The Elements of Paganism as Reflected in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”

Abstract

Modern society is usually marked by the logical thought and behavior. Modern society is a society which has advanced science and technology, in which the people in this society are able to adapt with the situation and the condition where they live. The people in modern society are open minded to new inventions and experiences, so they can accept changes easily. Besides, they are people whose orientation is today and future. Thus, they are not tied with the past, moreover, if the elements related to the past hinder the advancement and are superstitious. It is triggered by the belief of the people in the strength of science. Anyhow, in reality, not all people in modern society can free themselves from illogical and superstitious, past thought. These people are still influenced by pagan thought and behavior which is mystical and superstitious. Related to that idea, the aim of this analysis is to analyze the elements of paganism reflected in a short story entitles “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson. This analysis applies descriptive analysis in which the Pagan thought and behavior reflected in the short story are described descriptively. The result shows that Pagan belief is adopted and applied in the life of the villagers in the story. The elements of Paganism are seen from the tradition or the ritual which is originated from ancient culture (pagan). The tradition or the ritual that the villagers conduct is to sacrifice one of the villagers by stoning him/her. Even though the tradition is scary but the villagers keeps applying it because they believe the ritual can save them. This is one of the Pagan believe. In the Pagan culture, someone was sacrificed to God and Goddess. Besides, the person is stoning to death. Stone used is originated from Pagan culture in which stone was a common weapon at that time.