Analysis Of The Short Story 'The Lottery'

Figurative language is a strategy that authors have used over the years to give the reader different perspectives on the piece that they are reading about. In her short Story, “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson writes about a small town that has a tradition known as the lottery. The way that the lottery works, is that there is black box with pieces of paper in it. The pieces of paper have the family names of every family in town. The last name standing then has to go into an elimination round with the people within the family. Each family member draws out of the black box, and the family member that pulls the slip of paper with the black dot gets stoned to death. In her short story, Jackson utilizes symbolism in the form of Old Man Warren, the black box and the pile of stones to demonstrate how tradition can be blinding without even knowing it.

The story started when people are gathered every end of June for the annual lottery ritual in a small village. All the head of each family are required to grab a slip a slip of paper in the box that is placed in the middle of the village. The in charge of the lottery was Mr. Summer. The conflict occurs when Tessie found out that her husband Bill was the center of the Villager’s attention. There is something on the paper that he picked. Because of that Tessie can’t even accept it and she keep on yelling that it is not fair. She believed that the time given to Bill was not enough to pick the paper that he wanted from Mr. Summer. The entire Hutchinson family, are

CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: Ray Bradbury’s The Veldt (on GC), There Will Come Soft Rains (in textbook page 329), OR Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (on GC)

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.

In the short story "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson uses figurative language, symbolism, and irony to reveal her theme that things are not always what they seem to be. In this shocking short story, she reveals the corruption of human nature by telling of the ceremony they call “The lottery”.

Shirley Jackson is known for her creative writing and plot twisting stories such as “The Possibility of Evil” and “The Lottery”. Jackson always finds a way to leave the reader somewhat confused and wanting to read more. In both of these stories it is a small town where everyone knows one another but something about each of these towns isn't right. In “The Lottery” it turns out that each year, one family, then individual from that family is chosen to be stoned to death for a sacrifice. Then in “The Possibility of Evil” it turns out that one old woman has been writing rude anonymous letters to the people of the town. In both essays Jackson uses many literary devices that help her create these stories that she is so known for. Some of the literary devices she uses are situational and verbal irony, and mood and foreshadowing. She uses a fair amount of all three of these throughout her short stories.

Despite their differences in their approach to characterization, both Joyce Carol Oates and Shirley Jackson managed to craft haunting short stories, whose characters quickly bond to your brain before they are quickly ripped away.

There are a lot of characters that play a huge role in the outcome of the story. Tessie Hutchinson, who was thrilled about the lottery, was the one who gets the paper with a black dot. She always wanted to participate each year but this year she wasn’t so happy about it. She complained because her family’s names were also included in the lottery drawing. Bill Hutchinson, Tessie’s husband, was the one who drew the lottery, in the end. Even though Tessie complained and protested about the lottery, he acknowledged it because it was apart of the town’s tradition. Old Man Warner has partaken in 77 lotteries over the years. He is also known as the oldest person in the Town. He believes that the lottery cleans people’s sin and allows them to be kind. He feels as if there shouldn’t be a change, and the lottery ceremony should remain as apart of town tradition. Mr. Summers, has no children, is the guy who leads the lottery ceremony. His job is to make the papers and announce the drawn lottery recipient. Mr. Harry Graves, the postmaster, assists Mr. Summers in preparing for the lottery. The children and other families of the town are secondary characters in the story. Their main role is to collect rocks and cause ruckus during the lottery ceremony.

The short story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson begins with villagers gathering in the square, between the post office and the bank, to participate in the lottery which is not what it seems like because the story’s surprising ending reveals that Tessie Hutchinson, who draws the slip of paper with the black spot on it is stoned to death when the lottery ends. Shirley Jackson reveals through the use of irony, foreshadow, and symbolism in the story how much people can get caught up in maintaining a tradition that they wouldn’t question their wrongful actions, such as the murder of an innocent human being.

Luck always plays a hand in chance, but when the luck runs out, who’s there to lend a hand? In the story, The Lottery, a small New England town graces the reader’s eyes. Within this town, there is a deadly tradition about taking a chance. Tessie Hutchinson ends up being the one to risk it all and her fate is sealed with the sweet kiss of many stones. Symbolism plays a major key in this story, and it’s shown by names, objects and the setting, which conceals the true meaning of the lottery.

"The Lottery," is a cautionary tale about how blindly following traditions can lead to dire situations. Jackson presents a look into lampoons traditions, townsfolk, and the cruelty of others when allowed blindly following traditions.

In this article, the people of the village kept an old ritual. In order to pray for the harvest, they sacrificed one person who needs to be stoned to death. Every villager accepted and complied with the rules. They chose this person through the way of lottery. It is fair that everyone selected a slip from the black box. Those reflect the American culture of equality and democracy. For, example, it was fair that everyone has same chance to get the slip which represents death. Also, this village is ruled by majority. Major group make decisions together, and individual cannot resist it. Even the families of Mrs. Hutchinson had to hit her by stones. Although it was a ruthless ritual, it was obeyed by all of the villagers.

At the surface level, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson tells an ironic and grim story in which a seemingly close town stones one of its own citizens to death. However, under the Marxist literary lens, The Lottery describes a modern world where paper money holds value despite its invaluable nature, wealth is spread randomly and unevenly, and the upper class systematically oppress the lower classes of society. Throughout history, currencies have always held a meaningful value. For example, a common “meaningful” currency would be gold.

"The Lottery" is a fictional account of a group of villagers who conduct a yearly ceremony to determine at random who among their community will be ritually sacrificed. The villagers have come to believe annual participation in this ceremony will result in good fortune. Specifically, it is believed the success of the corn harvest and continued provision of sustenance in the community can only be assured through human sacrifice. Though only a fiction, "The Lottery" conveys to the reader a message, albeit rather abstractly, about the real world around us. This message is the story 's central theme. By examining thematic elements of the story and concluding as to precisely what the main theme of the story is, the reader can derive an understanding as to the purpose and nature of the story, but perhaps even better yet can shine a light and narrowly glean a slight esoteric understanding of the author 's state of mind and personal experiences. In the case of the lottery, that theme is as follows: "times and technologies change, but people never will."

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story written in 1948. Due to World War II ending around this time, her story took some strong criticism. The people at that time wanted uplifting stories, and this story is the very opposite because of its underlying theme of tradition and conformity. “The Lottery” shows that no matter the tradition or belief, people will not stray from their daily routine because humans are creatures of habit, and are scared to wonder from what we know. Jackson writes by providing the reader with little details at first.Then making the reader put the information all together to come to the conclusion that people will never change. Jackson then creates symbols of tradition and conformity by adding details, using specific objects, and”The Lottery” itself.