Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Mob Mentality
In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," one of the short stories we read for this week's classes, the reader is faced with a troubling scenario. I read this story years ago, and forgot how disturbing it was until I reread it in preparation for class. If one of the definitions of great literature is that it is timeless, how is "The Lottery" still relevant today, especially when applied with the idea of mob mentality? Use examples from contemporary issues or situations you are familiar with, from personal experience or from current situations you may have heard about/read about/seen on the news or internet. Try to match details from Jackson's story to details from the example you choose.
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In the story, Tessie Hutchinson was chosen for the lottery. Mrs. Hutchinson was stoned to death by the entire village. The lottery is still relevant in today’s world because individuals from other counties are still performing this act. Mob mentality is defined as when a group of individuals follow others in committing an action because they find it hard to go against a herd of people. Stoning is still relevant in today’s world because the news, internet, and articles show us that it is still going on in today’s world. In Somalia, a woman was stoned to death because she was accused of adultery. The young woman was buried up to her head in front of a massive crowd and was then stoned to death. This article relates to the lottery because Mrs. Hutchinson was also stoned to death in front of a large crowd.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Bordiere
In the short story of "The Lottery", Tessie Hutchinson had been sacrificed for the better of the town in hope that their crops would grow and the death of one person a year would hopefully kill off any bad spirits that were around the town. An example of this today is that people all around the world in 3rd world countries still sacrifice both animals and people in honor of a greater being that would hopefully save them from any sort of drought or storm that would ruin the crops. This is similar to a mob mentality in that mobs travel in packs of people to get a single job done faster then if one person had to go out and do it. This was evident in "The Lottery" when the entire village began to stone Tessie to death until the sacrifice was complete.
ReplyDeleteThe story of “The Lottery” truly was disturbing. I found it interesting that the people in this village really believe making the sacrifice will help their crops for the season. Mrs. Hutchinson put up little resistance, even when she knew she was about to be brutally murdered by the rest of the community. It’s upsetting to think that some places in the world may still practice such a ritual, and still use stoning as a form of punishment. The mob mentality has people committing atrocious acts of violence that they would never even consider if they were by themselves.
ReplyDelete"The Lottery" is very troubling when viewed in the light of today's morals. While this story can been in relation to the concept of mob mentality, it must also be seen in conjunction with the extremes of directly following tradition, no matter how outdated or illogical the custom. In the world today, there are cultures that will publicly kill a wife who has cheated on her husband, so who is to say that the story's brutality is that withdrawn from reality. By a certain light, many of today's western customs may be seen as troubling by another culture.
ReplyDelete-Will McMullan
After reading "The Lottery" made me realize what people go through to actually sacrifice themselevs for their crops. It is weird to know what people believe in and that having someone killed will make them bad spirits go away in the town. After reading the story and even reading other peoples response, I never knew that stoning was something people do in real life until now. Stoning is done in Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran etc. Mob mentality still goes on today. Even if its a group of bullies picking on a kid, or even the mafia still occurs today and how a large group of people who work for someone who kills people. Just like when the whole village came to see Tessie be stoned until the sacrifice was complete and the spirits would go away.
ReplyDeleteThe story “The Lottery” can be relevant to today in many ways. I think many people have to sacrifice a lot of things to be accepted in society, not just people or animals. I also think we all make sacrifices that hurt us but only make us stronger. In the story it was not making the mother stronger to see the sacrifices, but it was a sacrifice that needed to be accepted in society. I think in today’s world not all sacrifices may be as dramatic, but they all effect us in one way or another. Some people sacrifices things to get good jobs, or to provide for their families, or even to try make something of themselves. The story is relevant because it can be interpreted in many ways or people giving up or giving in to everything situations that we face. In the case of Mob Mentality, there sacrifices have a lot to do with crime and violence, just as the city that the lottery took place in.
ReplyDeleteMeghan Viola
Mob mentality is a frightening occurrence in most situations. In the story, Tessie was stoned to death for misled beliefs and traditions of the villagers. Although some people knew that the tradition was wrong and abusive, no one wants to go against a crowd to stand up for the right thing. I think a good example of this in today's world is fraternity/sorority hazing. It is dangerous and humiliating, but it's such a strong tradition that everyone goes along with it, even though people as individuals may not agree with it. People will justify their bad behaviors by doing them as a part of a group, so that the guilt is dispersed among others. This is probably why no one stood up to the insane sacrifices taking place in "The Lottery". They would rather go with the flow and commit murder than stand up for the rights of their peers.
ReplyDeleteIn the story, “The Lottery” is timeless because you can relate how Tessie was sacrificed to how mobs today sacrifice innocent people and their own friends. In the story the people did not care who they were killing and really had no reason to kill them. One of the other mothers in the story even gave Tessie’s youngest son a rock to throw at his mother to kill her. This story just shows how people can be really disturbing like mobs are today. Mobs just go through life trying to get farther and richer without caring who they kill. Like in the story they just kill the person because someone tells them to and they could be there best friend but have to do it. Another thing that mobs and this story have in common is they do not get in trouble for killing people which is wrong.
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ReplyDeleteThe short story "The Lottery" uses mob mentality. This can be see througut different times. It can be seen in the times of slaves, when groups were made for the selling of slaves, to see how much human beings cost. This can also be seen in lynching, because groups of people would stand around, seeing the bodies hang. One song shown in class that shows this is the music video of "Strange Fruit." You can also see this in the movie "The Last King of Scotland", at the end when the Scotish doctor was "hung", the Uganadian troops, watched and even came back after their break to continue to watch the body hang. An another example of mob mentality is in Middle Eastern countries where groups of people join to help stone people who have gone against their rules.
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