Blind Obedience in Shirley Jackson's The Lottery Essay

Since the emergence of the written word humans around the world have used literature to convey emotions and invoke thought within others. This invocation of thought and conveyance of emotion arises not only from the words themselves, but also through the usage of literary elements that enhance the overall transmission of the authors message. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” displays a masterful usage of literary elements to better convey Jackson’s general purpose, such as through the deep symbolism and underlying theme; however, Jackson’s true provocation of emotion is accomplished through her quintessential use of point of view. The objective point of view is indispensable within “The Lottery” because of the creation

“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.

The most shocking part of “The Lottery” is the level of dehumanization that comes with the crowd mentality. Shirley Jackson uses the normalcy of the lottery to veil the true outcome until the very end. Describing the crowd coming together and conversing as though it were a Sunday dinner, outlining the calm thoughts of the bystanders as they draw cards to murder one of their own, and picturing the actions of the people as normal. The fact that these characters neither mentioned, thought of, or acted like they were about to murder a blameless woman shows the role dehumanization had played on this community.

“The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson. The story takes place in a small conservative town where annually the citizens perform a ritual called the lottery. The author uses her story to highlight the effects of traditions on societies, and what general belief can cause people to do. In this story, Jackson uses several literary devices to develop the plot. This is evident through her various uses of irony, foreshadowing, and imagery.

When offensive ideas are introduced to children through a school curriculum, it allows the child to grow in knowledge, morals, and prepares him/her for uncomfortable situations in the future. Through adding controversial literature to the curriculum, teachers give a safe environment for students to process these new ideas. In the fourth grade, my teacher read a book to my class, called Smokey Nights. Smokey Nights is about a young African American boy named Daniel, who witnesses riots in the streets outside his Los Angeles apartment.

“The Lottery” was written in the year of 1948. Although many controversial topics and stories have come about, nothing like “The Lottery” had ever come about. There were stories about forbidden love and mental illnesses in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of an Hour” that were considered controversial, but there were no stories about a town coming together to stone one of its citizens to death. In 2014, “The Lottery” would be considered minute in gore compared to the many films and stories that

Shirley Jackson’s the Lottery (1991) is one of the most notable and valuable stories of modern literature. The story’s message continues to be resonate in contemporary fiction, showing the impact of a descriptive knowledge on human life, and also institutions

The annual ritualistic stoning of a villager in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" parallels tradition in American culture.  This paper will inform the reader of the effect tradition has on characters in the short story "The Lottery" and how traditions still strongly influence people's lives in america.

In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” it is unique how little details all relate back to the theme of the story. The setting, and the way that Jackson describes it in great detail, helps to add not only a major shock at the end of the story, but also how the setting shapes the theme. Also, the personality and names of some of the characters can help foreshadow an eerie ending to the story. Lastly, the symbols that Jackson uses play possibly the greatest part in creating the theme of the story. The setting, characters, and symbols used by Jackson conveys how dangerous it could be to mindlessly follow tradition.

In Shirley Jackson’s short story entitled “The Lottery”, obedience is expressed as members of this fictional society participate in an annual stoning. Villagers assemble on a beautiful summer’s day, caring out conversation as they await the annual lottery. Once the drawing concludes, the true nature of the lottery is revealed and a randomly selected member is then stoned to death. American psychologist, Stanley Milgram, conducted controversial social psychology experiments on obedience during his professorship at Yale University. The Milgram experiment measured the willingness of study participants, a socially diverse range of male applicants, to obey morally conflicting acts instructed by an authoritative figure. Participants were under the impression they were assisting an unrelated experiment, in which they administer electric shock to a “learner” as a form of corrective action. Fake electric shocks progressively increased to fatal levels of electricity if actually administered. Unexpectedly, the experiment found that a majority of participants would reluctantly obey the instructions of fatal harm. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Stanley Milgram’s behavioral study of obedience suggest societal influences drive individuals to conformity, findings of the Milgram experiments reflect Jackson’s characters’ behaviors.

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, is a short story that was written in the 1948 issue of The New Yorker. The short-story is based on a fictional small town that holds a yearly lottery that determines the future of one of its citizens. After this dark short-story was released, it received multiple negative reviews and caused several readers to cancel their subscriptions with The New Yorker. Although the future of one of the citizens is not vividly described, the reader gets a clear understanding of it. Throughout the short-story, the authors choice of not releasing the meaning of the lottery, the tradition’s history, and overall betrayal, leave the story to be open to interpretation by the readers.

There are so many stories that glorify how humans strive to be great, how they strive for perfection. In reality, people gravitate towards normality and focus on how they can fit into the grand scheme of things, rather than stand out of the crowd. Even though some find the occasional urge to break from the cycle, the majority gets sucked back in, whether it is due to traditions or the current societal norms. With the 1900s came a challenge against these traditions – technology, new ideas, and drastic international events gave rise to a counterculture movement that clashed with traditional restrictions like temperance and modesty. Modern thinkers believed that such ideas were outdated, that their meaning had been lost in this age of rapid development.

The short story, The Lottery, was written by Shirley Jackson and was published by The New Yorker in June 26, 1948. Within the story contains numerous amount of literary elements, such as irony, symbolism, and tone, all are used to convey Jackson’s ultimate message.

The unexceptional setting in which the events of "The Lottery" transpire fools readers into believing that it is just a regular story, however it is in fact a place where they stone someone to death each year in order to reap a greater harvest. This comes as an unexpected twist to the readers because of the nature of the village described seems similar to country villages all around the world, this makes the reader feel as though the events that take place could in fact happen within our world. Readers are therefore encouraged to reflect on their own actions due to the realism and regularity of the setting within "The

Throughout the duration of the novel, the idea of a tormenting and ever mystical sense of