Power and the Group: Meaning and Contex t in The Lottery Essay

Power and the Group meaning and Context in The Lottery There is power in both sort consensus. As long as the free radical thinks as a stem they gain authority and power over single voice. The group deflects the problems of the individual by diffusing responsibility thoughout its members. Diffusion of responsibility allows the group to think as an entity. Over time, the entity develops a set of mores. Mores within the group are very strong. The group takes on characteristics and functions as if it were possessed of individuals, unless because its responsibility is to remain all knowing, all-powerful and obs equious. Claiming responsibility would in loading threaten the entity, so instead the entity threatens the individual that says I am responsibly for myself. Groups cry out, it isnt fair while the individual cries out it isnt aright so it was for Tessie Hutchinson. Shirley Jacksons essay, The Lottery is a statement wherein an appointed officia l conducts a yearly lottery, presumably to ensure sincere crops and health throughout the village. The head of each family gulls a ticket from a lottery box. One family draws the marked ticket. The individual members within the family then draw again, determining the winner. At first it seems surprising that when stripped to i ts substantial elements that the story holds the attention of the reader, but because the audience identifies with the details of the town, the villager, even the rough drawing of lottery tickets, we, like the group process itself, become part of the fictitious character of the story. The audience takes in stride that Jackson clues us in on a sinister undercurrent by the gather ing of boys who made peachy pile of stones in one corner of the square and gua... ...remains in effect, he can deflect responsibility for poor crops and ill health onto the secret of an outdated belief system. The reader may think that we are in a higher place such belief s, but consider the tobacco industrys self-serving lies and how umteen lives have ben doomed by them. Then ask yourself, how many parents and children sit in courtrooms or mental institutions thinking, it isnt fair, it isnt right? Works Cited Jackson, shirley. The Lottey. The Norton Anthology of Literature By Women. . Ed. Sandra M. Giubar New York Norton, 1985. 1872-1880.Nebeker, Helen. The Lottery Symoblic Tour de array. American Literatur. Vol. 46. No. 1. March, 1974 100-107.Oehschlaeger, Fritz. The Stoning of Mistress Hutchinson Meaning and Context in The Lottery. Essays in Literature. Vol. XV. No. 2 Fall 1998 259-265.