An Analysis Of Shirley Jackson And The Lottery

“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” (Twain). The Lottery begins during the summer. A small, seemingly normal, town is gathering to throw the annual “Lottery”. In the end, the townspeople—children included—gather around and stone the winner to death, simply because it was tradition. The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective. “I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (Jackson). As humans develop as a race, their practices should develop with them. Shirley Jackson develops the

Do you think that “standing up for what’s right may not always the easiest path” could be a theme for both “The Lottery” and “First They Came”? Well, if you want to find out stick around and you’ll see how they’re different and how they’re alike. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is about a small town about 300 people that every year they do this tradition. There’s a black box and slips of paper. If you get the paper with the dot on it, then you win the lottery. If you “win” the lottery then your get your win death by getting stoned to death. “First They Came” by Martin Niemoller is about when Hitler and the Nazis came for the Jews and the Socialists and the other people, and Martin didn’t stand up for them and then when he got taken nobody

Have you ever heard of the story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and the poem “First They Came” by Martin Neimoller? “The Lottery” was a sunny and clear day with the children and parents talking among their selves getting ready for a lottery, it’s their tradition. “First They Came” was about a guy who wouldn’t speak out for what he believed in, like the socialists, Jews, and Trade Unionists, so when they came for him no one spoke out for him because no one was a German. So both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “First They Came” by Martin Niemoller deal with Standing up for what’s right may not always be the easiest path, but they do so in different ways.

Both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “First They Came” by Martin Niemoller have the same theme, standing up for what is right. The Lottery is a story written about villagers following tradition. While in First They Came, a man writes about how he let things pass him by and did nothing to stop it, until it came to him. Both stories deal with people wishing they would have stood up for what was right before it got to them.

The two stories, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, and “First They Came,” by Martin Niemoller, are very different. But both address the theme, standing up for what’s right may not always be the easiest path. The story, “The Lottery,” is a short story about a village with about 300 people in it. Every year, the village holds a lottery. This lottery ends in someone’s life being ended by family, friends, and the rest of the villagers. Their death is because of a simple black dot on a slip of paper. The story, “First They Came,” is a nonfiction poem about someone watching as groups of people get taken away, until finally, they came for him. These groups include Socialists, Trade Unionists, and Jews, and then there is the main character. In his own group, all on his own. Even though these are very different stories, they still do have some of the same themes.

Both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “First They Came” by Martin Niemoller have a theme of following the crowd can have disastrous consequences, but they do it in different ways. The short story “The Lottery” is a story about a small village on a nice and sunny day. Once every year they hold a lottery by drawing names out of a black box. Whoever “wins” the lottery is then stoned to death. In the poem “First They Came” the author speaks about his own experiences in concentration camps. He says how they came for certain groups of people then for him. Both of the text deal with disastrous consequences by following the crowd, however they are done is different ways.

Jackson’s story takes a critical look at what can result when the customs and laws that govern society go unchallenged. She sets up the story by showing that the townspeople are quite normal. They attend the lottery while having everyday discussions about the mundane topics of life, such as taxes, food, and housework. Nevertheless, they

There are two purposes of “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson. To summarize this short story, there is an annual lottery performed in all of the towns. The way it works is, first the “man of the house” picks a slip, without looking at it. Then, after all the “men of the houses” have a slip of paper, look the see if they have the black dot. In the story, Bill Hutchinson had the black dot.

    Often, we paint a fairytale view of life for ourselves and our children. Sometimes, an author paints a frightfully realistic picture of life and forces us to reconsider the fairytale. In Shirley Jackson’s story, "The Lottery," a town each year conducts a lottery in which the winner or looser, in this case, is stoned to death by his or her own neighbors. The tradition is supposed to uphold social structure within the town, but in order to comprehend the true meaning of the story you must be able to read between the lines. "The Lottery" is a story about a town that has let its traditions go too far. Also, it is clear that the story contains eye-opening facts that lead me to

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the story conducts a “lottery” that involves the families of the town to go into a drawing. Once the drawing is done, the winner of the lottery is used as a sacrifice in the town and is pelted by stones thrown from the community, including children. Furthermore, the basis of “The Lottery” has to do with psychological problems and influence. Psychoanalysis is built upon Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychology, which asserts that the human mind is affected by their “unconscious that is driven by their desires and fears” (Brizee). Analyzing the concept of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” through a psychoanalytic lens convey how society reflects on the consciousness, how the denial of the mind can avoid the

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a story littered with warnings and subtext about the dangers a submissive society can pose. While the opening is deceptively cheery and light Jackson uses an array of symbols and ominous syntax to help create the apprehensive and grim tone the story ends with. Her portrayal of the town folk as blindly following tradition represents the world during World War II when people’s failure to not mindlessly accept and heed authority lead to disastrous consequences. . Shirley Jackson uses a large array of techniques to help convey the idea that recklessly following and accepting traditions and orders can lead to disastrous consequences.

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a terrify story about a small town and their traditions. The Ending of the lottery is the most shocking many of its readers have ever read. Why is it so shocking. Well Shirley jackson uses sybolism and simple narritive and her normal life to convey such a shock.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson was written in 1948. The story takes place in a village square of a town on June 27th. The author does not use much emotion in the writing to show how the barbaric act that is going on is look at as normal. This story is about a town that has a lottery once a year to choose who should be sacrificed, so that the town will have a plentiful year for growing crops. Jackson has many messages about human nature in this short story. The most important message she conveys is how cruel and violent people can be to one another. Another very significant message she conveys is how custom and tradition can hold great power over people. Jackson also conveys the message of

“Every group feels strong, once it has found a scapegoat” (Mignon McLaughlin, 1913). A scapegoat is someone who is blamed for all the faults and corruptions that others have committed. In history, there are lots of scapegoat examples, the most popular being; Jesus Christ and the Jews in the Second World War. In the short story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson used persecution and tradition to demonstrate how scapegoating justified unfair killing. Both of these aspects relate to the World War that preceded only a couple years before the story was written. The persecution was blind and done once a year as a tradition that everyone expected to happen.

What if you lived in a village that every year has a lottery where someone “wins” by getting stoned to death. Or what if you were alive during the same time as Hitler and The Nazis and someone would not stand up for anything and then when it’s their turn you don’t stand up for them. These two stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “First they came” By Martin Niemoller, Can be similar in the theme but they are presented differently. Like how they are the same by showing that following, the crowd can lead to disastrous consequences, but show how they are also very different. For example, “The Lottery” is everyone in the village join together on June 27th to have the lottery. Where they find out who “wins” the game. Everyone is Chatting to everyone and when it begins you could hear a pen drop people were so silent. Then this man named Bill Huchinson gets picked for the lottery and his wife Tessie keeps saying how it is unfair and that he did not have enough time to pick the one he wanted. So then since he picked a paper with a black dot on it Tessie Huchinson has to pick one now, and she has a black dot on her paper which means that she “Won” the lottery and now she gets stoned to death. And her best friends that she was talking to before had all turned on her and picked up a stone all because it’s a tradition. Now that was the story of “The Lottery” and it is a short story, let’s talk about the story “First They Came”. So before we get into the story let’s talk