The Powers of a Mob - 593 Words

â€Å"All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right and not what is established† said Aristotle. In Shirley Jackson’s short story â€Å"The Lottery† she explores this power idea of the mob mentality and how it creates pointless violence. The story takes place in a small ordinary village, but every year everyone in the town gathers to have the lottery. The lottery is a ritualistic murder of an innocent person in the town, even the women and children must take part. After the lottery is over the town goes back to normal, as if the lottery never happened. Jackson uses the mob mentality to show the readers the pointless violence in our lives. All throughout the story, the villagers fall captive to the effects of the mob mentally. Patrick Shields in his article Arbitrary Condemnation And Sanctioned Violence in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery† states â€Å"The crowd of townsfolk in Jackson’s story appears to be under a hypnotic spell of sorts.† (Shields 414) The town’s people just showing up to the lottery shows they agree to participate, and have succumb to the mob already. They are following tradition and are scared to break it. When Mr. Adams says that over in the north village theyre talking of giving up the lottery,(Jackson) Old Man Warner the oldest person in town says back Pack of crazy fools, he said. Listening to the young folks, nothings good enough for them. Next thing you know, theyll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work anymore, live that way for aShow MoreRelatedCauses And Reasons Of Shays Rebellion And The Whiskey Rebellion1244 Words   |  5 Pageswere isolated and therefore often unrepresented in government, their mob uprisings aimed toward the unfair and inefficient taxation revealed their anger towards government officials. Both Shays and the Whiskey Rebellion were neutralized to reduce the power of the mob enforce that of the federal government. After the revolution, the Electoral College was created to limit the total power of the people and specifically the mob, select members, that represented the people of the United States, wouldRead MoreSimilarities Between The Crucible And Half-Hanged Mary1154 Words   |  5 PagesMob Mentality in Puritan Era-Based Literature How many times has an action by one person influenced crowds of people to follow? This scenario has taken place numerous times throughout history. 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