Question #1
How does Mrs. Hutchinson (Tessie’s) portrayal as a character change from the beginning of the story to the end, and what causes that change?
Mrs. Hutchinson starts as a welcomed member of the community, but as the proceeding continues she begins to become against the “norm.” She begins to becomes the Id against the Superego.
Question #2
What does Old Man Warner represent in this story? What about the children who are gathering stones?
I believe that Warner, in some way, represents the ego, particularly when talking about how some towns gave up the lottery, he sort of applies what he thinks is logic and reasoning behind the situation to figure say that they should keep on doing the lottery. The children are introduced as being playful, during what is painted as a serious situation, which leads me to think that they sort of fit in as the Id at first, but then are given into by the superego of the community.
Basically, what I’m thinking is that, Mrs. Hutchinson and Warner begin as being the Ego and the children as the Id. Then the Superego takes charge and swaps the children and Mrs. Hutchinson.
Question #3
How do we see Freud’s concept of the id (instinct, aggression, etc.) within this ritual? Would you say that the id of the townspeople is being expressed in a controlled or uncontrolled way in this instance?
Ooo, I didn’t really thinkn about the Id as a group of people, but from that point of view the townspeople are an uncontrolled Id. I mean, they killed someone out of instinct from what they where taught when they where very little.
Question #4
Freud’s concept of the superego is all about interpreting information in light of the social or moral standards of a community. How do we see this urge to conform in the text, and do you think that Jackson supports that idea or not?
I don’t think that Shirley Jackson is in favor of the views that the story paints, otherwise I believe that it would’ve been done in a better light (ie. not making the townspeople to seem as aggressive or introduce the idea of other towns being more “modern” and not having the lottery). That being said, the idea of the superego in this story focuses on the idea of the “greater good,” if we kill this person we might have a better harvest - and that’s a risk we’ll take, almost justifying that murder is okay (if it’s a for a good reason).
Question #5
What critique is being made about small-town America or the world as a whole in this short story, and do you agree with that critique or not and why?
I think that one major critique that Shirley Jackson makes is that smaller groups are easily influced, which isn’t always a good thing. I mean, I think it really is true, just think about how Clark County had one of the largest KKK presences, had we had larger cities like some other counties would that have happened as easily?