The Lottery Q&A
Is the lottery a story about how humans are inherently evil; or is it just a critique of mindless human error (mob mentality)?
The renowned philosopher Immanuel Kant once postulated a theory on human nature. We, as humans, are born inherently evil. We have violent tendencies and its very core, human nature is selfish. He goes on to say that we use religion, laws, and order to suppress these evident natures and live a "civil" life. In The Lottery, it is shown that people have an annual tradition where a "lottery" occurs, and the person who "wins" is stoned to death. It is a practice that seems almost indubitably (Sam Li told me to use this word to make me sound smart) barbaric by our modern standards. Of course we could make the argument that I set up, saying that human nature is violent and evil. However, another possibility exists. We as humans, don't realize the huge "errors" or mass "evil" we create because of mob mentality. The holocaust is an example, as many claimed to say that they were just following orders: but how can we be sure that it's just people following directions and not their own consciousness exposed?
It becomes apparent several times throughout the Lottery, that human nature is violent. "Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar" (Jackson 301). This old woman, who we tend to associate with less violent tendencies, has been emphasized to choose the largest stone she could find and inflict pain and damage with it. It exclaims the violent tendencies that we have at our very core even at old age. However, the quote most appreciated by this theory is one that explains the history of this tradition. "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones" (Jackson 301). The people in the town forgot the entire historic ritual. The only thing they remember? "Violence, killing people with stones, and somehow it works out." This scene shows how fast the human mind resorts to violence.
The other explanation for this behavior of course is mob mentality. Something we tend to face in our day to day lives. (There is also a psychological experiment that displays this type of conformity called "The Asch Conformity Experiment"). Mob mentality is also a basis for why this story was written in the first place. In the story, Old Man Warner exclaims "Pack of crazy fools ~ Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them" (Jackson 297). It appears that the older generation of this town forces the next generation to conform to their practices. (I mean what can the new generation do? The old generation birthed the new generation.) People just assume without any solid evidence that without this "Lottery", there will be disaster such as crop famine. In fact, the history of the practice is so long, that they've never been able to prove it wrong. It's a tradition they accept, and it is something they see as normal. It's kind of like the case where while we eat meat products, we're not exactly conscientious about the suffering of the animal itself and many kind of accept it as a social norm.
In my opinion, while some of the events in the story can be attributed to mob mentality, every human action at it's very core is a source of innate evil. This tradition wouldn't have started in the first place without a generation to create a "stoning ritual to kill people". In addition, the fact that the tradition continued from generation to generation only strengthens the argument that humans are innately evil, as the people forget everything except the part to stone people to death. The violent part. At least that's what I like to think! List your opinions below!
The renowned philosopher Immanuel Kant once postulated a theory on human nature. We, as humans, are born inherently evil. We have violent tendencies and its very core, human nature is selfish. He goes on to say that we use religion, laws, and order to suppress these evident natures and live a "civil" life. In The Lottery, it is shown that people have an annual tradition where a "lottery" occurs, and the person who "wins" is stoned to death. It is a practice that seems almost indubitably (Sam Li told me to use this word to make me sound smart) barbaric by our modern standards. Of course we could make the argument that I set up, saying that human nature is violent and evil. However, another possibility exists. We as humans, don't realize the huge "errors" or mass "evil" we create because of mob mentality. The holocaust is an example, as many claimed to say that they were just following orders: but how can we be sure that it's just people following directions and not their own consciousness exposed?
It becomes apparent several times throughout the Lottery, that human nature is violent. "Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar" (Jackson 301). This old woman, who we tend to associate with less violent tendencies, has been emphasized to choose the largest stone she could find and inflict pain and damage with it. It exclaims the violent tendencies that we have at our very core even at old age. However, the quote most appreciated by this theory is one that explains the history of this tradition. "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones" (Jackson 301). The people in the town forgot the entire historic ritual. The only thing they remember? "Violence, killing people with stones, and somehow it works out." This scene shows how fast the human mind resorts to violence.
The other explanation for this behavior of course is mob mentality. Something we tend to face in our day to day lives. (There is also a psychological experiment that displays this type of conformity called "The Asch Conformity Experiment"). Mob mentality is also a basis for why this story was written in the first place. In the story, Old Man Warner exclaims "Pack of crazy fools ~ Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them" (Jackson 297). It appears that the older generation of this town forces the next generation to conform to their practices. (I mean what can the new generation do? The old generation birthed the new generation.) People just assume without any solid evidence that without this "Lottery", there will be disaster such as crop famine. In fact, the history of the practice is so long, that they've never been able to prove it wrong. It's a tradition they accept, and it is something they see as normal. It's kind of like the case where while we eat meat products, we're not exactly conscientious about the suffering of the animal itself and many kind of accept it as a social norm.
In my opinion, while some of the events in the story can be attributed to mob mentality, every human action at it's very core is a source of innate evil. This tradition wouldn't have started in the first place without a generation to create a "stoning ritual to kill people". In addition, the fact that the tradition continued from generation to generation only strengthens the argument that humans are innately evil, as the people forget everything except the part to stone people to death. The violent part. At least that's what I like to think! List your opinions below!
Works Cited (Image)
MacKenzie, Ian. “Calvin and Hobbes: Is Human Nature Good or Evil?” Matador Network, 5 Feb. 2010, matadornetwork.com/bnt/calvin-and-hobbes-is-human-nature-good-or-evil/.
I agree with you that the villagers are violent in action and but I also believe that the villagers through generations to be innately evil. Before the first lottery, I do not think that the members of the village had the intent of killing others, but maybe one person did, and he/she , a man or woman probably of great power, created the lottery. The lottery then became a tradition followed by all and became a part ingrained in the minds of all. The lottery became intrinsic to them and was a way of every day life. So yes, I do believe that the people of the village are innately evil and violent but not always. The tradition of generations caused for this natural growth of evil.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting post! I think that the nefarious nature of the story being slowly revealed is a cool juxtaposition with the initially innocent nature of the town. It makes me think about the movie Hot Fuzz for anyone who has seen that. But I don't think that human nature is inherently evil--rather, I believe that the people in the story are showed to be inherently susceptable to following the directions of others.
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