OK Boomer

Sentence Analysis 

“The Lottery” page 297

“Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. (...) Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’First thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There’s always been a lottery”

The phrase “OK, Boomer” was floating around for a while and was pretty funny. It’s a phrase used to mock attitudes stereotypically possessed by the baby boomers—typically judgemental or outdated views regarding changes in today’s society which differ from their idealization of their youth, for example: criticizing our continual reliance on technology, or denying the existence of climate change and oppression of minority groups. Given the publication of “The Lottery” being shortly after World War II, we discussed the possibilities in class that it’s an allegorical story about bystanders who stayed silent while the Holocaust happened around them, or that it’s a criticism of conscription. I think another take is that Jackson is using the piece to call out the “boomer mentality.”

Although it’s weird to consider because Jackson wrote this piece before most baby boomers were even born, it can still be seen as a criticism of traditionalist conservatism, stereotypically attributed to boomers. Jackson uses Old Man Warner as an embodiment of the typical facets of traditionalist conservatism: emphasis on tradition and custom while resisting change. When someone brings up the obsolescence of The Lottery in other towns, he criticizes the decision and insists his town continue the custom because “there’s always been a lottery.” Traditionalist conservatism justifies adhering to custom by saying tradition arises from the collective experiences and knowledge of society aggregated over time—because we as individuals can’t be smarter than society as a whole, we shouldn’t challenge tradition. Old Man Warner hints at this collective knowledge when he talks about the old saying “The Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,” implying The Lottery is some ritual his ancestors performed which they found to bring good harvests.

While Jackson depicts traditionalist conservatism in a straightforward manner through Old Man Warner, her criticism is less direct. One way she does so is pointing out the hypocrisies in traditionalists who selectively observe traditions. Old Man Warner is guilty of such hypocrisy when he overlooks various other inconsistencies in The Lottery, such as Mr. Summers replacing the wood chips with paper, and neglecting the original ritualistic elements of The Lottery(the singing and chanting meant to be led by Summers).

Another way Jackson criticizes traditionalism is by proposing that tradition can become outdated by falling behind the progression of culture or science. In the case of "The Lottery," the barbaric ritualistic killing is anachronous and out of place. From the first few descriptions we receive, the community appears civilized and advanced beyond barbaric acts like jumping on people and bashing them with stones. By having Old Man Warner justify these barbaric actions with “there’s always been a lottery,” Jackson is ridiculing people who justify actions using tradition. She is proposing that we look at the way we think and behave as a society, and consider if we are doing the right thing, or just blindly conforming to tradition.