Banality of Evil and Instrumental Reason in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery

İngilizce (OpenAlex)

This article offers a nuanced interpretation of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” by engaging the theoretical frameworks of Hannah Arendt and Max Horkheimer. Contrary to relatively simplistic explanations that attribute the story’s horrifying quality to inherent human cruelty or blind traditionalism, the present analysis reveals a deeper critique of the banality of evil and instrumental reason, as seen in the bureaucratic and depersonalized execution of the ritual killing depicted in the story. It is argued in this study that the villagers’ actions in “The Lottery” are not driven by innate wickedness but by the instrumentalization of rationality and the bureaucratization of power. This aligns with Arendt’s thesis that ordinary individuals, rather than monstrous figures, commit atrocities when acting uncritically, in complete “thoughtlessness.” Furthermore, the villagers’ adherence to tradition is not a fetishistic reverence for the past but an acceptance of it as a governing authority. What gets to be fetishized, then, is the procedure of efficiency by which people act loyally to tradition, exemplifying Horkheimer’s concept of instrumental reason. Jackson’s story thus serves as a prescient warning about the dangers of unfettered instrumental reason in modern society, particularly in the post-WWII context.