Examples Of Injustice In The Lottery

Do you think that “standing up for what’s right may not always the easiest path” could be a theme for both “The Lottery” and “First They Came”? Well, if you want to find out stick around and you’ll see how they’re different and how they’re alike. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is about a small town about 300 people that every year they do this tradition. There’s a black box and slips of paper. If you get the paper with the dot on it, then you win the lottery. If you “win” the lottery then your get your win death by getting stoned to death. “First They Came” by Martin Niemoller is about when Hitler and the Nazis came for the Jews and the Socialists and the other people, and Martin didn’t stand up for them and then when he got taken nobody

The two stories, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, and “First They Came,” by Martin Niemoller, are very different. But both address the theme, standing up for what’s right may not always be the easiest path. The story, “The Lottery,” is a short story about a village with about 300 people in it. Every year, the village holds a lottery. This lottery ends in someone’s life being ended by family, friends, and the rest of the villagers. Their death is because of a simple black dot on a slip of paper. The story, “First They Came,” is a nonfiction poem about someone watching as groups of people get taken away, until finally, they came for him. These groups include Socialists, Trade Unionists, and Jews, and then there is the main character. In his own group, all on his own. Even though these are very different stories, they still do have some of the same themes.

Summers stating he is glad that one lady has a man to participate, and Mrs. Hutchinson is told to be a good sport. When a group of men starts discussing towns that have given up the lottery, they state those towns would go barbaric and live in caves (Jackson 240). Also, Patrick J. Shields states in “Arbitrary Condemnation and Sanctioned Violence in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery,’’ “[o]ld man warner is the elder of the community and has survived 77 lotteries. He views them as a necessary and good (Shields 415).” This is ironic since a stoning is primitive and not a positive event for a town to hold; thus, stopping the lottery would do the opposite. Also, Mr. Summers states briefly”’[g]lad to see your mother’s got a man to do it’’’ (Jackson 239). This is outrageous since the husband probably died from the lottery. Therefore, being all pretentious about this in uncalled for. Finally, when the Hutchinsons are selected, Tessie states the lottery is unfair; shortly after Mrs. Delacroix tells her to be a good sport (Jackson 241). Although Mrs. Delacroix probably just does not want the lottery to be done again, so she does not possibly get selected. Therefore, this story shows verbal irony when the men discuss the lottery, the boy pulls for his mother, and Mrs. Hutchison being told to be a good

“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

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a story littered with warnings and subtext about the dangers a submissive society can pose. While the opening is deceptively cheery and light Jackson uses an array of symbols and ominous syntax to help create the apprehensive and grim tone the story ends with. Her portrayal of the town folk as blindly following tradition represents the world during World War II when people’s failure to not mindlessly accept and heed authority lead to disastrous consequences. . Shirley Jackson uses a large array of techniques to help convey the idea that recklessly following and accepting traditions and orders can lead to disastrous consequences.

“A stone hit her on the side of the head. "It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her” (34). “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson which, sparked controversy when published in the June 26, 1948 issue of the New Yorker. Jackson used several different literary devices to support her theme that people who don’t question tradition get what they deserve. The literary devices Jackson uses to support the theme of ‘The Lottery’ are irony, foreshadowing, and pacing.

The people of the lottery were nice, common people who loved their families and tried to be good people, but evil still shone through and polluted their thoughts at some points. They killed without mercy and even those who were friends with Mrs. Hutchinson, the victim, conformed to the immoral actions of the group. This makes their society a dystopia because

Shirley Jackson’s twisted story, “The Lottery,” takes place in a small town with a measly population of about 300 people. In the story, Tessie Hutchinson, a well-known civilian in the town is one of the 300 people with their lives at risk when the annual Lottery is held. The lottery is a system of selecting a family, then selecting a member of that family to be killed. In this town, and probably everywhere else in the world, no one wants to be the one to die. The reason why the lottery is held is unknown, as the text has not explicitly stated a reason. A possible lesson that “The Lottery” promotes is that selfishness is human nature. Selfishness by itself can be so overpowering that it

Lotteries generally bring riches to the winner however that’s not the case in Shirley Jackson’s Short Story, “The Lottery,” published June, 1948. The story starts out very pleasant and calm with a tiny flinch of nervousness from the lottery participants. It seems at first that the winner of the lottery would get a somewhat significant prize considering all the build up to the big prize reveal, however, the winner, Tessie Hutchinson, ends up getting stoned to death by the kids and adults alike. Instead of a big happy prize Jackson wrote the story to point out meaningless victimization and inhumane activities that have taken place throughout history. Some violent and dark events of that time that highlight Jackson’s viewpoint of inhumanity

In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson writes about the game lottery, which makes the story very ironic. Unlike all of the other Lottery games, in this traditional version no one wants to be chosen, because that brings them the end of their life. Jackson explains how keeping up with some traditions that are part of people’s life, may not be the best choice to embrace a particular culture. Jackson uses the Lottery as an example to express her idea about the ethical issues such as; violent murder, harming people, forcefully following a tradition, and lying. All of these ethical issues are created by blindly following tradition in “The Lottery.”

The Lottery is a story based on a village's tradition. The lottery is defined as a very collective act of murder. The tradition of the lottery is the coming together of the whole town, on one specific day, for certain hours to draw one person’s name to see who will get to get killed by getting stoned. With this act of killing someone is making it a collective act of murder because they could disobey the tradition and not chose someone but they chose to kill one person to make themselves live longer. “It is not fair, it is not right” is coming from Mrs. Hutchinson who at the end of the story was the person who wins the lottery and gets stones thrown at her after she said these words thus making it a collective act of murder. Another reason because it’s not like they are killing that person on accident they are killing another human being on purpose to save their life.

In today's society the actions taken in this story would have been considered morally wrong and punishment for committing these crimes would be handed down by the court system. The judicial system of today would punish them with incarceration or death by leathal injection. This legal system was actually illegal, more of a marshal law. These people were ruling themselves. The best example is Mr. Summers, he made it a happy gathering, conducted all the civil activities, and then was also the executioner. He brings with all his justice and ruling, death. The purpose of the lottery is to weed out the people and learn the cycle of life is to accept democracy.

“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

In today’s society we perceive the lottery as being a great fortune brought down upon you by Lady Luck. It is a serendipitous event, even if the person has done nothing to earn it. One would never see the lottery as an unfortunate occasion that occurred in your life because it is supposed to bring prosperity into your life. Also, one would not dare to think that winning the lottery would bring such repercussions as injury or death. In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the author could have used Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson as the town’s scapegoat due to their reluctance to change traditions, her horrible work ethic, and minority status as a woman.

It is apparent that this is almost a mechanical event. Mr. Summers gives instructions on how to proceed, but the people have done this so many times they hardly pay attention (Jackson, 250). How they go about the lottery does not seem nearly as important as making sure everyone has a chance at the prize (Jackson, 251). Truly, a western culture ideal. Jackson may be trying to highlight the fact that society has become so preoccupied with getting our share of the pie that we do not stop and consider the consequences to ourselves, or to others.