The Lottery by Shirley Jackson From a Different POV

Blog Post 3 - Tristen Ting

I try to think of myself as any other member of this horrible town. Just a humble businessman in the coal industry working to provide for his wife. What’s so wrong with that? I try to be active in the community, volunteering my free time towards public events. I walk about town daily with a smile on my face. Everyone knows me and I know everyone. You could say I’m one of the faces of this community. Nevertheless, none of these civic acts make up for that one day of the year.

I still remember the day that this burden was passed down to me. The old man trusted me with the job. When I first took the position, I had no idea the weight it carried with it. My first years I suffered from traumatic stress. I was unable to think straight and stayed up thinking for many nights without sleep. Eventually though, this sort of thing feels natural. The lottery, after all, is an offering for luck, or so I was told. 

My friends in other towns tell me about the drastic changes that are happening in their community. Lottery’s are slightly becoming less and less used. Oh how I’d love to get this burden off my back, but these citizens are just too hard stuck on their old rituals. They think that the lottery brings the town luck and success, but personally I don’t agree. Hopefully though, the word will spread and lotteries will eventually end all together.

The moment I draw the blot of lead is the moment that someone dies. I think about this all year. Every year I regret it, but the next year I always put on a show and do it again. I yearn for this cycle to stop, yet I can’t end it. I put the account of murder on myself. I’ve probably killed 20 people by now. I do think that it’s wrong to kill, but then again, the fellow townspeople are the murderers. I’m just the director.

 

Comments

  1. KnoxOctober 10, 2023 at 11:28 AM

    Great idea to have it be from the perspective of the person directing the lottery! It makes me wonder if there is ever any guilt in the society for people who draw it, and makes me wonder if the father in the story who drew for his family feels guilty for drawing it. Good post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MaddieOctober 11, 2023 at 3:20 PM

    This was a really cool idea to incorporate the director's point of view from this story, as I hadn't even thought about the emotions that he could be experiencing. I thought you did a great job at encapsulating the guilt that he ought to feel. I liked how you mentioned "I've probably killed about 20 people by now" because while he is not directly responsible for killing the townspeople, the weight that he holds in regards to his responsibility must almost seem as though he is a large part of the killings taking place.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The portuguese student´s blogOctober 13, 2023 at 10:46 AM

    I really liked your publication. I found it very interesting that you wrote from the point of view of the director of the Lottery. When we read the story, we simply assume that the whole city agrees with this "barbaric activity", but looking at it from your point of view, not everyone agrees. I never thought of what might be his point of view and what he might be feeling when I first read the story, I only focused on what was happening and tried to imagine what Tessie might be feeling.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RossOctober 13, 2023 at 9:13 PM

    I liked your idea of writing from the point of view of the director. It gave a different insight into what people might have thought of the lottery. It explains details that were not mentioned in the original story and I find it really interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Grace W-KOctober 13, 2023 at 10:26 PM

    I enjoyed reading this different perspective! I like how it is the director who feels this struggle of realizing that the system is wrong but still being unable to end it. It shows how it is really only the villagers who can stop this tradition and how they are a detriment to themselves. I also liked your ending where the director, even though he seems to begin to realize he is part of the problem, still ultimately puts the responsibility on the villagers because he is "only the director." This highlights the perhaps inevitable cycle of the lottery system.

    ReplyDelete
  6. DavidOctober 22, 2023 at 7:16 AM

    I really like this perspective! However, I'm curious about one thing: Why did he choose to take the job? Was it forced upon him? It sounds like it was a willing choice, 'When I took the position...". Why did he accept? Was it very well paying? Does it grant immunity to the lottery? I assumed the former, since in the beginning it says he wants to provide for his family, but I'm not sure.

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