The History of Iranian Painting in Persian Literature: A Mythological Reading of Shirley Jackson’s Lottery

Document Type : Original Research

Author
Masoud Algooneh Juneghani
Associate professor of Persian language and literature
10.48311/lcq.17.67.1
Abstract
The short story The Lottery written by Shirley Jackson depicts the annual lottery ritual in a small American village. The story ends in a strange and scary manner. This story is aimed at those cultural norms and customs that act as false consciousness, leading individuals to pre-contemplative actions. Actions that occur mostly in the context of social praxis and therefore lack the necessary rationality, because basically, the driving force behind these actions is a blind social will. Based on this, and in response to the question of how "standing in the death row" relates to the lottery and why this ritual persists, the author explains the socio-psychological indicators of the work by employing the mythological model of René Gerard as the general framework of criticism while analyzing and criticizing the present story. In the end, it is clear that the foundation of this story is based on the offering of sacrifice as a ritual matter occurs "prior to symbolic representation". Sacrifice rituals, while representing material realities, organize the internal system of the work.

Extended Abstract

1. Introduction

Shirley Jackson's short story The Lottery is an exploration of tradition, ritual, and the darker side of human nature. This story was first published in 1948 and at the very beginning, it faced a lot of criticism because of the horrible portrayal of cultural norms and customs. Anyway, the events of the story take place in a small village in rural America. This short and strange story finally leaves the reader stunned, prompting questions such as: "What kind of luck is this that the people of the village are so attached to?”; “What is the relationship between what the villagers follow every year in a ritualistic manner, with their ‘standing in the death row’, or with the lottery?”; and “Why is such a deadly ritual basically not abolished?"; indeed, “According to what perception, falling into the death trap is called luck?”



2. Review of Literature

Anggriawan (2013) in a research titled Human Irony in Shirley Jackson's Lottery analyzes The Lottery using Peirce's semiotics to reveal human ironies. Bailey (2014) in a study called Sacred Violence in Shirley Jackson's Lottery, before applying René Gerard's theory on violence, religion, and sacrifice, first briefly examines the range of critical readings. In a joint research, Anoosheh and others (2018) have tried to read and interpret The Lottery in the light of Durkheim's theory. In this review, it is determined that despite the fact that the main character of the story is thought to be brutally killed by his friends and family, as a result of being too integrated into the structure of society, however, he actually committed altruistic suicide. Hakaraia (2019) argues that The Lottery can be read in five contrasting ways, referring to the influence adopted by Jackson from Empson's seven types of ambiguity. Nugraha and others (2020) analyze the main character of The Lottery by applying role-oriented systemic linguistics. Paramitha (2021) emphasizes in his research that the ideologies hidden in the text include social dominance and marginalization through tradition.



3. Methodology

In order to answer the above-mentioned questions, the author has tried to explain some of the socio-psychological indicators of the work while analyzing its underlying mythological framework to make it clear that in the basis of this story, we are dealing with a general pattern based on the sacrifice of the victim. In fact, in the story of The Lottery, the ritual of the sacrifice acts in order "prior to the symbolic representation" and for this reason, the unfolding of the sacrifice, as an objective and real phenomenon, organizes the internal system of the work. Therefore, the ironic situation of the story and the paradoxical logic that governs it originates from a kind of ancient anthropological attitude that, according to many thinkers, does not belong solely to primitive thought. In the following, we will see that the mythological model of René Gerard, a French American thinker, has the ability to analyze and criticize the current story, as a structural model that does not lose its dependence on real and objective history in mythological studies and literary theory.



4. Discussion

René Girard believes that what is mentioned in the Western tradition under the topic of mimesis or imitation is based on the subject's imitation of another; But according to him, desire is not the result of simulations, but actually its cause. This means that the subject's tendency towards the external matter is not due to its intrinsic and internal nature, but rather the desire is directed towards the other rather than towards the object and its possession. In this relationship, the other plays the role of a model or mediator, and therefore, whatever is desirable in his eyes, influences the subject, and therefore the subject's desire turns to it. Therefore, the desire for the object is on the second level and it is the result of such simulations. After proposing the "triangular model of mimetic desire" (cf. Girard, 2000: 33-44), Girard emphasizes that when the model is on par with the subject, or in other words, it is in the same social position with him in terms of type and rank, competition is formed. This competition continues until the subject and the model alternately change their places and are affected by each other. In this way, trying to emulate the other's desire will eventually lead to similarity between the parties; this similarity reaches to the point where it becomes nearly impossible to separate the parties from each other. French-American thinker, René Girard, offers a specific mythological psychoanalytic framework through which Shirley Jackson's Lottery can be analyzed. His theory of mimetic desire for violence, religion, and sacrifice reveals the hidden meanings in the story. Girard believes that all desires are simulations; that is, they come from imitating others. Our desires mirror what we perceive others desiring. In fact, desire consists of three elements: the subject, the model (someone whose desires we imitate), and the object (what we desire).

Girard argues that imitative desire leads to competition and conflict. When desires collide, violence erupts. To restore order, societies often scapegoat an individual or group and blame them for collective problems. Don Quixote is a good example to explain the imitative desire. Influenced by chivalric romances, this character imitates fictional knights. In the same way, the villagers in The Lottery imitate ancient rituals without thinking about the ultimate aspects of their behavior.

Accordingly, Old Warner embodies the continuation of the tradition. He insists Lottery must continue, even if it means sacrificing one person each year. His identity is tied to the survival of this violent system. Gerard's main idea is that violence is fundamental to human societies. The sacred often derives from violence, whether in religious rituals, legends, or cultural practices. This explains why the ritual of the Lottery, though horrific, functions as a sacred practice. Stoning becomes a collective bonding experience that strengthens social cohesion. Tessie Hutchinson becomes the victim. Her death cleanses society of collective guilt or anxiety. The villagers unite against her and strengthen their common identity.



References

Anggriawan, D. (2013). A human irony in Shirley Jackson's Lottery. Department of Language and Literature, English Literature Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Studies, Brawijaya University.

Anoosheh, S. M., & Oroskhan, M. H. (2018). Examining Durkheim's model of suicide on Shirley Jackson's Lottery. International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, 83, 31-38. https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.83.31

Bailey, T. (2014). Sacred violence in Shirley Jackson's Lottery. British and American Studies, 20(203), 37-42.

Hakaraia, T. (2019). Shirley Jackson’s ‘Lottery’ and William Empson’s seven types of ambiguity. Humanities, 8(3), 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/h8030137

Girard, R. (2000). The Girard reader (J. G. Williams, Ed.). The Crossroad Publishing Company.

Nugraha, I. S., & Mahdi, S. (2020). Transitivity system on building character of Mr. Summers in Lottery by Shirley Jackson. A Journal of Culture English Language Teaching Literature and Linguistics, 7(1), 35-43. https://doi.org/10.22219/celtic.v7i1.11980

Paramitha, N. P. (2021). Social domination and marginalization in Shirley Jackson’s Lottery: Critical discourse analysis and appraisal study. Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.21462/jeltl.v6i1.499

Keywords

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Literary Criticism
Volume 17, Issue 67
Autumn 2024
Pages 2-38