The Lottery
: Challenges to Social Order
The rigid structure of society reinforces order and promotes conformity of all classes TO THE SOCIAL NORM, but an individual WHO REBELS AGAINST established NORMS poses a threat TO SOCIETY AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL. Shirley Jackson, the author of , conveys original thinking, which could lead to rebellious impulses. (repressed by society to maintain a rigid social order)
enforces an unfair distinction in class status between men and women, WHICH IS A SOCIAL NORM. Women are subordinate in the social structure of the village, as shown when Mrs. Hutchinson's family is chosen in the first round. Objecting that her daughter and son-in-law "didn't take ...
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represents.) When her family name is called, she pushes her husband, "Get up there, Bill." (561) In doing so, she acts rebelliously, ironically contradicting custom by reversing the accepted power relation between husbands and wives. In her name Hutchinson, Jackson alludes to the religious reformer Anne Hutchinson, who WAS A THREAT TO SOCIETY AS A WOMAN PREACHER. She was banished from her society, as Tessie is stoned and eliminated. (In this way, Jackson shows that rebellion of a place in society is repressed.)
In addition to the reinforcement of a firm division between the genders, the institution of maintains the structure of society by motivating work. A fear is instilled that lack of productivity will cause one to be selected in the next lottery and banished from the common group. The village reveals this fear in their questions after the first round: "Who is it? Who's got it? Is it the Dunbars? Is it the Watsons?" (562) The Dunbars and the Watsons are the least productive ...
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achieve society's subtle goal to repress individuality and challenges to the social order. shows how social norms are enforced in communities and why; it also shows that almost every community has a reformer.
YOU STARTED OUT A LITTLE WEAK, I DID A LITLE WORK IN YOUR INTRODUCTARY PARAGRAPH, BUT IN THE FUTURE YOU NEED A STRONG THESIS STATEMENT AND A COUPLE OF SUPPORTING SENTANCES. EACH OF YOUR PARAGRAPHS IN YOUR PAPER SHOULD BE ABOUT ONE OF THOSE SUPPORTING SENTANCES. JUST THINK OF YOUR INTRO PARAGRAPH AS AN OUTLINE OF YOUR PAPER. ALSO AVOID AQWARD WORDINESS IN YOUR PAPERS. I KNOW THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE READER DOES. OVERALL, GOOD JOB.
The ...
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The Lottery. (2008, December 2). Retrieved May 20, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Lottery/93975
"The Lottery." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 2 Dec. 2008. Web. 20 May. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Lottery/93975>
"The Lottery." Essayworld.com. December 2, 2008. Accessed May 20, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Lottery/93975.
"The Lottery." Essayworld.com. December 2, 2008. Accessed May 20, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Lottery/93975.
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