Shirley Jackson 's The Lottery

“The Lottery,” is a horrifying, yet thought-provoking story. Author Shirley Jackson gives readers an unexpected twist while reading about a small village. Jennifer Hicks also discusses the view of this town in the article “Overview of The Lottery.” “Jackson portrays the average citizens of an average village taking part in an annual sacrifice of one of their own residents,” (Hicks). At the beginning of this story, no one would think the ending would consist of a deadly stoning. A great deal of symbolism, irony, and a deranged theme is unrolled throughout this gruesome story.

Shirley Jackson is said to be one of the most “brilliant and influential authors of the twentieth century.” “Her fiction writing is some of the most important to come out of the American literary canon.” (http://shirleyjackson.org/Reviews.html) Jackson wrote many short stories and even some books. They are more on the dark, witchlike side, however. Kelleher explains that Jackson stated in some interviews that she practiced magic. No one really knows if she was serious while practicing witchcraft or not, but it ended up helping her write her stories http://www.literarytraveler.com/literary_articles/shirley_jackson_bennington.aspx). A major story that throws people for a loop is “The Lottery”. This was Jackson’s first short story and many

In 1948 Shirley Jackson composed the controversial short story “The Lottery.” Generally speaking, a title such as “The Lottery” is usually affiliated with an optimistic outlook. However, Jackson’s approach is quite unorthodox and will surely leave readers contemplating the intent of her content. The story exposes a crude, senseless lottery system in which random villagers are murdered amongst their peers. Essentially, the lottery system counteracts as a form of population control, but negatives easily outweigh the positive effects such a system could hold. Surely Jackson’s intentions run deeper than just creating an indifferent short story. “The Lottery” incorporates a graphic demonstration to expose the prominent consequences of blindly adhering to tradition. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” uses an array of substantial symbols, diction and irony to present the dangers of tradition and random persecution.

Tessie Hutchinson immediately stands out from the rest of the village when she arrives at the lottery late claiming, “Clean forgot what day it was.” In the short story “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson writes about a small town villagers that attend a traditional annual lottery event that is held every 27 of June at the square of the town. This lottery event has been done for many years. A black box, which is use for the lottery, contains slips of paper for each men of the house to obtain one without looking when being called. Besides the slips inside the box, there is a list with all the names of the men’s household including members of the house. The whole village attended since this is a traditional event. Everyone was there except Tessie Hutchinson who just arrived when the conductor was about to start the event. Tessie Hutchinson is clearly different, an outspoken woman and a rebel who made herself be noticed to all the villagers.

Everyone loves tradition, right? Nothing feels better than participating in an activity that the whole family or even community can enjoy. Now, what if I told you that activity meant randomly selecting a person, from your beloved community via a lottery, and then stoning them to death. In the short story, “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses imagery, setting, and irony to portray the theme of animistic savagery and hypocrisy

The lottery is a short story that is certainly one of the best American writings of the last century. First published in 1948 in The New Yorker, his reception by the public could not be worse: many readers canceled their subscriptions to the magazine and the author received letters for months in which he was heavily criticised and insulted because of the hardness of the story. It was also a called a spooky story, where the tension and anticipation increased without disclosing the reason for things, not until the last words. The question is what exactly tells this story?

1. What is your reaction to the climax of the story- the stoning? Consider especially the behavior of Tessie Hutchinson’s husband and son. The conclusion of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is one of my favorite endings in a short story, for the reason that it is done very simply.

The short story, “The Lottery” by author Shirley Jackson, encompasses many themes that can call society’s morals into question. Taking place in a small, New England town, the story begins with the town folk gathering for its annual lottery. On a warm, summer day, the schoolchildren gather in the square, followed by the other villagers. Children and adults alike collect stones, at this time, for an unknown reason. Neighbors converse and share the excitement of another lottery day. The author creates a serene and jovial setting which offsets the story’s ending. One by one, each person is called up by Mr. Summers to pull a piece of paper from the lottery box. The one person who is “lucky” enough to win the lottery is stoned to death by the rest of the town. The conclusion of the tale is not foreseen throughout the beginning of the story due to the lively attitude of the characters as well as the title. When thinking of a lottery, you think of a happy ending. The sudden murder of Tessie Hutchinson by those she was close to could be a critique on not only society’s inclination to be blind followers, but it could also call morals and religion into question.

Would it feel good to the win the lottery? When people win the lottery, they are filled with excitement and joy, but this lottery is one that people would rather have no chance of winning. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” the members of a small town gather each year to hold a special event to see what “lucky” towns member will win the annual lottery. Each year the families of the town meet in the square and the head of each household draws a slip of paper to determine which family wins the “lottery.” The Hutchinson family has chosen the winning slip of paper and then the family draws amongst themselves to find the sole winner of the lottery. The short story, “The Lottery” begins with a beautiful day and all of the town members joking and laughing, but the actual dark meaning slowly starts to be revealed. “The Lottery” uses a joyful tone to show how people can become accustomed to a particular lifestyle, along with irony, the use of hidden symbols and foreshadowing to hint at the outcome of the story.

“The Lottery” was written in 1948, three years after the end of World War II. The Nazi Movement, that started the Holocaust, annihilated millions of people in order to create a single,

Shirley Jackson, a famous American fiction writer after the Second World War, wrote a story called, “The Lottery,” to indicate humans’ true nature. How does Jackson be able to draw out humans’ true nature through written words? The story of “The lottery” is a kind of story that is written in a situational irony form. It is surprising that at the end of the story, people start throwing stones at the one who actually won the lottery. At first glance of reading the topic and the actual context of the story, many people might think that it is a regular gathering for the lottery, which is not involved in life taking. Jackson’s main purpose is to demonstrate humans’ behaviors after the World War Two. As a result, Jackson amazingly illustrates the sinful nature of humans through the central theme, the characters, and the symbol of the story.

A story that really stood out to me was “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. This short story is really different from any story that I have read and it is very unique. “The Lottery” is about a small town that follows a strong tradition called the lottery. The lottery is when the whole town gets together and they all put their family name in a black box, then every family has to choose one from the box. Whoever pulls out a black dot gets stoned by everyone in the whole town. The theme to this story is that just because it is a tradition, doesn’t mean it’s good and you should keep it. I view this novel as a good, enjoyable, and educational story. I really loved this short story and recommend it to anyone who enjoys old and historical tales.

Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is a short story published in 1948. The short story is a narrative prose that recounts an event or story about person, a place or an event (Hart, 1995). The Lottery narrates an event annually celebrated in a small rural village typically describes as one of the “small town America”, a typical description of the location in most classic literary works. The title of the story was named after the activity that takes place during the festivity. It is a game luck that requires everyone’s participation regardless of age, gender and economic status. People had to stop whatever they were doing and gather up at the town square to join in the drawings and participate in the game of chance. However, there is a different twist to the game. It is not like the traditional lottery that we encounter today. Instead, it draws the name of the person who will be sacrificed and stoned to death by the village people. This involved not only the elderlies of the community but even the younger ones. This almost mimics a ritual that is done and participated by everyone even the youth to preserve its tradition. During the drawing, the issue was raised of modifying the ritual or completely turning away from its practice because it is no longer fitting of a civilized society. This argument was in fact; the argument used in another village who agreed to stop the practice of the lottery. However, the consensus was

Can one individual change a large group of people? Can the effort of one person be enough to break up a faulty tradition practicing by a society? In most cases the answer would be ‘yes’ and in some ‘no’. Many individuals try and succeed but many fail just like the main character Tessie Hutchinson in Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”. When someone hears the word “lottery”, he or she may think that someone will be rewarded with prize. But “The Lottery” By Shirley Jackson is different than what one thinks. In the story, a lottery is going to be conducted not like Mega Million or Powerball one play here. In the story, the person who wins the lottery is stoned to death instead of being rewarded with the prize.

In “The Lottery”, Jackson wrote about a special tradition of a small village. June 27th was warm and sunny, and it gave the impression like nothing could possibly go wrong. Everyone knows the lottery as an exciting thing, and everybody wants to win, but this lottery is unlike any other. This lottery was actually the tradition of stoning of an innocent villager; that year it was Tessie Hutchinson. Though the horrific ending was not expected, throughout the story Jackson gave subtle hints that this was not an average lottery. Jackson foreshadowed the death of Tessie Hutchinson with stones, the black box, and the three legged stool; she showed that unquestioning support of tradition can be fatal.