The_Lottery,_A_Desensitization_Of_A_Society

The Lottery, A Desensitization Of A Society In society today people have become desensitized to the most abominable of actions. No one seems to think twice about turning on the local news and watching accounts of people being gunned down while leaving the supermarket, or of a baby being left inside of a dumpster to die. Even the school shootings at Columbine did not surprise many people other than the community that it happened to. This is what happens to the townspeople in Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”. This is what happens to a society when they are exposed to years of unnecessary violence. The desensitization of this society is shown through the actions of the adults, the children and the family of the victim. The actions of the adults show that they have become truly desensitized to the senseless violence that occurs year after year in their town. The attitudes of the adults of the town show an utter nonchalance toward the lottery. No one really seems to show any sort of feeling towards the lottery. The only emotion that they really seem to show is one of a slight uneasiness when the actual picking of the slips one, show, people, lottery, children, adults, year, town, society, being, paper, just, happens, even, desensitized, actions, about, though, think, stones, something, slips, seems, seem, really, hutchinson, family, desensitization, death, community, black, become, the, violence, treat