The document discusses themes in Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" such as scapegoating, where society blames individuals for problems, and maintaining the status quo by resisting change to outdated practices. It provides examples of scapegoating from ancient Israel, Greece, and Nazi Germany, as well as how scapegoating is used to maintain order in "The Lottery." Questions are also posed about modern examples of these themes and how the villagers might realize they need to change the lottery tradition.
The document discusses themes in Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" such as scapegoating, where society blames individuals for problems, and maintaining the status quo by resisting change to outdated practices. It provides examples of scapegoating from ancient Israel, Greece, and Nazi Germany, as well as how scapegoating is used to maintain order in "The Lottery." Questions are also posed about modern examples of these themes and how the villagers might realize they need to change the lottery tradition.
The document discusses themes in Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" such as scapegoating, where society blames individuals for problems, and maintaining the status quo by resisting change to outdated practices. It provides examples of scapegoating from ancient Israel, Greece, and Nazi Germany, as well as how scapegoating is used to maintain order in "The Lottery." Questions are also posed about modern examples of these themes and how the villagers might realize they need to change the lottery tradition.
Lottery” Ms. Alvarez Readers and Writers Workshop Understanding Terms Sacrifice: giving up something, often in order to gain something more valuable Scapegoat: one who takes the blame of others: Status quo: the way things are. The phrase “maintain the status quo” means keeping things the way they are Theme: the main idea of a piece of literature that tells us something about life, society or human nature (ex. The theme of Green Eggs and Ham is “have an open mind.”) A Few Themes in “The Lottery”
Society blames people wrongly when there is
a problem (“scapegoating”) People often have a hard time changing their ways, even if what they’re doing is outdated or morally wrong (sticking to the “status quo”) Ancient Examples of Scapegoating The use of an actual goat to take away the problems of a community started in ancient Israel among the Jewish people. Once a year, communities would send a goat that symbolically carried the sins of the people out. Ancient Examples of Scapegoating In ancient Greece, the scapegoat ritual took a more severe form. Instead of sending out a goat from the community, in times of trouble, a person who was homeless, disabled or who had a criminal record was stoned and driven out of the community or killed. Modern Examples of Scapegoating The Nazis used the Jewish people as scapegoats for the economic problems in Germany. This led to the Holocaust and the silence of many good people who could have prevented the deaths of millions Questions:
Are there any examples of people being
scapegoated in our current society? How is scapegoating used to maintain order in the community in “The Lottery?” Examples of Maintaining the Status Quo inThe History attitude behind maintaining the status quo is “We’ve always done things this way. Why change anything?” Questions:
What examples of maintaining the status quo
we see today? What might it take for the villagers in “The Lottery” to realize that they need to change the “status quo” and end the lottery? Are there other themes that you can draw from this story? Questions:
What examples of maintaining the status quo
we see today? What might it take for the villagers in “The Lottery” to realize that they need to change the “status quo” and end the lottery? Are there other themes that you can draw from this story?