We had to read "The Lottery" for English lit.
Click here to read it.
At first I didn't realise what happened to Tessie until I looked closely at the text.
Well, the story is really relevant to today's society. In today's society, there are many traditions and discriminatory practices that are not abolished even though they are outdated and inefficient, which in the story are represented by the lottery. An example of a discriminatory practice that is officially abolished but still practised by some people would be racial segregation. The
A lot of the relevance to today’s society is also from its themes. This is part of a literature worksheet so I can’t divulge the reasons behind the themes otherwise my classmates will copy them. I promise I’ll post them after the assignment is submitted.
Anyway, the main themes that can be found are “the inherent evilness of mankind” and hypocrisy.
The inherent evilness of mankind is very relevant to today especially because of advances in technology like computer games and movies that have violent content, causing people to be influenced by them. Many would not have believed that a 20-something foreigner studying in Nanyang Technical Institute who had great grades would later on stab one of his teachers then jump to his death. However, it did happen, probably because he got addicted to Warcraft, which he played a lot. After that, his grades dropped and his scholarship was withdrawn. Basically, my point is that it is possible, improbable, yes, but definitely possible, for even the man next door, a hardworking student, or a quiet, unassuming bank clerk to someday commit an atrocious crime that makes the headlines.
Hypocrisy is also a major theme. Nowadays, people are becoming more and more unscrupulous. Friendships nowadays are sometimes formed purely for gain from someone or to “have friends in places”. Sometimes people in leadership positions tell their employees that because there is an economic downturn they should tighten their belts, but they themselves are spending extravagantly, renovating their offices and buying new dustbins *ahem*. Some people in the American government criticised the Chinese government for having advanced surveillance and not giving anybody any privacy. However, they themselves voted in favour of such a scheme in America. The Americans have also criticised China for not giving their people any freedom (holding political prisoners et cetera) when there are still people in America who live on the fringes of society and have no freedom of speech. America also says it’s dangerous for other countries to have nuclear weapons (like N. Korea). But America itself stockpiles nuclear weapons. If countries such as N. Korea or Iran can’t be trustworthy to stockpile nukes, what makes America trustworthy? There is nothing that qualifies America to be “The Holder of the Nukes” that has the privilege to wield these weapons when others don’t have this “position”. I’m not saying everybody should be allowed to have nuclear weapons, I’m saying that everyone should not have nukes. If America wants others to not have nukes, it should dispose of its own stockpiles first.
I conclude that The Lottery is relevant to today’s society and no one should say that it is taboo. If you say that The Lottery is utter nonsense, then you’re a hypocrite because you’re definitely guilty of some of the crimes mentioned above (I am too. Everybody is).
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