Everyday Evil in the Works of Shirley Jackson

By Stephen Matthew Williams

Troy University

Professor Elizabeth Owens

English 1102

About the Author

• Born in 1916

• Award winning author of numerous novels and short story collections.

• Frequently featured in The New Yorker

About the Author

• Most famous story is “The Lottery”

• She has become more popular and more frequently analyzed since her death in 1965

Everyday Evil

• Throughout Shirley Jackson’s work, there is a common theme of “everyday evil”.

• She examines the human capacity for prejudice, conformity, cruelty, and violence

• She also uses contemporary settings to force readers to look inward and realize humanity is scarier than we care to admit.

Works to Examine

• Short Stories• “The Summer People”

• “The Lottery”

• “The Witch”

• “The Renegade”

• Novels• We Have Always Lived in the Castle”

“The Summer People”

• Tells the story of an older couple who decide to stay in their summer home in the fall.

• They are met with hostility from the townspeople who distrust city folk going against tradition.

“The Summer People”

• The townspeople cut off their supplies, cut their phone lines, and leave them stranded and awaiting death.

• Speaks to the prejudice of tight-knit communities against outsiders

“The Lottery”

• A small village annually draws slips of paper to determine who “wins” the town lottery.

• The chosen villager is stoned to death by their fellow citizens, including their own family members.

“The Lottery”

• The real-world setting shocks the reader at humanity’s capacity for violence.

• The story is a commentary on blindly following tradition and the dangers of group-mentality.

“The Witch”

• A young boy occupies his time staring out the window of a train, and claims to see a threatening witch staring back.

• An old man enters the train and begins recounting to the boy, the horrific way in which he murdered his sister.

“The Witch”

• The kind-looking old man is far more terrifying than the imaginary witch.

• Highlights the cruelty and violence hiding beneath a seemingly ordinary human being.

“The Renegade”

• A family of city folk, the Walpoles, move to the country

• Mrs. Walpole is informed that her dog Lady is killing neighborhood chickens.

• The townsfolk convict the dog without proof and demand it be shot.

“The Renegade”

• Others suggest malicious ways of hurting the dog to deter her from future attacks.

• Mrs. Walpole is shocked when her own children join in one the cruel talk.

• Surrounded by cruelty and malice, Mrs. Walpole wonders if the townsfolk and her children might eventually get violent with her as well.

Children in Jackson’s Work

Like in “The Renegade” Jackson often gives the children in her story a sinister side to shock the

reader.

She makes the point that its not just adults that hold the capacity for cruelty.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

• The final novel written by Shirley Jackson

• Concerns the Blackwood girls: a pair of reclusive sisters who met with suspicion after the poisoning of their family six years ago.

• Combines themes of prejudice, conformity, cruelty, and violence

Jackson Examines Evil on Both Sides

The Villagers• Treat the girls poorly

despite lack of proof

• Mock and taunt Merricat Blackwood when she comes into town

• Act joyful when the Blackwood house is on fire

• Represent conformity and prejudice

The Blackwood Girls• History of prejudice feelings

against the villagers

• Poisoned their own family years ago

• Burn down the house to evict an unwanted guest.

• Jackson elicits sympathy for these characters because of their harsh upbringing, but still points out the evil within them.

Use of Setting

• All of these works are set in ordinary places

• Small Towns

• Grocery Stores

• Trains

• Jackson’s use of real-world settings make us realize that there is evil hiding beneath the familiar.

In Conclusion….

• Shirley Jackson is a writer with something to say about humanity.

• The Summer People”, “The Lottery”, “The Witch”, “The Renegade”, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle speak to the prejudice and cruelty of human beings.

• Her use of cotemporary settings contribute to the common theme in her writing: “everyday evil”