劉星

Shirley Hardie Jackson who was a popular American writer and her work has received increased attention from literary critics in recent years. Therefore， she is best known for “The Lottery” which happened in the villagers， all of the people， including children are all draw a lottery. The end of drawing， the women won it. However， she was stoned by all the villagers finally. This story gives us a lot of thinking and reflection in our living surround us and experience of the world. Hence， the four themes can be found in this story and need to be further explained. On the whole， these themes can be described as： self-interest， entrenched tradition and the drawback of democracy.

Obviously， Mrs. Hutchinson was stoned by the whole villagers in the dénouement. This plot makes us certainly astonished. Before her death， she screamed： “It isn`t fair， it isn`t right！” Nonetheless， the sad dénouement is inevitable. From this plot， we can know that only the unfair things happen to oneself， the person real knows this thing is reasonable or not. If this serious thing happens to other people， he will never care the reasonability of thing. Therefore， if everybody has responsibility for other people， many tragedies would be avoided. Practically， according to this plot， the theme can be referred to： If self-interest is not the first thing can be only cared for individual and full consideration of things reasonability surrounding things of our life， even a minus things， certainly， may be real tragedies which happened in the material world will be averted completely.

Most importantly， entrenched tradition is also a vital theme can be reflected in the plot of story. Through the draw lottery， some of younger suppose that the human sacrifice is unnecessary for good harvest in this autumn. However， it is strongly objected by the Mr.Graves who is a postmaster. It gives us deeply rethink at once about this plot. Naturally， the evolutionary process usually needs long periods and then would be changed. It has deep rooted and never be easy eradicated fully. Therefore， it is hard to push. Many old things remain unchanged caused by entrenched tradition. It is pity that the development of things would be prohibited on one long period.

Last but not least， the drawback of democracy. The drawing of the lottery has happened in the village and all of the people including children join this drawing， however， when choose one of people to be human sacrifice； Mrs. Hutchinson shouted that it is not fair. It means that， the essence of democracy is the minority is subject to the majority. Absolutely， the interest of the minority must sacrifice for the majoritys interest； however， democracy is not about majority rule， furthermore， it is about minority rights. Therefore， the so-called “equality” in democracy at the expense of the minoritys interest is not real equal for everyone in the system of democracy. Some unreasonable things in that system should be rethink again.

To sum up， from reading the whole story， we can read into three themes about the lottery. Basically， people just care about the self-interest if the things do not happen in themselves， that would be cause more unreasonable tragedy. Furthermore， deeply rooted tradition remains the unchanged things， hence， it is hard that solve the unreasonable things in the old things， they are truly inhibiting the development of new things. Ultimately， the drawback of democracy is the key theme of the whole story. It is not fair that sacrifice the minors interest for the majoritys interest. It is a true defect exists in the system of democracy. Thats all about the various theme in plots from the lottery； it would give us many ideas and reflection in our real life.