" "They do say," Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, "that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery." Old Man Warner snorted. "Pack of crazy fools."(Jackson, 219)
"Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon"(Jackson, 219)
In the beginning the of the story the words lottery and village in the same sentence clashed with my picture of the lottery. So I started my reading picturing an old town filled with pilgrims riding around on horses and initially thought that the lottery was simply a drawing in which they won something. As I read on I realized that the lottery was something they were being forced to partake in so most likely not a prize. When I got to the parts I quoted it struck me a little odd that the old man was so upset at the idea of not doing the lottery. I was even more bewildered when he stated that the crops would be heavy due to the lottery being done. Was the lottery done as some sort of religious sacrifice? There was not mention of anyone or thing they were try to please by doing the lottery simply that is was a tradition. Over all I think that the writer achieved her goal of demonstrating "pointless violence" It real made me think of some of the pointless traditions in my life. Like Easter, I am religious so there are the ideals behind that but egg hunting and presents and a jumbo bunny seem pretty pointless. My favorite type of story is one like this, it leaves you thinking.
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Nicely written, I agree with everything but the giant rabbit. Where would I be with out my giant chocolate bunny.
ReplyDeleteThis story does a great job of trivilizing pointless violence. Strange how the author braught the whole village into the fray as if to say the violence that plauges our world exisits in children also. pretty scary when you think about the kinds of exposure we have given to violence in our lives. turn on the TV and see how long it can be on before you see violence of one knid or another. Good job for making me think.