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sashank_1509 6 hours ago [-]
I remember reading this as a naive 14 yr old, because it was one of “the” classics of American literature apparently. It scarred me for months later. I hated it.
Now looking back, I don’t think this story would scar me as much anymore. But I still don’t see the point it. Is it an allegory for something deeper than what it is. I still don’t like it much anymore!
wwweston 5 hours ago [-]
The point is that you can see this lottery as a cruel horror. You immediately hate it. It's obvious to us as the readers because it's outside our experience. Of course we wouldn't regularly just draw lots to stone someone to death, that's crazy and good people wouldn't put up with it, right?
What are the lotteries you don't see, because you're used to them, and they're just part of how the world works, like this one is to the people in the story?
If you're looking, you can find them. But it's also as uncomfortable to find them in real life as it is to read the story. So, most of us are happy to keep some other ideas between us and these lotteries. Those people just didn't do the right things. They should have been more careful, more prepared, more like the people who didn't get stoned. They should have done it the right way. They should have known their place. And if it's their time, well, what are you gonna do, mondays amirite?
And if that's true, then you can be safe because you will do the right things. And nobody has to go to the bother of persuading a society with any changes at the margins on which it sacrifices random people.
WalterBright 3 hours ago [-]
If you try too hard to prevent deaths, you wind up causing deaths.
Retric 2 hours ago [-]
Only if you’re ineffective. One of the best ways to prevent people dying is promoting long term economic growth.
irishloop 6 hours ago [-]
I think there are a few things that make it "worthy" of literary consideration:
1. Read a straight horror story, it's quite a surprising twist at the end
2. A critique on the senselessness of following tradition just for the sake of it -- the way a society can just go along with something without really understanding why
3. The banality of evil, and how it can often look like something totally ordinary, rather than some nefarious demon
I loved it when I first read it -- it truly shocked it in middle school and I still have a visceral feeling when thinking about it many years later
jldugger 4 hours ago [-]
> Is it an allegory for something deeper than what it is.
I've always taken it to be a critique of the draft, aka "the lottery."
z_open 3 hours ago [-]
This is the typical interpretation.
I remember a question in English class asking what I think this could be about given the context that it was right after the war.
aaron695 3 hours ago [-]
[dead]
citizenkeen 4 hours ago [-]
Because I’m surprised to see Shirley Jackson on the front page, and maybe someone else will get a smile:
Hahaha, that's awesome. A nice adjunct to "Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole" [1] (to take another example of a riff on a classic speculative fiction piece, that exposes the concepts to modern sensibilities).
What stood out to me was how normal everyone acts. No villains or drawn out speeches just people treating something horrifying like it’s another town chore. That’s probably the part that aged the best (or worst).
pdntspa 45 minutes ago [-]
The speeches may not have felt drawn-out, but the writing sure did
If there is one thing that drives me nuts about old literature, it is how verbose authors seems to be.
Animats 5 hours ago [-]
The antecedent to The Running Man and The Hunger Games.
Wasn't there recently just a two button trend with a similar theme?
system7rocks 6 hours ago [-]
This story remains pertinent.
Can we imagine a world where we can question everything? Where we have the means to do so?
The Lottery parallels plenty of other works - of the banality of evil. Of how we can turn to cruelty through our traditions and patterns. But can we imagine a future where we create space to ask questions? Constantly?
Cider9986 2 hours ago [-]
I really liked the audio version. I would never listen to those ai generated ones, but I guess they might be better than the screen reader for blind people.
Reminds me of circumcision. Nobody questioning, just treating it as a standard thing to torture babies.
Now looking back, I don’t think this story would scar me as much anymore. But I still don’t see the point it. Is it an allegory for something deeper than what it is. I still don’t like it much anymore!
What are the lotteries you don't see, because you're used to them, and they're just part of how the world works, like this one is to the people in the story?
If you're looking, you can find them. But it's also as uncomfortable to find them in real life as it is to read the story. So, most of us are happy to keep some other ideas between us and these lotteries. Those people just didn't do the right things. They should have been more careful, more prepared, more like the people who didn't get stoned. They should have done it the right way. They should have known their place. And if it's their time, well, what are you gonna do, mondays amirite?
And if that's true, then you can be safe because you will do the right things. And nobody has to go to the bother of persuading a society with any changes at the margins on which it sacrifices random people.
1. Read a straight horror story, it's quite a surprising twist at the end
2. A critique on the senselessness of following tradition just for the sake of it -- the way a society can just go along with something without really understanding why
3. The banality of evil, and how it can often look like something totally ordinary, rather than some nefarious demon
I loved it when I first read it -- it truly shocked it in middle school and I still have a visceral feeling when thinking about it many years later
I've always taken it to be a critique of the draft, aka "the lottery."
I remember a question in English class asking what I think this could be about given the context that it was right after the war.
Why one small American town won’t stop stoning its residents to death -https://archiveofourown.org/works/73396436?view_adult=true
[1] https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kim_02_24/
If there is one thing that drives me nuts about old literature, it is how verbose authors seems to be.
Can we imagine a world where we can question everything? Where we have the means to do so?
The Lottery parallels plenty of other works - of the banality of evil. Of how we can turn to cruelty through our traditions and patterns. But can we imagine a future where we create space to ask questions? Constantly?
Reminds me of circumcision. Nobody questioning, just treating it as a standard thing to torture babies.