Comparing The Lottery And The Interlopers

In the fictional short story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, on June 27th a small village gathered together to participate in the annual lottery, an old village tradition, conducted by Mr. Summers, the lottery official. During the lottery, the head of each household in the village draws one slip of paper. Whoever draws the slip of paper with the charcoal dot on it is sacrificed for the crop season. This time it was Mr. Hutchinson, who drew the dire slip of paper. So then each member of his household had to draw, including his three small young children, Bill, Jr., and little Dave.

“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

Conformity, the act of mimicking a groups behavior, attitudes, or beliefs. Is this a positive or negative thing? Others may say that it's a positive thing because it was the foundation of modern laws, but that was a very long time ago, does this positive light on conformity still apply? Conformity is a negative thing because the Holocaust, Tessie Hutchinson was stoned to death, and the mere presence of friends influences risk taking, and all three of these examples start with the same thing, Conformity.

In this story everyone is allowed to freely share their opinions and beliefs without being discriminated, but the way they feel does not have a impact on the tradition that their town still continues. “There's always been a lottery he added petulantly… said old man Warner.” (Lines 200) this piece of text evidence shows that the town carries on their tradition and old man Warner makes sure they do. In the next text evidence it will explain how others feel towards the lottery and it says in lines (202) “Some places have already quit the lotteries, Mrs. Adams said”, This piece of text evidence is one of many that shows that the people in the town do not agree with the act of the Lottery anymore and they are always aloud to express their feelings and beliefs towards the Lottery. The only problem is that the man in charge of the lottery who is old man Warner, does not except how the town feels because their feelings are not the same as his which relates back to the quote. If old man Warner had accepted the people of the towns different feelings and beliefs of the people in the town even though they differ from his. In this story Ms. Hutchinson a ordinary person in the story who was randomly picked no matter how she felt. She was chosen to get stoned even though everyone

that farming is a way of life that is handed down from generation to generation,

In the following essay I will make a comparison between three short stories: “The Princess Who Stood on Her Own Two Feet,” “The Lottery,” “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” and discuss the common theme of sacrifice that is presented in them. In the story “The Princess Who Stood on Her Own Two Feet,” princess sacrifices herself in order to achieve happiness with the selfish and sexist prince. In “The Lottery” people stone a person every year to provide a sacrifice in order to have good harvest. In the story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” a poor child is sacrificed in order for the whole city to exist.

The characters of the story blindly follow the traditions of the lottery, allowing murder to be apart of their society. The villagers are not being forced to keep the ritual alive, but they continue it anyway out of personal interest. Old Man Warner is so ecstatic towards the lottery that he believes if the tradition is lost, the people of the village

“Pack of young fools” (Jackson 76, par. 8-9). These quotes display the contrasting attitudes between other villages and Old Man Warner’s. Even as sick as it sounds, the lottery brings the townspeople together because they are connected by one common goal. And even though such an action as detestable as the lottery continues to happen, the townspeople want to hold onto something blindly because it has been passed down from generations. In this town the goal is the killing of an innocent soul (DiYanni 1, 5). Most of the townspeople believe it is a rash and dumb idea to do away with the lottery, proving that their view of human life is vastly distorted. They let their viewpoint be distorted because the lottery was such “as matter of fact” to them, and the lottery provides them with some sort of closure and a sense of fulfillment.

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.

Every story has been constructed in a unique way. However, there were also ways that authors can use to construct a great story. Saki’s story, “The Interlopers”, and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” demonstrates the elements of tension and suspense, specifically through the use of the techniques like ordering of events, description of settings, and dialogue between characters. Saki and Jackson both used similar techniques when it came to creating the effect of surprise within in their stories. These techniques really help the author write and the reader understand the story.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a satirical short story which points out many flaws in humanity. While touching on many themes, the text ultimately leads one to ponder the selfishness of human nature. The overall theme of selfishness is expressed many times throughout the story, most notable being the villagers eagerness to murder in order to preserve themselves, Tessie’s willingness to have her own children killed to save herself, and Old Man Warners unwavering belief that his way, the lottery, is inherently better than that of the “young people” who are abolishing the tradition.

The story takes place in a small village, where everyone is together and tradition is paramount. The yearly event, called the lottery, is when one person in the town is randomly selected, by a drawing, to be stoned by friends and family. The lottery has been around for many years and is practiced by every member in the town. Even though a small village may seem peaceful, and a good place to raise a family, it is not always what it seems to be. Shirley Jackson created a world of ritualistic ceremony and religious orthodoxy. The short story was

First, the people in this story will persecute one innocent person for no specific reason once a year just because it is a tradition in the town. The only example from the story that might depict the whole meaning of the tradition is when Old Man Warner says “’Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’” (Jackson 143) Never a mention of crop good or bad in story. Also, the old man says, “’There’s always been a lottery’” (Jackson 143). He has no real reason other than that there has always been one, and the younger people must accept that they must

The Lottery Literary Analysis In ‘The Lottery’, written by Shirley Jackson, a village goes about their annual ritual of pulling strips of paper out of a box in belief that it will help their harvest. They believe that if they randomly kill one person, the entire community will benefit. Shirley Jackson uses a village of basic farmers and a light mood at the beginning, irony, foreshadowing, and shock to convey the message that if something is wrong someone should stand up against it, before looking like a hypocrite.

It is a grim, even nihilistic, parable of the evil inherent in human nature” (Coulthard). This evil has been passed on from generation to generation. The oldest generation is represented by Old Man Warner who believes religiously in the sacrifice. He always makes it known that the lottery has always been a tradition saying, “Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson).  Just like the rest of the villager he thrives off of the wicked act of the lottery, but his explanation for killing seems more honest.