Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

In the short story, “The Lottery”, Jackson’s use of symbols reveals a twisting plot that isn’t recognizable until nearly at the end of the story. Her use of third person point of view is

Shirley Jackson also utilizes literary devices to good effect in “The Lottery,” especially that of symbolism. By keeping the setting devoid of any identifying details, Jackson frees the reader to imagine that it could be any place. The only constraints that the author places on her readers’ creativity are that the town is decidedly rural, perhaps narrowing the critique to the cultural scene most frequently associated with small town America. Other symbols include the box from which the lottery slips are drawn (an old and black object which heralds death), stoning as a method of execution (a particularly old and excruciating way to kill someone), and ritual itself (a series of often ill contemplated actions for which one needs no particular reason to follow). All of these, with their marked reference to age, clearly refer to tradition.

In her story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson manages to catch the readers’ attention and ultimately shock them with an unexpected ending; all of which help her emphasize her critique toward the dark side of human nature and the evil that resides, sometimes, in those who we less expect it from. Jackson uses symbolism throughout the story that helps her set the mood and also makes the readers wonder and analyze the senseless violence and cruelty in their own lives.

Shirley Jackson uses several literary devices in “The Lottery” to assist in portraying the theme of her story. Several examples of the devices used are: foreshadowing, imagery, symbolism, motif, tone, and dialogue. The main devices seen within the theme of the story however, include: dialogue, motif, symbolism, and imagery. Throughout the story the theme could be interpreted several different ways, however, the main idea is tradition. Tradition is sacred to many and meaningless to some. In “The Lottery”, tradition is something upheld only for the sake of it being tradition, no matter how unordinary or extravagant it may seem. These terms provide insight and textual evidence to help the reader determine and understand the story’s theme, being

Through her use of setting, which on the surface appears to be light-hearted and commonplace, Jackson masks and emphasizes the shock and horror of the story’s ending. Jackson first depicts a light and merry setting when she describes the day of the lottery. “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.” By detailing the day in a bubbly way, Jackson veils the idea that nothing bad

The setting and tone of the story “The Lottery” play very significant roles that give the reader a sense of where they are and an overall feeling of what the story should be like. At the beginning of the story Jackson is very specific in describing the setting of the story. She does this by giving an exact date, time, and even telling the reader how the weather outside is. In the story it is summer and everything is getting ready for a new beginning. By saying all of this it gives the reader a sense that this is a normal town that goes through normal day to day activities just like other towns do. Later in the story it is revealed that the “Winner” of the lottery gets stoned to death by the rest of the town. The overall tone of the story changes in an instant as you get to the end of the story and realize what the lottery really is.

Thesis: The short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson found in Perrine's Literature written by Thomas R. Arp is a story full of symbolism.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson has many subliminal symbolic meanings to its text. The author uses the title, the date of the lottery, the location, the box, the three-legged stool, and even character’s names to make the reader dig into the story to understand the full meaning. The title “The Lottery” is significant because the one who is chosen for “the lottery” doesn’t win a prize, but has to sacrifice their life for their community’s tradition. Which immediately begins the subliminal symbolic meanings because the title is the complete opposite of what happens within the story this is subliminally expressing a double theme. Which the title meaning one thing and what the plot of the story is completely opposite and is showing us the doubleness of the human spirit. The date, June twenty-seventh, is playing a role in the

According to Helen E. Nebeker, most acknowledge the energy of The Lottery, admitting that the psychological stun of the ritual murder in a modern, rural small-town cannot be easily overlooked. Virgil Scott, for instance, says, “the story leaves me uneasy because of the author's use of incidental symbolism: the black box, the forgotten tuneless chant, the ritual salute to assure the entire recreation of the procedure of the lottery forget to serve the story as they may have.” At that point, they indicate fundamental weakness by acknowledging that Jackson has preferred to give no answer to her story, but it leaves the meaning to our imagination, allowing a good deal of flexibility in our interpretation, while yet demanding that everything in the story has been obtained to assure us how we are to 'take' the ending events in the story. Maybe the critical conflict depicted above comes from failure to see that The Lottery really intertwines two stories and subjects into a fictional vehicle. The obvious, easily discovered story shows up in the facts, wherein members of a small town meet to decide who will be the next victim of the annual savagery. The symbolic hints which develop into a second, sub rosa story becomes apparent as early as the fourth word of the story when the date of June 27th alerts us to the season of the summertime with all its connotation of ancient ritual. From the symbolic development of the black box, the story shifts quickly to climax.

In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” a small village is preparing for an annual drawing, a tradition carried out for generations. During this ritual, the head of each household draws a blank piece of paper out of a black box. One piece of paper is marked with a single black dot and if chosen, the outcome is having the winner’s entire household draw out of the box. Whoever chooses the black dot out of the household is stoned to death by the entire village. In this instance, a husband wins to which his wife protests, and then she is the ultimate victim who is sacrificed. This story includes many literary elements like foreshadowing, warning of a future event, symbolism, symbols used in the story to represent ideas,and irony, when the contrary to what is expected to happen, occurs. Jackson uses foreshadowing, symbolism, and irony to prove the theme that it is foolish and barbaric to blindly follow tradition.

"The Lottery," a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale about an inhumane

Jackson shows foreshadowing in this line by making the box black, which is a symbol for death. She also shows that the box is decayed from decades of uses, this allows the reader to come to the conclusion that the lottery, just like the box, is ancient and flawed. “There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here” (par 6). In this line Jackson shows that, like the box, the tradition being practiced is only pieces of what it originally

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.

Shirley Jackson 's 'The Lottery ', is a story that is filled with symbolism. The author uses symbolism to help her represent human nature as tainted, no matter how pure one thinks of himself or herself, or how pure their environment may seem to be. The story is very effective in raising many questions about the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. 'The Lottery ' clearly expresses Jackson 's feelings concerning mankind?s evil nature hiding behind traditions and rituals. She shows how coldness and lack of compassion in people can exhibit in situations regarding tradition and values. Jackson presents the theme of this short story with a major use of symbolism. Symbolism shows throughout the setting of 'The Lottery, ' the objects, the peoples actions, and even in the time and the names of the lucky contestants.

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a story of an unusual town caught in a trap of always following tradition, even when it is not in their best interest. Jackson uses symbols throughout the story that relate to the overall theme. This helps the reader clearly understand her main message. Jackson uses setting, tone and symbols to convey a theme to her audience. By doing so she creates significant connections to the theme using old man Warner and the black box as examples.