Could you please describe the narrator(s) in "The Lottery" and its/their attitude towards the story being told?

tracy00,

Shirley Jackson’s famous story still shocks people today. By transferring a primitive ritual to a modern American small town and by making clear in passing that the same ritual is being carried out in surrounding towns, the author manages to create in us a growing sense of horror over what is happening.

Very early—in paragraphs 2 and 3—she mentions the stones that have been gathered in preparation for the day’s events. Not until much later in the story does the importance of the stones begin to dawn.

The rules of Jackson’s lottery are simple and straightforward. The male head of each household—or, if he is absent, another representative of the family—draws a slip of paper out of a big black box. One householder pulls out a piece of paper that has a black circle crudely penciled on it. Each member of his family is then obliged to participate in a second drawing. This time the unlucky recipient of the black circle is stoned to death by the other townspeople, including the members of his or her own family. Whatever justification might ever have existed for the ritual has long since been forgotten. The people simply accept the proceedings as an annual civic duty, the up-to-date version of an ancient fertility ritual (“Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”).

What is spine-chilling in Jackson’s story is the matter-of-factness with which the ritual is carried out. Each June the townspeople assemble to murder one of their neighbors. The discrepancy between ordinary, civilized, modern behavior and the calm acceptance of something as primitive as human sacrifice gives “The Lottery” a terrible power.

Among the story’s many ironies, some of the most notable are: The point of view. An objective narrator tells the story, remaining outside the characters’ minds, yet the narrator’s detachment contrasts with the attitude of the author, who presumably, like the reader, is horrified. That the day’s happenings can be recounted so objectively lends them both credence and force.

The beauty of the June day is out of keeping with the fact that what takes place on the town green is a ritual murder. Though women (misplaced chivalry) can be stoned to death in these yearly proceedings, they are whenever possible protected from having to take part in the general drawing (paragraph 13).

The townspeople are perfectly ordinary types, “surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes” (3). Mr. Summers is in charge because he “had time and energy to devote to civic activities” (4). Old Man Warner is a stickler for tradition. Neighbors chat amiably. Children play. All are grateful that the proceedings will be over in time for them to enjoy their noon meal.