After the 20th century，a great number of great American women writers appeared，and Shirley Jackson，was one of them.The short story “The Lottery”，which was American novelist Shirley Jackson’s most famous work，was published in the New Yorker in 1948.As soon as the novel was published，there was a strong reaction.Its theme，narrative technique and artistic style of the work are also strongly criticized for the dark human nature revealed in the novel，calling attention to the status and power of women in life.This short story of less than 5，000 words is simple，but it is famous for its strong feminist ideology.This paper attempts to analyze the feminist thought contained in the novel from the female’s struggle.

In the story of the lottery，there are many men and women，and these characters strongly reflect the differences between their sexes through dialogue and identity.The tragic fate of Tessie in the novel also stems from her female identity.In the hierarchy of the patriarchal society，men are the main body，the woman is the object，the woman is as the existence of the man opposite to the passive，women have no voice，subject to the male，is the executor of the patriarchal society rules blindly，no identity and consciousness In the novel，the female’s “the other”status is first manifested in the lack of social identity.The village in the novel is actually a reflection of the patriarchal society.A long period of oppression is bound to lead to resistance，especially when one’s life is threatened.Almost all the women in the village showed a silent acceptance and obedience，and the women who dared to fight were not the wives of the three important people in the village，but the little-known Mrs.Hutchinson.She is different from the other women’s appearance and performance.When the draw is about to start，she was late，not only fear for being late，also said that she had forgotten what day is today.When Mr.Summers kidding，“Thought we were going to have to get on without you，Tessie.”，she grinned，“Wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink，now，would you，Joe ？” In her mind，the vital raffle is not as important as washing dishes！ Though a few jokes，Mrs.Hutchinson has unconsciously assumed indifference to the raffle，and disdained the mastermind of the raffle.The forgetfulness of the lottery and the neglect of important characters also reflect the struggle of Tessie.When it was Mr.Hutchinson’s turn，Mrs.Hutchinson said to him，“Get up there，Bill，” which is an imperative.

The simple imperative discourse caused a burst of laughter from the neighbors，and it was obvious that in the patriarchal ideology，women had no right to speak.Mrs.Hutchinson，who dared to defy her husband’s absolute authority and tried to assert herself as a woman by words，was clearly a struggle.When the lottery results show the Hutchinsons is the winner，her husband stood there silently，without a long strong，only she protested，question to Mr Summers her husband did not give enough time to pick the one he wanted.I’ve seen it.Her protest was also a direct challenge to traditional patriarchal rights，though death threats gave her the courage to protest.Her last five cries of “unfair” not only showed that she was questioning whether the lottery was fair or not，but it’s a protest against the sacrifice of women，In the end，she shouted “it isn’t right” directly，expressing her opposition to the traditional patriarchal society.

This article was written on the eve of the women’s liberation movement.“The Lottery”is Shirley Jackson as a woman writer，for a long time under the patriarchal control ，reflections on the female character and female self-consciousness.She tried to warn the people，to get the real equality and freedom，women have only rely on the full awakening of self，have the courage to break into chains，alliance based on mutual positive women，help each other.

参考文献

[1]谷红丽.《觉醒》中女性主体意识的建构与结构[J].四川外语学院学报，2002（1）.

[2]Jackson，Shirley.The Lottery and Other Stories[J].New York： Farrar，Straus and Giroux ，1982.

[3]蒋欣欣.西方马克思主义女性主义[J].求索，2004（8）.

作者简介

李芳（1989—），女，汉族，安徽池州人，助教，池州职业技术学院旅游与教育系，安徽大学外语学院硕士在读，研究方向：美国文学。