Capitalist Society in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Capitalist Society in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson’s, The Lottery, is a shocking story that reveals the social order and ideology of a capitalistic society. By definition, the ideal capitalistic society is an economic system based upon the concentration of wealth, and the competitive distribution of production and business to privately owned powerful representatives. This form of an ideal society is what Shirley Jackson based the small village on in The Lottery.
In The Lottery, the lottery itself, serves as a democratic illusion for a capitalistic society. It deceives not only the reader, but the people of the village, into believing it is democratic in nature, because of the fact that everyone participates in the lottery and consciously knows they have an equal chance at being selected; this, however, goes against the function of the lottery to maintain a rigid social order based upon an unjust division of labor. The lottery is set up to appear as a process of random and equal selection, but, because, it is held in the town square between the bank and the post office—the two buildings that symbolize money and government— and it is administered by the village’s most powerful representatives, the lottery becomes more like an election than a process of random selection. The village’s ruling class only participates to convince others that they are equal to everyone else, even though their exclusive control over the lottery suggests they are not. The lottery’s democratic illusion, then, is an ideological effect that prevents the village from criticizing the class structure of their society.
Another aspect of The Lottery, that pertains to an ideally capitalistic society, is the order and division of labor in the village. The most powerful man is Mr. Summers. He not only owns the village’s largest and most powerful source of income, the coal company, but he is also its major. Shirley Jackson states that, “The lottery was conducted—as were the square dances, the teen-age club, the Halloween program—by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities” (268, parag. 4). Him having so much time to devote to such activities, suggests the extent of his power and labor. It shows how much he actually does in the work force, and how much other people do for him. Next in line, would be Mr. Graves, the villages postmaster, which serves as the second highest government position. Following...