Analysis Of Jackson 's The Lottery

In the short story, The Lottery, Jackson tells a rich symbolic story of a little village that practiced the art of sacrificing a person annually, to ensure the success of the cultivation of crops. One of the rhetorical devices that was used heavily was the practice of symbolism throughout the short story. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas and opinions that the author has, and we see a various number of different symbols, be it an object, a name, or possibly even a concept, that can be established, in The Lottery, as the reader tries to make sense of the situation at hand. In The Lottery, Jackson used the name of characters and their actions to symbolize and depict how twisted and hypocritical society is, and also used the objects and the ideas that were practiced in the short story to show the shortcomings of a society that practices outdated and rudimentary traditions that hold no place in a civilized society.

Nebeker, Helen E. “The Lottery’: Symbolic Touch De Force” Short Story Criticism, edited by Jenny Cromie, vol. 39, Gale Group, 2000, 75 vols, pp. 187-90. Originally published in American Literature, vol. 46, no. 1, March, 1974, pp. 100-07.

Throughout both stories Jackson uses specific details to draw attention in certain points of the story. In the beginning of The Lottery Jackson provides us with specific details about the day on which the lottery takes place. She tells us the date “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day” (Jackson 242), the time, “around ten o 'clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days.” (Jackson 242) and the temperature, warm. Jackson applies the same attention to detail in “Life Among The Savages” “I look around sometimes at the paraphernalia of our living – sandwich bags, typewriters, little wheels off things – and marvel at the complexities of civilization with which we surround ourselves; would we be pleased, I wonder, at a wholesale elimination of these things, so that we were reduced to necessities (coffeepot, typewriters, the essential little wheels off things) (Jackson 2) Jackson also makes it a great point to provide great specifics about the towns each of the stories takes places in, she describes the how many people live in the village and how long the lottery takes and some other villages must start the lottery earlier. Jackson talks about the move from the city to the move Vermont ( is it worth mentioning the details of the city apartment vs. Fielding house and how “it just needed work” PP 20) it seems as if jackson pays more attention to detail in life among savages than that of the

Following other people may have a positive or negative effect, but when it reaches a certain point where you blindly follow others it may not have a positive outcome. “The Lottery” made by Shirley Jackson is about a small community of villagers that gather together every year to perform a tradition. All of the villagers gather together and draw small slips of paper from a black wooden box, whoever draws the first slip with the black dot on it, their family has to draw first. Now all of the members of that certain family draw again, and whoever gets the black dot in that certain family must get stoned to death. The next story is called “First They Came” made and about a man named Martin Niemoller. It talks about Martin Niemoller former

Jackson uses other sorts of literary devices such as symbolism. There were a few examples of symbolism, but the main one was the lottery itself. The lottery symbolised tradition, because within the story, characters talked about other places ditching the lottery, which would also mean that they’re ditching tradition. With the theme being about staying true to tradition, and the symbolism in “The Lottery” being that the lottery represents traditions, these two have to directly relate to the story. Another example of symbolism is the form of execution known as stoning. Stoning was an old form execution, and instead of one person taking the blame for executing a person, many people throw rocks in order to not make one person feel guilty for the death of another person. Mrs. Jackson uses stoning to symbolize the sharing, due to the fact that all of the citizens shared the guilt. Sharing a load would make it easier for each person, so by trying to stay true to tradition, if each citizen does a little bit to keep the tradition alive then it’s easier for them to keep the implemented

Traditions are widespread among many different people and cultures; It is an explanation for acting without thinking. Not all traditions are a good thing, though, and blindly following them can lead to harsh consequences. The villagers in a small town in “The Lottery” gather together annually to participate in this tradition, where one person in the town is randomly chosen in a drawing to be violently stoned to death by citizens. It has been around for seventy-seven years and everyone partakes in it. People always attend, showing the importance of tradition amongst the society. However, in the short story, “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses many literary devices to show that traditions are not always meant to be followed.

When a loving, caring, family oriented, women come in conflict with the horrible, despicable, inhumane lottery in a situation in which the town goes together, the results may be a terrible end in a young life. In “The Lottery” written by, Shirley Jackson, the main character Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson’s and the town folk are the main characters of this story. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson uses the use of characterization to portray the main ideas of the story. Shirley Jackson also uses the use of plot structure and the point of view in which the story is being told. The Lottery is a way to make a sacrifice for a good harvest in the upcoming season.

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

As Tessie’s protests continue and the Hutchinson family prepares to draw again the sense of apprehension is one again mounting, this time fearing for whoever wins yet still not knowing what their “prize” will be. “The crowd was quiet. A girl whispered, ‘I hope it’s not Nancy’”, the silence and fear of the crowds manifests in the reader as the three children and their parents all draw slips of paper. Tessie “wins” the lottery and when the narrator explains “although the villagers had forgotten the ritual, and lost they original black box, they still remembered to use stones” (6) its suddenly shockingly clear to the readers what the winner is to receive. The drastic switch from a light and cheerful tone with talk of the beautiful day and children playing to the closing like of “and they were upon her” (7) is in part why this story is so effective. The unforeseen sinister end of the story makes the revelation of the tradition much more shocking and unsettling than had the reader known from the beginning what the outcome would be. Jackson very effectively builds a sense of apprehension and foreboding as she slowly cues the reader into the reality of the situation.

Hey Sheri, I do believe as well that this can be a motivator as well and open our eyes to a lot of things. We often allow things to happen just because of it being the norm to us, so we don't think twice about it. I believe a lot of town’s people don't care about the lottery continuing once they have gone through so many without being chosen. I feel that Max Warner brags about the lottery because it helps him prepare him if he is chosen to be stoned one year. This story helps understand that fact that being blind to a situation isn’t always the

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.

Dystopian stories works depict a negative view of "the way the world is supposedly going in order to provide urgent propaganda for a change in direction”. Often these stories have many themes that can relate to the real world. In the dystopian story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, many themes such as false hopes,hypocrisy, ritual, and mob mentality are expressed throughout the story. In the story everyone in a small village gather in the town square for the lottery, whoever gets chosen gets stoned to death by everyone in the town including friends and loved ones. The use of different themes throughout the story relate to the literary devices and universal storytelling elements setting, verbal irony, symbolism, and social cohesion.

“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.

The tradition is very important, yet it’s not the most important one in our modern society. From the sectionⅠ，the author wants to show the fact that a tradition is a kind of faith and people should absorb the essence and reject the dross from it rationally instead of being the blindness. Tradition plays a necessary role in society and it affects people’s behavior and thinking but not means it should be the dominate one. As the sectionⅠmentions that both Mrs. Delacroix and Mr. Hutchinson are very close to Tessie, but when she became the sacrifice, they all just wanted to finish the lottery and hoped that Tessie could die quickly. Both of them are the typical examples in this town, they are so loyal to the tradition and they don’t have the