Islam in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery

This paper examines a cross-cultural concern in Shirley Jacksonʹs The Lottery, underlining the storyʹs striking allusions to Islam which can be categorically seen in the following five aspects: the symbolic black-box, stoning, the status of women, the fixed annual date(s) of the lottery, and the act of calling the participants in the lottery five times (calls), in addition to further points regarding characterization and scapegoat. It turns out that The Lottery is a carefully-woven complexity of symbols allegorizing Islam. Above all, Jacksonʹs symbolic black box shares a great deal of the distinctions of the Kaʹba and the Black Stone and the brutal ancient rite she recruits echoes the two aspects of stoning in Islamic Hajj and Islamʹs penal law regarding adultery. Besides, the annual dates of the lottery reflect on annual rituals in Islam, with additional significance of the twenty-seventh (and twenty-sixth) day of the month. Further, the status of Jacksonʹs women perhaps alludes to propaganda-views of womenʹs secondary position in Islam, and the story possibly points to Islamic prayer. Nonetheless, the allegory of Islam in The Lottery seems to reflect Jacksonʹs vague, confused, superficial, and stereotypical perception of Islam and Islamic rituals.