Analysis Of Shirley Jackson's 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 The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective.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

“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

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the small village, at first, seems to be lovely, full of tradition, with the townspeople fulfilling their civic duties, but instead this story is bursting with contrast. The expectations that the reader has are increasingly altered. The title of this short story raises hope, for in our society the term “lottery” typically is associated with winning money or other perceived “good” things. Most people associate winning a lottery with luck, yet Jackson twists this notion around and the luck in this village is with each of the losers.

“The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson, first published on June 26, 1948. The story was initially met with negative critical reception due to its violent nature and portrayal of the potentially dangerous nature of human society. It was even banned in some countries. However, “The Lottery” is now widely accepted as a classic American short story and is used in classrooms throughout the country.

On the other hand, the villagers stoning the winner of the lottery was used as a symbol of punishment. It is one of the most established and common execution methods. However, in The Lottery, the stones represent victory of the lottery. Shirley Jackson stated that, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (Jackson 291). Stoning is symbolic in “The Lottery” because, “For stoning to be effective it requires a crowd to act together. This reinforces the point that the antagonist of this story it is not a single person but society” (Gahr). For instance, this means that the immorality of the village is so severe that the antagonist is not just one person but society itself. How do you think the villagers feel when their children were caught up in this senseless tradition by collecting stones? It is obvious that the villagers were following tradition that was done every year. “What about allowing a child to be a child?” For example; playing with toy cars and trucks, coloring books and Barbie’s, or getting push by their parents on a swing at a park. Children should not be allowed to partake in an event so gruesome and violent or seen raising anything to aggressively hurt an adult.

Shirley Jackson’s famous short story, “The Lottery,” was published in 1948 and remains to this day one of the most enduring and affecting American works in the literary canon. “The Lottery” tells the story of a farming community that holds a ritualistic lottery among its citizens each year. Although the text initially presents audiences with a close-knit community participating in a social event together on a special day, the shocking twist at the work’s end—with the death of the lottery’s “winner” by public stoning—has led to its widespread popularity, public outcry and discussion, and continued examination in modern times (Jackson). One potential critical theory that can be applied to Jackson’s “The Lottery” is the reader-response

In the story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, we see the different literary elements she uses to unfold her story. Literary elements help readers to interpret and appreciate the works of a writer. In this Essay I will show you the three most prominent literary elements that were used, and how they add to the suspense, and surprise of the story. These literary elements are point of view, theme, and tone and style.

Shirley Jackson is to be considered one of the best authors of the 1900’s. Her style of writing reeled in readers from all different ages. She can be creepy, hilarious, and inspiring to the eyes that see her words. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, she keeps the reader on the edge of their seat wanting to continue reading beyond the final word. She uses literary devices to shape her story to grab her readers attention all throughout the story. By using these literary devices, Shirley Jackson shows off her dark and twisted side as well as her fantastic writing style to emphasize why she is one of the writers of her generation.

The ending of “The Lottery” comes as a shock to the reader. The Ending of the lottery Tessie Hutchinson draw the winning ticket, and is selected to to be stoned to death.The fact that a town would hold this kind of game is atroscious. Part of the reason that the ending was so much of a shock was because the Author’s use of incidental symbolism left one uneasy. Such as the black box and how it was portrayed like a forgotten tuneless chant, the ritual salute. “The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained.” (The Lottery 1)While most critics see the box as the primary symbol the stool is referenced at least 4 times in the fourth paragraph. “three- legged stool, and the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr. Summers set the black box down on it. The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool.”(The Lottery 1) The stool represents the trinity and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus was sacrificed on the cross Tessie Hutchinson stood on the three legged stool and was stoned to death. But at the beggining jackson sets us on track with some symbolism to indeed show us what is to come. Towards the middle of the story uses some chracter symbolism when it comes to the families. Mr. Dunbar is unable to draw the lottery today, so Mrs. Dunbar agrees to draw for him. However Mr. Summers say. “Don’t you have a grown boy that can draw for you.” Helen Nebeker put the explanation of this conversation extremely well. “In this seemingly innocent exchange the reader is jarred into a suspicion that the mentioned “grown boy” has been a previous victim and that his father cannot face the strain of being present, raising the question whether the breaking of his leg has been accidental or deliberate. At any rate, this loss of a son

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.

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

In “The Lottery”, Jackson portrayed death as a fun family oriented game. Jackson included children, family, friends and most importantly the tradition of playing “the lottery” to portray to the audience the commonality of the “game”. This game, known as “The Lottery” was an event that each family member of a small village participated in every year during the summer time. The families gathered together in the square around mid-morning getting prepared for the game by the gathering of stones,

How can the villagers kill a person they know for a long time every single year just because of a silly tradition that has been alive for generations? It is pretty bizarre how the villagers still cope with traditions that can kill themselves any year. Almost everyone who participated in this lottery was extremely nervous showing their fear of death. A tall boy in this crowd drew for his mother and him, he risked his life with a higher chance of getting killed. This shows the love he has for his mother. Mr. Summer said “Glad to see your mother’s got a man to do it”, foreshadowing the death of the tall boy’s father. The tall boy might have thrown pebbles on his father, leading to his demise and a tough future for

“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 Lottery” is one of the remarkable works of Shirley Jackson which was published in 1948. The endurance and impact of this short story are unmatched in the American works in the storybook canon. The storyline entails a community that holds a ritualistic lottery among the citizens in every year. Despite the story representing the audiences with a close-knit community which participate in a social event together during this special day, it ends in a twist, where the winner of lottery gets executed through public stone. This twist has to lead to its increased demand and continued interest to discuss and examine this story.