XLI JORNADAS DE ESTUDIOS AMERICANOS

19 al 21 de noviembre 2009
Universidad de Belgrano
Prof. Lic. Gabriela A. Llaneza
ISFD N°10, Tandil

“The Lottery”: Challenges to the Definition of the Short Story

The short story is often regarded as a newcomer within the family of highbrow

literature, as it was not until the nineteenth century that short stories appear to have deserved

the serious consideration of critics. Edgar Allan Poe first attempted to formulate some of its

basic features. “Poe conceived the short story as a work of art, as a vehicle for commentary on

the human situation, and as a medium of entertainment in which the basic fictional elements of

character, incident, setting and motivating idea closely or inseparably blended”,(….) designed

to achieve a “certain single effect”(Peden,1971). Nevertheless, the artistry and seriousness of

the short story were often misjudged due to its brevity, in comparison to the novel, and its

connections with folklore, speech, children’s literature, didacticism, and commercial

magazines.

In their exploration of short fiction some critics adhere to traditional definitions of the

genre, trying to justify the attributed low-status of the short story by referring to historical

relationships; while others question the notion of “genre” that underlies such definitions.

Consequently, the challenge facing short story theorists seems to go beyond their primary

subject of study to reach the conceptualization of “genre”. This question could be solved by an

initial stage of redefinition of the concept. By extrapolating some theories of Cognitive

Linguistics; short story critics would be able to consciously build a functional concept of genre,

as a cluster of features, which could incorporate the partial definitions of the short story

resulting from inductive research as well as the characteristics of historical subgenres. In the

present essay I intend to explore some of the attempts at definition of the genre of short fiction

and propose how the theory of Cognitive Models, initially proposed by George Lakoff, 1987,
(Evans and Green, 2006), could be applied and the way in which this conceptualization of the

genre would account for the constituent features of the short story “The Lottery ” by Sherley

Jackson.

In the paper “The Rise of the Short Story in the Hierarchy of Genres” (Lohafer &

Clarey, 1989), Suzanne Ferguson provides an account of the evolution of the English short

story, particularly during the nineteenth century, and the conditions that made the genre an

epitome of Modernism. The article builds on the sociological forces that contributed to the

mutation of short fiction and the politics of literary genres as a refraction of social change. The

incorporation of setting as a representational element, the compression and ellipsis of plot,

and the refinement in the use of language enraptured Modernist critics, who found in the

modern short story the archetypal genre of their aesthetic conceptions. However, the rise of

the short story from the merely instrumental and experimental to the status of “high” art might

be more related to the shift in ideological, social and aesthetic conventions that upset the

establishment of early twentieth century history, creating the conditions for a fairer

appreciation of the merits of the short story, rather than the purposeful refurbishment of the

genre, a shift that the tenets of Genre Theory appear to have survived untouched.

In the article “The Short Story” (May, 1994) Mary Louise Pratt explores how the

structuralist bias of Genre Theory has affected the definition of the short story, and explains

how the asymmetrical relationship between the novel and the short story can be traced to

traditional content and marketing history of short fiction prior to its popularization. Although

Pratt appears to be opposed to the structuralist characterization of the genre by contrastive

analysis, her propositions fail to provide a conceptual frame for the definition of short fiction

without persistent reference to the characteristic features of the novel. In this way, what

appears to be an attack on the asymmetrical status between novel and short story turns into a

justification of such bias.

In the articles “Recent Short Story Theories: Problems of Definition”, by Norman

Friedman, and “On Defining the Short Story: The Genre Question”, by Austin M. Wright

(Lohafer & Clarey, 1989), both theorists explore the obstacles that arise from the lack of a

unifying definition of the genre. Norman Friedman points out some of the major difficulties that
arise when critics attempt to define the genre of short story: some of the inconsistencies result

from the application of different approaches to the process of definition, while others arise from

the methodology employed in producing such definitions. The existence of a vast number

short stories that date back to the Middles Ages and the relative recent intent to include the

genre within the scope of literary studies make the task of these critics extremely exacting, as

no single definition appears to account for every single short story ever produced. While most

critics would agree that a basic deductive definition fails to account for the complexity of the

genre, there seems to be no consistent method for producing a deductive definition. Austin M.

Wright suggests a practical inductive methodology for the definition of the short story, taking

as a basis an eclectic corpus, and then lists some of the basic features that appear to be

present in most texts, acknowledging that particular similarities might provide a framework for

the definition of subgenres.

Building on Wright´s proposal of a genre as a collection of features, it is possible to

attempt a more flexible conception of genre based on historical attributes. However, a

preliminary stage would be for short story critics to concur on an image schema for their

category of study: the concept of genre. An “image schema” is a mental pattern that provides

structured understanding of various human experiences. One of the problems faced by critics

is that some of them perceive a category on the basis of a “containment schema”; that is, a

category as a box with boundaries that determine whether objects are inside or outside.

Consensus on a “center-periphery schema” would remove this idea of inside-outside the

category, as the pattern evokes the mental image of a core and edge with different degrees of

distance from the core. According to Lakoff (Evans and Green, 2006) a category can be

defined as a set of features, features which delineate the category and are relevant to the

community within which that category is recognized. By agreeing on a definition of the genre

as a set of features relevant to most critics, short stories could be analyzed and categorized in

relation to those features. Because some categories have “fuzzy” boundaries and members

can have different status, a short story could be considered as a “prototype”, if it exemplifies all

of the basic necessary features, or a “borderline case” if it presents only one or two but none

of the others. There is also the possibility of groups of short stories sharing particular
similarities, which might provide a framework for the definition of subgenres. In this way the

hierarchy of a specific type of short fiction would not be determined merely by historical

prestige or complexity, but the capacity of a subgenre to represent the most organic

conjunction of features. What’s more this “center-periphery schema” is intrinsically flexible and

can be expanded without need for constant redefinition of the genre, which would be

particularly suitable for short fiction, a genre whose mutability and malleability defy

categorization.

The thorough application of this style of categorization would demand an extensive

corpus, which exceeds the scope of this work, yet it is possible to provide an initial exploration

on the grounds of Wright’s and Ferguson’s suggested features for the short story in general

and the “modern” short story as epitome of Modernism, in particular. In his article “On Defining

the Short Story: The Genre Question”, Austin M. Wright proposes six initial features for the

definition of the short story: a length varying between five hundred words and the length of

“Heart of Darkness”, the treatment of character and action in a fictional world, externally simple

action, economic use of devices and language, plots of small magnitude and an elliptical

construction of such plot. Suzanne Ferguson, in “The Rise of the Short Story in the Hierarchy

of Genres” (Lohafer & Clarey,1989), considers that the incorporation of setting as a

representational element, the compression and ellipsis of plot, and the refinement in the use of

language were the essential qualities that secured Modernist admiration. Because Shirley

Jackson’s canon exhibits most traits of Modernist aesthetics and “The Lottery” is one of her

most anthologized stories, it should be expected to have all, or most, of the features listed by

both Wright and Ferguson.

As proposed by Wright, Jackson’s “The Lottery” (1948) is the superficially simple and

inconsequential account of a contemporary time-honored town lottery that ends with the

“winner” being stoned to death. This fictional three-thousand-three-hundred-and-seventy-eight-

word horrifying exploration of ritualized behaviour takes place in a serene village square,

among a collection of unremarkable characters carefully constructed to enhance the dramatic

effect of merging the apparently incompatible ideas of civility and mindless barbarism. The

elliptical plot, a journey of revelation for the reader, unfolds through a sequence of trivial
details about the lottery procedure and the meek gestures of the characters, building up in

contradiction to the readers’ expectations about lotteries. The basic pattern of exposition,

complication, climax and resolution, along which readers need to redefine their assumptions

about the ritual, begins with a vivid description of the background for the annual celebration: a

sunny summer morning on June 27 th, children and adults anxiously gathering at the town

square, comments about lotteries in neighboring towns, the preparation prior to the event and

vague references to “the original paraphernalia for the lottery…lost long ago”, yet carefully

avoiding to mention the prize. The complication is introduced when the official of the lottery

summons the heads of each family to draw, his good humour taken as disrespectful by the

oldest town resident, the winning family clearly distressed. The climax moves fast towards the

bloody resolution when Mrs. Hutchinson is forced to show the unlucky slip and the last

remnants of the original rite, the stones, are put to use.

As a Modernist and neo-Gothic; Jackson makes outstanding use of setting as a

representational element. In “The Lottery” the choice of time, place and referential objects

appears endowed with symbolic connotations that can only be acknowledged on a second

reading.

The choice of June, after children have finished school, hints a traditional spring festival

as harmless as May Day. Moreover, Jackson’s initial sentence purposefully places life in the

foreground. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-

summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.”. While

the introductions of the lottery official and procedures are associated with other American

celebrations, “(t)he lottery was conducted—as were the square dances, the teen club, and the

Halloween program—by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities.”.

On a second reading the symbolic dimension becomes evident: the lottery is a scapegoating

rite that has survived unaltered by civilization.

The description of the villagers is provided by subtle details that allude to a rural

twentieth century community: “(t)he people of the village began to gather in the square,

between the post office and the bank,…. (s)chool was recently over for the

summer,…men…speaking of planting and rain, tractor and taxes…women wearing

housedresses and sweaters… Mr. Summers… in his clean white shirt and blue jeans….”.

Jackson’s description builds on the commonplace, creating an atmosphere of familiarity that

leads readers to identify this community with their own, and assume their personal behavior

and expectations about lotteries to be the same as the villagers’. This process of identification

is the cornerstone of the story, as the horrifying effect of the resolution would be wasted

without it.

The explicit description of referential objects also contributes to realism and the

identification of readers with characters. While both characters and setting seem

comparatively sketchy, the lottery process and its instruments are fully described: the recycled

lottery box in need of repair, the three-legged stool, the practical slips of paper and the stones.

The stones are the first concrete object to receive careful attention in the second paragraph:

“Bobby Martin stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys …select(ed) the

smoothest and roundest stones;… Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix…made a

great pile of stones in one corner of the square”. Then the fifth paragraph is entirely devoted to

the black box: its story, its whereabouts before and after the lottery and its shabby

appearance. This black box gains in symbolic significance throughout the story. The " story

that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one

that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here,” is the

clear antecedent and justification for this primitive ritual. Whereas the reason for locking the

box once the slips have been placed inside and young Billy Hutchison’s close destruction of

the item become clear when the box grows to stand for relentless adherence to barbarism.

Jackson’s exceptional use of language is tailored to the constraints of third person

objective point of view. The result is an ice-cold camera's-eye recording of the events in which

the interpretation of every object, movement or gesture depends entirely on the readers.

Hence the whole account of the morning, the tedious explanation of the lottery procedure, and

every word challenges the readers’ assumptions: the men whose “ jokes were quiet and …

smiled rather than laughed” , the villagers “ leaving a space between themselves and the

stool” grinning “at one another humorlessly and nervously”, the “ recital of some sort,

performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off
duly each year”, Mr. Summers’s eagerness to “get started, get this over with” ,Tessie

Hutchinson’s complaints, Billy Hutchinson’s red face and overlarge feet that nearly “knocked

the box over as he got a paper out”. Every piece of Jackson’s puzzle is rearranged to disclose

uneasiness and fear behind the seeming civility. With unquestionable ingenuity, Jackson

weaves setting, characters, plot and language, creating one of the most shocking and violent

stories in American fiction.

In conclusion, the short story is one of the most flexible and ancient instances of

human artistry in the use of language; thus, any constraints on form or style in the

conceptualization and definition of the genre can only impoverish the scope of texts

acceptable as literary works, leaving behind rich and fruitful subgenres. It is worth noticing that

the greatest short stories ever written are those that juxtapose, reverse or strain the

conventions of traditional drama, tales, novels or poetry in a harmonious orchestration of

language, symbols and structure. Therefore, if the masters of short fiction know no limits,

maybe literary critics should follow suit.

References

Evans, Vyvyan and Green, Melanie. (2006) Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

Ferguson, Suzanne. (1989) The Rise of the Short Story in the Hierarchy of Genres. In
Lohafer, S and Clarey, J.E. (Eds) Short story Theory at a Crossroads. Baton Rouge: Lousiana
State UP

Friedman, Norman. (1989) Recent Short Story Theories: Problems of Definition. In

Lohafer, S and Clarey, J.E. (Eds) Short story Theory at a Crossroads. Baton Rouge: Lousiana
State UP

Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery” (1948) Classic Short Stories. Retrieved from
http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html (Nov. 10, 2009)
 Peden, Williams. (1971) Short Fiction: Shape and Substance. New York: Houghton-
Mifflin

Pratt, Mary Louise. (1994) The Short Story, In Chares May (Ed) The New Short
Theories. Athens: Ohio UP,

Wright, Austin M. (1989) On Defining the Short Story: The Genre Question. In Lohafer,
S and Clarey, J.E. (Eds) Short story Theory at a Crossroads. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
UP