Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery' Essay

“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” (Twain). The Lottery begins during the summer. A small, seemingly normal, town is gathering to throw the annual “Lottery”. In the end, the townspeople—children included—gather around and stone the winner to death, simply because it was tradition. The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective. “I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (Jackson). As humans develop as a race, their practices should develop with them. Shirley Jackson develops the

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the small village, at first, seems to be lovely, full of tradition, with the townspeople fulfilling their civic duties, but instead this story is bursting with contrast. The expectations that the reader has are increasingly altered. The title of this short story raises hope, for in our society the term “lottery” typically is associated with winning money or other perceived “good” things. Most people associate winning a lottery with luck, yet Jackson twists this notion around and the luck in this village is with each of the losers.

Jackson’s story takes a critical look at what can result when the customs and laws that govern society go unchallenged. She sets up the story by showing that the townspeople are quite normal. They attend the lottery while having everyday discussions about the mundane topics of life, such as taxes, food, and housework. Nevertheless, they

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.

In the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson the change in tone shifts over time starting with a gleeful and sunny beginning turning to a ghastly and horrifying story towards the resolution. The author shifts her tone in order to make a more dramatic ending that will stick with the reader, the ending transforms the short story from realism to symbolism so that the readers can further use this story in a real world context.

Within every short story the setting plays an important role, although in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson the setting also serves an ulterior purpose. Jackson tells the story of a small American town which goes through a very unique tradition. The town conducts a lottery and ironically, the winner gets stoned. The setting serves as a strong aspect contributing towards the greater picture of the story. The setting displays that things are not always as they seem. The theme of “The Lottery” is that although societies may appear to be civilized, they possibly could have very immoral values and customs. Jackson develops this through the setting particularly the physical, social and temporal settings.

Shirley Jackson’s famous short story, “The Lottery,” was published in 1948 and remains to this day one of the most enduring and affecting American works in the literary canon. “The Lottery” tells the story of a farming community that holds a ritualistic lottery among its citizens each year. Although the text initially presents audiences with a close-knit community participating in a social event together on a special day, the shocking twist at the work’s end—with the death of the lottery’s “winner” by public stoning—has led to its widespread popularity, public outcry and discussion, and continued examination in modern times (Jackson). One potential critical theory that can be applied to Jackson’s “The Lottery” is the reader-response

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

The first literary element of this story is the point of view, and how the writer uses a third-person narrative style to tell this story. This gives the writer the ability to give details, but not make any real judgments. When you read the story you feel as if you are there watching what is happening, looking over the shoulders of the crowd, but not able to know what the people are thinking. In this story we get an example of how the writer is detached in a way. We don’t get to know what the characters are feeling just what their actions are telling us, like when they choose to whisper instead of talking at normal volume, or how nervous they seem as the lottery progresses. This writing style leaves little if any room to get attached to a character. This however is a smart move by Jackson, because if the story was told from a villager’s point of view it could have been far less effective. When we read we just read about the events of the lottery unfolding. This narrative point of view adds to the shock factor when we find out

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

Three specific examples of how setting influenced the actions and attitudes of the characters are: The isolation from a civilized world, the mysteries of an unfamiliar place, and different social types being forced to live with one another. How these examples are to be proven will be developed in the following paragraphs.

There are three elements of setting including place, time and social background. Place is where the story took place including the county or something simple like a city place such as a national park. Time is the time the story is taking place it could be a specific season, or a specific time period. Social background refers to how the character was raised including any ethical beliefs that make the character the character. “The Chrysanthemums”, “The Lottery” and “Sonny’s Blues” all have these three sets of elements.

     The setting influences the inherent evil of man because it set the mood for the characters behaviors. The unsupervised island played a major role in the decay of civilization and the return to primitiveness. ("This is an island. At least I think its an island. Perhaps there aren’t any grownups anywhere." P.7). For the Townspeople the time of year for the lottery is an uneasy time where a great deal of suspense builds up all around them. ("the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them."P.291). All tucker needed to end

The setting in any story creates an atmosphere where the audience can be drawn in. An author may choose to use the setting of a story to allow the audience a detailed visual or the setting may be used to distract the reader. Setting is a very important aspect in any story and that is very true in the two short stories that are about to be shared. “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson and “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, by D.H. Lawrence provide two contrasting uses of Setting in a short story which accentuate the importance of the element in a story. One author has the ability to distract the reader, while the other author creates the structure of the story. “The Lottery” is a short story about an event that takes place annually in a small town in New England; it is not a lottery for money but that of death. In short, it is a lottery for stoning a member of the town. The people of the town gather at a designated area and perform a customary gesture that has seemed to be going on for years. The people of the town are almost joyful, and have a blissful attitude while they sort through the process, and once a member is identified,

One way the setting has an impact involves the characters. For example, it is so important for Jerry to swim through the tunnel. He wanted to be with the older boys and be grown up. Every day on his vacation he would tell himself something very specific. “On the day before they left, he would do it.” (4) Jerry kept reminding himself that he must go through the tunnel. He never gave up practicing swimming to the tunnel, but always kept trying. Even though there are times where he left like he is not going to make it. Another example is even though Jerry is alone, he still wanted to make sure his mother is alright. “There she is, a speak of yellow under an umbrella that looked like a slice of orange peel”. (2) When Jerry swam out into the deepness, he could see his mother because then the rocks are less in the way. Jerry likes knowing that his mother is there for him when he needs her, and that she is okay. The final example about the setting