chickweed an acorns. There’s always been lottery,” he added petulantly. “Bad enough to see young Joe Summers up there joking with everybody”
Jackson, 1988:152
He believes that the lottery is a must to everybody. The same as the other characters, Old Man Warner also believes that the lottery will bring a big
harvest to his village. He already joined up the lottery for “Seventy-seventh year” Jackson, 1988:152 even if he should kill the one who gets the lot. This
means that the irony as the idea of postmodernism shows up because it says that “since few people trust their convictions or believe the world can change
for better, irony is the only option” Ward, 2010: 9. The Goal is to achieve a big harvest and the irony here is he has to follow the lottery even if he should
kill his neighbor. Another irony can be seen also in the children’s attitude. Before the
lottery drawing The children assembled first, of course. School was recently over for the
summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into
boisterous play, and their talk was still of the classroom and the teacher, of books and reprimands. Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets
full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie
Delacroix-the
villagers pronounced this name “Dellacroy”-eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it
against the raids of the other boys. The girls stood aside, talking among themselves, looking over their shoulders at the boys, and the very small
children rolled in the dust or clung to the hands of older brothers or sisters. Jackson, 1988:149
It seems there is nothing going to happen in that situation. The children are just doing their activity as usual because at that time was a full-summer day.
They only follow their parents to the lottery day. Friendliness between others PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
seems normal. But everything has change when they know that Mrs. Hutchinson is the “winner”. “Nancy and Bill, Jr., openend theirs at the same
time, and both beamed and laughed, turning around to the crowd and holding their slips of pap
er above their heads” Jackson, 1988:154. They are the children from Mrs. Hutchinson. From that statements also, the writer sees that
they are really happy because they don’t get any lot. But it is such an irony to see the fact that they have to kill their mom only to fulfill the ritual. The goal
here is the same to get a big harvest; they must kill the “winner” in the lottery.
It can be said that the lottery is the only way to gain happiness in that village even though it is far from rationale in the human situation. As far from
rationale, killing anybody who wins the lottery is the only option. It seems that there is no other option that can be used in the story. The faithful attitude
toward the lottery shows that there is no rational thinking to solve the problem rather than believe in the lottery as the only option to get happiness.
It is suit to the idea of postmodernism that irony is the only way to make something better. They are aware that the lottery will end up killing each
other but they still accept it because they believe the lottery as the truth. As stated before that Irony in the postmodernism is “therefore not just cynical,
not just a way of making fun of the world. It demonstrates a knowingness about how reality is ideologically constructed”.
3. The Rejections of the Metanarratives
The Rejections of the metanarratives is obviously seen in the characters’
attitude. They do the lottery to gain a big harvest to their village even if they should sacrifice one of them to dead. They do not care about the ritual that
has been held so many years in that village. This belief is shown by the attitude from the Old Man Warner. His faithful toward the lottery fit to the
idea of postmodernism because Old Man Warner believes in the lottery. He believes that the lottery as an ethical systems to gain happiness even though
they should kill each other. Since postmodernism has skepticism toward metanarratives it cannot trust particular ethical metanarrative.
Postmodernism holds that morality is not necessarily rational, that there is no foundation discoverable by reason which is available to justify any
particular ethical systems, moral values and beliefs are subjective rather than objective, there is no “true” human nature that, with the help of
reason, will be expressed with adoption of any particular ethical system, and that autonomy and rationality cannot be identified as the ideal and
defining characteristics of the person
qua
moral subject Taylor, 2001:253.
From the quotation above fit to the attitude of Old Man Warner. The faithful toward the lottery makes him does not think rational. His rational
thinking is not based on some certain of moral value or particular ethical systems. He agrees with the way of the lottery by showing his anger. He only
knows that the lottery will work. This attitude also leads to the rejection of modernism idea in the enlightenment as metanarrative.
a “mood” expressed theoretically across a diverse range of theoretical discourses and involving: a focus on the collapse of grand narratives into
local incommensurable language games or “little narratives; a Foucauldian emphasis on discontinuity an plurality of history as
discursively produced and formulated, and a tendency to view the discourses of Enlightenment reason as complicit with the instrumental
rationalization of modern life Waugh, 1996:289.
Old Man Warner shows that he does not believe in any science, reason, and logic to do the ritual. The project enlightenment tells that
Reject religious authority Down with old things like metaphysics, ignorance, superstition, intolerance and parochialism Let the rational
faculties of the mind wedded to science, advance knowledge to ever expanding vistas Let reason unlock the laws of nature and usher in
optimistic age Let the practical discoveries of science allow men and women to get on with the proper business of seeking happiness Powell,
1998:28-29.
This means that his faithful toward the lottery shows the rejection in the enlightenment project.
Evidence also can be found when in the Mr. Summer’s attitude. His
faithful toward the lottery can be seen in is the way he leads everything in the lottery including the preparation.
The night before the lottery, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves made up the slips of paper and put them in the box, and it was then taken to the safe of
Mr. Summers’ coal company and locked up until Mr. Summers was ready to take it to square next morning. Jackson, 1988:150
This Attitude shows that he really does not care about what is going to happen in the lottery. Mr. Summers is the same as everyone in that village.
He believes that the lottery will bring a big harvest to everybody in that village that is why he makes a good preparation before the ritual.
The other character attitude toward the lottery also makes the rejection of metanarrative seems clear. The friendliness between each character shows us
that the lottery is the only way to gain happiness. During the lottery the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
children shows their enthusiast toward the lottery. They do not worry at all about the ritual. They seem really enjoy to be a part of the ritual. Their
faithful make them believe in the same way as the other do. They want to fulfill the ritual to gain happiness.
Mrs. Hutchinson also shows the rejection of the metanarrative in her attitude. At the beginning of the story, Mrs. Hutchinson is the one who come
late into the ritual. Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her sweater
thrown over her shoulders, and slid into the place in the back of the crowd. “Clean forgot what day it was, “she said to Mrs. Delacroix who stood next
to her, and they both laughed softly. “Thought my old man was out back
stacking wood,” Mrs. Hutchinson went on, “and then I looked out the window and the kids was gone, and then I remembered it was the twenty-
seventh and came a- running.” She dried her hands on her apron and Mrs.
Delacroix sai d, “You’re in time, though. They’re still talking away up
there. Jackson, 1988:150. By seeing the quotation above, Mrs. Hutchinson is really excited about the
lottery even though she comes late to the square. She is also blindly by following the tradition because she thinks that she should follow the ritual.
She does not care about something that might happen to her or her family. She only thinks that the lottery can bring a good harvest in that village. It
means as her faithful toward the lottery. At the end of the story the writer find that Mrs. Hutchinson is the winner
of the lottery and she must be stoned by all the people. Without any doubt at all, they kill Mrs. Hutchinson to gain happiness because they are faithful
toward the lottery. This fits to the idea of postmodernism about rejecting the metanarrative. It reveals to the rejection of the enlightenment. The
