The role of men and women in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
In literature, authors use various methods to communicate their message to the reader among such as character’s gender. The male and female characters in literature have different roles to play depending on the intended message. In most cases, authors use the two genders to portray discrimination in the society based on gender, economic and marital status. They are also used to show a shift in traditions due to the empowerment of women. Reading Shirley Jackson’s Lottery, one notices the difference in characters played by men and women. The story is about the lottery that is played in a village by the members following a set of predetermined rules. The lottery is run by Mr. Summers, who prepares paperslips to be used by the villagers. The only households that are allowed to take part in the lottery are those whose head is a male, either a father or a son. It is evident from the story that women are not excited about the lottery, but their male counterparts support it. Any villager who seems to oppose the lottery is faced with rejection and punishment as it is evident from the way Tessie is hit with stones when she tries to spoil the lottery by drawing a dot on the slip of paper. It is clear that in the society, women have no influence over the social, political and economic welfare of the people. This paper provides a critical analysis of how the author uses male and female characters to develop different themes in the story.
Women play a significant role in the story as they are portrayed as simple and caring. The story is drawn up in a society where women have no power to decide on the best things for their families. Women are despised in the society to an extent that their sons are more respected. In the lottery, only households headed by male are supposed to participate, or elder sons. Mrs. Dunbar is one of the characters that show how women are despised in the society as she cannot participate in the lottery because the he ailing husband is not present and she dod not have a grown male. Women are not authoritative as indicated in the way even their children disobey them. They have to be called four or five times before responding. Women are also used to show the theme of rebellion. They do not support the lottery, but the chances of ending it are very low thus, they start rebelling the lottery through acting in contrast to the rules. Mrs. Hutchinson is one character that shows rebellion to the rules of the lottery by drawing a black dot in her slip of paper. Her opposition to the lottery is also indicated by the fact that she arrives at the event after everyone else.
The role of men in the play is also significant as the author uses male characters to develop various themes such as chauvinism. The society holds a notion that women are less superior than men as it is implied by the leadership of the lottery. The leaders of the lottery are men and they influence the rules of the lottery. Women have no chances of influencing an activity that has the full support of the men. In a conversation between Old Man Warner and Mrs. Adam, it is clear that opinions given by women are disregarded, Mrs. Adams tries to convince him that the lottery will soon end, but he dismisses her by saying that it would not happen. The men in the story are depicted as wise as they discuss important things such as rain, tractors and taxation system in the region while women only gossip about things that are not important.”Soon, the men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractor and taxes.” The story also portrays men as cruel because they support unfair roles in the society such as the stoning of women who disagree with the lottery as it is evident in the way Tessie was treated after her rebellious act.
In conclusion, the roles played by men and women in the story are appropriate. The author writes about a society that exists in an era where the place of women in the society was at home. It is an era where women could not discuss anything important such as taxation because their iliteracy could not allow. The society that exsted during that time respected the opinions of men and women were expected to be obedient and observe every rule without questioning. The authors potrays the role of men perfectly because during the time, women were regarded as weak and they could not be trusted with any leadership position. This explains the composition of leaders in the lottery. The society also respected male children more than the female children. Economic empowerment of the women at the time was nonexistent due to the fact that they did have the capacity to look for formal employment. The roles played by the men and women in the story allows the readersto compare the modern day society to the past decades. One realizes the tremendous changes that have taken place, especially concerning women empowerment.
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