Sacrifice In The Mayan Culture

To a first time reader, Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” seems simply as a curious tale with a shocking ending. After repetitive reading of Jackson's tale, it is clear that each sentence is written with a unique purpose often using symbolism. Her use of symbols not only foreshadow its surprise and disturbing ending but allows the reader to evaluate the community's pervert traditional rituals. She may be commenting on the season of the year and the grass being “richly green” or the toying with the meanings of the character's names but each statement applies to the meaning and lesson behind her story.

In “The Lottery” however, the author Shirley Jackson uses the narrator describe the sacrificing as somewhat normal to the town and its people. In reality though it should be taken out of society altogether and the townspeople should consider stopping what they are doing rethink the belief that this really working to benefit the town because this belief is causing them to just kill off families and no one questions except when Tessie Hutchinson and her family is selected. This can be seen when Tessie realizes that when her family pulls the paper she quickly screams out that it isn’t fair for this to happen to them, but ultimately she is silenced quickly by the townspeople throwing the stones at her. (Jackson 174). The people of the town didn’t even bother to listen to what she had to say instead followed the old and outdated tradition set in place. The fear of change has a great impact on them because the townspeople don’t know what will happen if change were to come. One of the townspeople, Old Man Warner, is so indoctrinated into the belief that this is the only way to live that expresses if the tradition were stop the town and the people living in it

​Many of the cultures that we have today have evolved from past events. Such as language it was something that became known throughout the years. Some of the languages that came from that were English, Spanish, German, and Latin to name a few. These languages were derived more past civilizations. One important civilization that is known for having great success is the Mayan civilization. The Mayan civilization is known for many things like they fully developed written language, art, architecture, math and some other factors. Historians have said that they don’t know an exact date of when this civilization rose up but they do mention that it flourished for about 2000 years. Although staring in 250 AD it is said that it was the start of their high point and it continued until the arrival of the Spanish in 1524. The Maya area covers southern Mexico and northwestern Central America. According to Sharer the area is divided into three regions: the Pacific coastal plain to the south, the highlands in the center, and the lowlands to the north. Even though these three regions were under the same civilization they all practiced different religious rituals. Religion plays a big role in every civilization. Some civilizations tend to praise more than one god and they always mention that what they have is thanks to their god. When they see things going wrong they often say that their god is punishing them because they did something that the god/s did not like. This tends to be the same

The author presents this information in a way to hide the gruesome event that is going to take place. When Jackson describes the kids gathering rocks, she makes it sound more like a game versus a preparation for an awful act. As the story continues, Jackson reveals the anxious tension amongst the crowd. For example, when Jackson Watson was asked if he was drawing this year, the author mentions his nervous blinking and his timid actions (Jackson 239). The story also includes the regretful feelings of Mrs. Dunbar when she stated that she would be drawing for her husband (Jackson 239). This tension is not something the crowd can get over in a day. When two of the housewives gossiped, they mentioned how they had just gotten over last year's lottery (Jackson 240). In society today, winning the lottery is a positive and lucky event in someone's life. After seeing the natural, but worried action shown by each citizen, the reader can infer how negative this lottery is. In this situation, small children are willing to throw stones at their mom, and are happy when they do not have to see the dot on

Within The Torah are many different stories that support this theme, one of the most well-known being the story of God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son. God said to Abraham, “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you” (The Torah 54). This was a huge sacrifice God was asking Abraham to make; he was asking for the life of his child, whom he treasured immensely. One might think that such a request would warrant careful

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson artfully uses foreshadowing in order to build suspense and create a shocking ending. Jackson’s success in “The Lottery” comes from her ability to keep the reader in the dark about the evils, until the very end. She has masterfully set up what the reader believes as a pleasant event. After the story concludes, the reader can truly see how Jackson utilized foreshadowing. When the reader re-reads the story, one fully realizes all the miniscule details that foreshadow the ending.

In the short, dark but surprisingly twisty story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the townspeople have a lottery to decide who will bear the sins of the town or rather who will be the scapegoat of the town. Numerous times it was mentioned in the story that tradition is why the sacrifice kept going throughout the years. Traditions are a set of custom, rituals and/or belief passed from generation to generation, believed if done right will change the outcome of certain situations. In “The Lottery” their ritual is to once a year have drawing to pick a member a chosen family to undergo death by stoning. Even though they are doing something wicked for the good of the whole town, it still doesn’t feel right to most of the residents. Because

The Aztec civilization was a very complex society that was feared and known well for their various gory sacrifices done to please their many gods in their polytheistic religion. The much feared civilization began by the exile of one of the two Toltec leaders, which lead to the decline of the Toltec state that was later replaced by Mexica, or the Aztecs. According to the Aztecs, the land chosen to build their main city was chosen by the portrayal of an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. Through military might, the Aztecs managed to become the most powerful civilization in the mid-fourteenth century. They maintained their power through military might and the fear they caused other civilizations because of the human

Andrew Lansley once said “Peer pressure and social norms are powerful influences on behavior, and they are classic excuses.” Most people tend to follow cultural customs because they have grown with them or it has been forced onto them with factors such as parents or their environment. However, is it always right to follow these customs even if they are in fact considered wrong? Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a short story about the cultural norms of a small community and its annual lottery ritual; a stoning. Jackson overthrows the story by making the lottery a corrupt occurrence rather than a victory. The reader would probably think that the “winner” of the lottery would be benefited but in this case the victory was not so delightful. In her short story “The Lottery” Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear so, it is inherently barbaric.

In "The Lottery," a small town follows its tradition although it does not even remember how the custom came about in the first place. The town folk do not even remember all the elements of this lottery. The original black box has been lost, but the new one, that is at least 80 years old, was made from parts of the original one. In this grotesque depiction of tradition, it is the custom of the townspeople to sacrifice a member of their community so the corn harvest is plentiful. Even the manner in which the person is killed is bizarre, stoning. No one seems to know why the lottery takes place, but they ridicule other towns that have stopped performing this ritual. Shirley Jackson is clearly letting us know what she

To further support this apparent family-friendly activity, Jackson has the lottery conducted by Mr. Summers because he “had the time and energy to devote to civic activities”(251). She goes on to explain that Mr. Summers conducts all civic activities such as square dances, the Halloween program, and the teenage club. By comparing the lottery to activities one would normally associate with fun and pleasurable experiences, further shields the reader from the ominous series of events about to unfold. Inevitably, the reader experiences an emotional roller coaster ride of confusion followed by

The setting is described as a “clear and sunny… full-summer day” and is described with positive connotations which create the impression that the story will be pleasant and ordinary. However, the story goes on to be far from it. As the story progresses the mood shifts from light-hearted and easy-going to tense and apprehensive. The villagers chuckle nervously amongst themselves and gather together quietly as the lottery commences. Once the names are picked the mood instantly becomes appalling and barbarous. The villagers move on towards Tessie and stone her to death without a second’s hesitation. The quote previously presented represents how ironic the story is overall. “The Lottery” starts off with a beautiful, warm day and ends in the brutal murder of an innocent woman. In the text, we see that “The lottery was conducted--as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program--by Mr. Summers. who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, jovial man” (26). Another form of irony in “The Lottery” is Mr. Summers. He is described as a “round-faced, jovial man” and his last name “Summers” makes him seem warm and amiable. Jackson describing him as such adds on to the beginning

“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson). In this first sentence of the The Lottery Shirley Jackson establishes a pleasant illusion, creating a sense of serenity. Jackson proceeds to mention that children begin to gather in the village, frolicing and conversing about school. The initial scene and satirically labeled title, The Lottery, provide a somewhat satisfying first impression to the reader. The introductory scene is eminent to intentionally implement misconception of the narrative to encompass climatic irony in the story. Throughout, Jackson saturates the story with symbols creating insight to the mystery

Through use of having community events, celebrating traditions, and repeating the traditions, Shirley Jackson is able to prove that the townspeople are not as cruel as the audience may think. They have many community gatherings that are happy, unlike the lottery. “Jovial man” Mr. Summers conducts the lottery, “the square dances, the teenage club, and Halloween program.” It is very obvious that Mr. Summers, is not a bad man, so he cannot, and should not be blamed for the lottery. Shirley Jackson is trying to prove that although the lottery itself is bad, the people who participate in it are not. Even though the lottery appears to be horrid, Jackson attempts to make the town look civil and human. All the town does the lottery so that they can have good crops that season. The saying goes “lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” People are considered “crazy fools” if they do not continue with the lottery. Jackson tries to show that the people who second guess the lottery are not popular with some people in town. Also if the town has a bad crop year townspeople will probably blame the doubters. The townspeople have always had a lottery, so it is unknown what would happen if they decided to skip it. Old Man Warner is the town’s oldest townsperson, and he is most experienced with the lottery. No one‒Old Man Warner included‒ ever remembers a time where there was not a lottery. “There’s always been a lottery”

Human sacrifices was a common practice among the Tainos religious beliefs. This act was done in hope of ridding themselves of evil spirits or any signs of impurities.