America Now Feels Like “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
I seem to be on a literary bent this week so, following up on that…
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson was another one of those stories that I read as a teenager and it had a profound effect on me when I first read it, as I suspect it did many others, as well. For those who are not familiar with this particular work, please see below for the Wikipedia entry for it:
To quote from the Wiki entry: “This sudden turn of events shows that, with the permission of tradition, people can abandon all morality and commit atrocities without giving it a second thought. Clearly, Jackson understood that behind the veneer of civility, there is always the potential for barbarity.”
I cannot help but wonder what Ms. Jackson might make of just how incredibly eerily relevant her story is with our contemporary culture.
Because, indeed, the events that take place in this fictionalized account might not be happening as described, thusly, but in the microcosm of current events, it certainly FEELS as if we are not that far from it.
As someone who idolized both The Smiths and Morrissey when younger, and now, like many, are crestfallen to discover that “Moz” is perhaps not a very good human being, I still find his lyrics to be compelling and relevant.
