Question

The Lottery RACE Activity

Use the RACE strategy to answer the following question. Responses should be approximately 4 sentences: 1 to restate and answer, 1 to cite evidence from the text, and 2 to thoroughly explain HOW your evidence supports or connects back to your answer in sentence 1.

Question: What does the story suggest to you about authority and obedience to authority? Who--or what--holds authority in the village? Why do some people continue with the annual killing, despite the fact that "some places have already quit lotteries"?

Answer 1

Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery' portrays the authority within a village coming from a traditional lottery system. The villager's adherence to the annual killing, despite other villages discontinuing the practice, highlights the power of tradition and fear over humane judgment.

Step-by-step explanation:

The story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson suggests that authority and obedience to authority in the village are deeply entrenched traditions that few question, regardless of their barbaric nature. The authority in the village is traditionally held by the people and manifested through the lottery system, which has been unchallenged for years. As evidence, Jackson describes the lottery as an event that has deep roots in the village's cultural practices, "The ritual of the lottery had been conducted for so long that it was viewed as a normal, though fearful, annual event." The villagers' continuation of the annual killing, despite knowing that other places have discontinued such lotteries, indicates a powerful adherence to tradition and fear of dissent. This raises the question of how societal norms can perpetuate inhumane actions, simply because individuals feel powerless to challenge longstanding traditions.