Shirley Jackson’ın “The Lottery” Öyküsünde Kötülüğün Sıradanlığı ve Araçsal Akıl

Year 2025, Issue: 74, 43 - 50, 25.06.2025

Serhat Uyurkulak

https://doi.org/10.55590/literatureandhumanities.1543223

Abstract

Bu makale, Hannah Arendt ve Max Horkheimer’ın kuramsal çerçevelerini kullanarak Shirley Jackson’ın “The Lottery” başlıklı kısa öyküsünün ayrıntılı bir yorumunu sunmaktadır. Öykünün okuyucuda yarattığı dehşeti insan doğasındaki zalimliğe ya da kör gelenekçiliğe bağlayan nispeten basitleştirici açıklamaların aksine bu çalışma, öyküdeki toplu öldürme ritüelinin bürokratik ve gayrişahsi şekilde gerçekleştirilmesiyle ortaya çıkan kötülüğün sıradanlığı ve araçsal akıl kavramları üzerinden bir metin çözümlemesi sunmaktadır. Bu incelemede, “The Lottery” öyküsündeki köylülerin eylemlerinin içsel bir kötülükten değil aklın araçsallaştırılmasından ve siyasal gücün bürokratikleşmesinden kaynaklandığı savunulmaktadır. Bu durum, Arendt’in tezine uygun olarak, sıradan bireylerin eleştirel bir akıl yürütmeksiniz tamamen “düşüncesiz” bir şekilde hareket ettiklerinde vahşet dolu eylemleri hayata geçirebildiklerini göstermektedir. Ayrıca, köylülerin geleneğe bağlılığı geçmişe yönelik aşırı bir saygıdan değil onu yönetici bir otorite olarak kabul etmelerinden ileri gelmektedir. Bu durumda asıl fetişleştirilen, Horkheimer’ın araçsal akıl kavramını örnekleyen bir biçimde insanların geleneğe sadakatle uymalarını sağlayan verimlilik veya etkililik prosedürü olmaktadır. Bu açıdan Jackson’ın kısa öyküsü, özellikle II. Dünya Savaşı sonrası bağlamda, herhangi bir şekilde sınırlandırılmamış araçsal aklın modern toplumda taşıdığı tehlikeler hakkında çarpıcı bir uyarı niteliği taşımaktadır.

Keywords

Shirley Jackson , Hannah Arendt , Max Horkheimer , totalitarizm , kötülüğün sıradanlığı , araçsal akıl

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

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Shirley Jackson , Hannah Arendt , Max Horkheimer , totalitarianism , banality of evil , instrumental reason

References

• Arendt, H. (1978). The life of the mind. Harcourt Brace and Company.
• Arendt, H. (2006). Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the banality of evil. Penguin.
• Bogert, E. (1985). Censorship and “The Lottery.” The English Journal, 74(1), 45-47. https://www.jstor.org/stable/816508
• Bowers, T. N. (2022). Rereading Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” as a tale of Jim Crow America. Journal of the Short Story in English, 79, 1-14. http://journals.openedition.org/jsse/3978
• Coulthard, A. R. (1990). Jackson’s the Lottery. The Explicator, 48(3), 226–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/00144940.1990.9934004
• Culver, C. (2015). No such thing as monsters: Shirley Jackson and the unspeakable everyday. Kill Your Darlings, 22, 167-179. www.killyourdarlings.com
• Gibson, J. M. (1984). An Old Testament analogue for “The Lottery.” Journal of Modern Literature, 11(1), 193-195. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3831163
• Griffin, A. A. (1999). Jackson’s “The Lottery.” The Explicator, 58(1), 44-46. https://doi.org/10.1080/00144949909597002
• Hakaria, T. (2019). Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” and William Empson’s Seven types of ambiguity. Humanities, 8(3), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/h8030137
• High, P. B. (2000). An outline of American literature (19th ed.). Longman.
• Horkheimer, M. (2004). Eclipse of reason. Continuum.
• Jackson, S. (2002). Collected short stories. Peterson Publishing Company.
• Naidu, V. S. (2014). Controversial conflicts in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” Research Journal of English Language and Literature, 2(2), 229-233. http://www.rjelal.com/2.2.14/229-233.pdf
• Naser-Hall, E. (2021). Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and the ritualistic collapse of mimetic temporality in law and literature of the 1940s. Studies in American Short Story, 2(2), 113-135. https://doi.org/10.5325/studamershorstor.2.2.0113
• Nebeker, H. E. (1974). The Lottery: Symbolic tour de force. American Literature, 46(1), 100-108. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2924129
• Savoy, E. (2017). Between as if and is: On Shirley Jackson. Women’s Studies, 46(8), 827-844. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2017.1392797
• Shields, P. J. (2004). Arbitrary condemnation and sanctioned violence in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” Contemporary Justice Review, 7(4), 411-419. https://doi.org/10.1080/1028258042000305884
• Whittier, G. (1991). “The Lottery” as misogynist parable. Women’s Studies, 18(4), 353-366. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.1991.9978842
• Yarmove, J. A. (1994). Jackson’s “The Lottery.” The Explicator, 52(4), 242-245. https://doi.org/10.1080/00144940.1994.9938792
• Young-Bruehl, E. (1982). Hannah Arendt: For the love of the world. Yale University Press.