society that leaves behind such a treasure trove of works, a society that forgets a whole author just because their works aren’t an “easy sell.”
Perhaps that’s what Jackson was thinking about when she wrote some of these masterful pieces. In the end, what happens to the woman in her titular piece?