“The Lottery” by
Shirley Jackson is a story about a little town that each year takes part in a
town wide “Lottery” where each town’s person draws a slip of paper to determine
their fate. The theme that I have chosen for this blog post is “stoning”. In the
olden days stoning was used as a form punishment in front of the town’s people
as an example to the other town’s people what could happen if they chose to do
that act. The stoning was mostly done in the center of town so everyone could
see it because the center of town or city square was a very popular gathering
place. In the story, the stoning was done by the town’s people in the center of
town much like stoning were back in the olden days. When you get to the end of
the story it really throws you for a loop when you hear that everyone even the
women and children pick up rocks and throw them at the women. Even though the
men, women, and children didn’t seem to show even an ounce of restraint or
sadness while throwing the rocks, it seems as if the city center is a real
symbol for the in the punishment that had to take place for “the lottery”.
In many third world countries today, they are no stranger
to stoning and deaths done as an example. Stonings were used hundreds of years
ago and are still being used today as a way to kill a town’s member for
stealing, rebellion of the higher leaders or in some places an “eye for an eye”.
