The Lottery

When looking back at some of my favorite reading experiences during this class, The Lottery was one of the first to come to mind. I was confused when the story first started, and as it continued, I started to pick up on the hints but did not want to believe what I was predicting. At the end, when Tessie Hutchinson was the lottery “winner”, and was getting stoned to death, I found myself a little disturbed but could see the stark symbolism in the story. I always like to assume the best in people and situations, so I find myself hoping for the best in a story like this where something really bad is going to happen, but it’s not clearly spelled out. This semester I have been taking a cultural anthropology class, where we learn about the variety of customs entailed in every culture, and some of the rituals, traditions, etc. can be shocking, especially to someone that has not experienced outside cultures. I found myself questioning why certain religions, ethnic groups, etc., do the things they do. When people are a part of a group, they tend to not question their actions. This type of group setting reminded me of cultures I have studied involving human sacrifice. The cults are slightly disturbing but interesting to study, as people get so caught up in following one leader- even though many of these people are crazy. I also found myself thinking about the Holocaust. Through psychology studies, I am aware of how people can react when told what to do by people of higher ranks, a group, etc. In the Holocaust, normal people did horrendous things. This shows just how much influence power can have on others, and it can be scary. In North Korea, people are brainwashed by their leader, and have no idea of the outside world. They think Disney movies were made in their country, and that their leader is a better golfer than Tiger Woods. While I do think the human race is naturally good, it is also important to note the evil that has been a force in history, and to note how susceptible and ignorant some people really are. I did find myself heavily impacted after reading the story, which I liked since not all pieces make you feel something after reading them. While researching the story and seeing the negative responses first given to the author, it made me happy to see many other readers also had emotional experiences to the story, whether they liked it or not.