"The Lottery," Its Social Order and Male Superiority Issue
As much as we would like to believe that men and women are viewed as equals in our society, often times we are disappointed. As is the case in Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery." "The Lottery" describes a town's people who gathered on an ordinary summer day to perform a sacrificial ceremony dubbed the lottery. It is a ceremony held by the richest male in the village where the male heads of households and male heads of families chooses tickets from a black box. In the end, the hierarchy is preserved as the protagonist, Mrs. Hutchinson, who unconsciously violates her role as a subordinate being, wins the lottery and is subsequently stoned to death. It is apparent in Jackson's story that the lottery in this village is used as a way to maintain social order and reaffirm male superiority.
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