Good And Evil In The Lottery

Good v. Evil, it’s way more than just a concept, it’s more of a lifelong struggle inside of you. What more could you do when evil is shown all around you? Many of us may see the struggle between good and evil in the people we come across everyday. Flawed individuals may be perceived as good but are bad in the eyes of someone else; it all comes down to how you see it. The exposure to things and memories you make help impact the good in you. In order to further evaluate the argument of how good can come out of evil and good can show up even when it’s not right in front of you, can be shown in both William Golding’s novel Lord of the flies and the Anonymous Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf. This essay asserts that,

In short stories the author composes a compelling plot, with an ending that in someway either teaches the main character a lesson, or the reader themselves. Jackson acts as a master of literary devices, as she navigates the reader through intense scenes that evoke an emotional response to the experiences of the main character. In the short stories, “The Possibility of Evil” and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, she used the same three literary devices to grasp the reader’s attention from beginning to end. In “The Possibility of Evil” Miss Adela Strangeworth caused a stir by sending anonymous letters to townspeople, filled with things she suspected other people in her town of doing; she claimed that every letter was sent with the intent of

Good versus Evil is an important concept. Evil sometimes overcomes our good but never exceeds good. The difference between evil and good is that good is an ability to have empathy and compassion towards other people. Evil is people who are selfish, self-absorbed and don’t have empathy towards others. Literature plays a vital role in developing concepts of good and evil and effectively portrays the morals of its time period. In the novels Dracula and The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the authors explore the human nature of good and evil in men from different perspectives of Dracula, Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll.

We are all quick to judge something or someone by a first impression but as we may all know not everything is as if it seems. In Shirley Jackson’s short stories, ‘The Possibility of Evil” and “The Lottery”, Jackson uses specific literary devices in each story. In each short story, everything seems to be normal and typical until the hidden secrets are revealed. Jackson’s uses irony, mood and theme for a better understanding of the two short stories.

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

For countless generations, a single aspect of life has been the center of major controversy and dispute among many and may never eventually be settled. The question remains: good or evil? This one inquiry has led to a variety of religions and cultures, as well as a great divide among the entire human civilization. However, in many circumstances which are shown in many novels and movies, good always conquers. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, Bradbury proposes the idea that good always prevails over evil by utilizing the characters as examples of vice and virtue, providing a reason as to how evil could influence one’s actions, and introducing the idea that one could outweigh the obstacles of immorality with the power of integrity.

Robert Louis Stevenson, a famous Scottish writer, once said, “All human beings are commingled out of good and evil.” Not one person is completely good or evil; everyone possesses both characteristics. In the literary pieces of John Gardner’s, “Grendel,” unknown author of, “Beowulf,” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” the characters are portrayed as having both qualities of good and evil, proving there to be a duality of decency/immorality, righteousness/depravity, and virtue/evil.

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

Every story you'll ever read has its own kind of morals and different ways of treating characters throughout those pages. These ways these people in the stories are being treated are based on two things that we are focusing on; being preferred by others for who they are or being disapproved by everyone. By all means, humans should all be treated equally, but not everyone believes that. Each story that will be presented has a different perspective on how people see and treat others.

Symbolism can be found in many of the objects, places, or experiences around us. Believe it or not, symbolism may be found within a person. Symbolism represents an object that has more than one meaning within it. As an example, the color red may represent something hazardous or even love as well. Symbols can also be used in the battlefield to get through a mission, crack enemy codes, and even save a life as well.

Shirley Jackson wrote the story “The Lottery” back in 1948 to show us how ridiculous it could be to blindly follow certain traditions. In this story the author uses symbolisms to warn and prepare the reader about the gruesome ending of the lottery. There are a lot of symbols in the story and the main are the items, the lottery and the character names.

On the outside, the average human being appears to be kind and friendly, but beneath that shell lies the true characteristics of man. Buried beneath that put on act there is an evil that lies within. This evil is unmasked by the qualities of pride and selfishness. No matter the being, everybody is selfish in his or her own way and concerned mostly with his or her own well-being. This can result in searching for a scapegoat when things turn bad. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” these characteristics of the evil tendency, selfishness, and scapegoating prevail, revealing to the world the dark nature of mankind.

The abstract concept of evil has vastly transformed throughout human history, ranging for the supernatural and mystical to the very humans amongst whom we live. In modern times, evil has become an entirely ambiguous term. Who is evil? What is evil? Men like Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein have been garnered with the term ‘evil’ for their atrocities against fellow humans. Now it seems evil has a solely human significance; when a person violates the individual rights of others on a massive scale, he/she is evil. In Shakespeare’s time – the Elizabethan era – evil had a similar, but somewhat altered connotation in the human mind. Evil was an entity that violated the English Christian

We begin to define the line between good and evil and the way in which it can corrupt human beings. The message portrayed that evil and the misuse of power is an ongoing matter, one in which could affect anyone and is partially an involuntary act – the evil animalistic behaviour becomes engraved into minds; like Goeth.

Throughout the duration of this class, I had the opportunity to encounter a great deal of fantastic examples of literature. The stories were as similar as they were different, each one with a unique premise but somehow also reflective of one another. Perhaps it is be accident, or more likely it is because the stories are a part of the fabric of our nation and the American condition. The stories are of their respective times while also being able to fairly and accurately critique American society, culture, and values. From capitalism to America’s changing thoughts on morality throughout the decades, the writings were introspective to the story of our nation.