Summary Of The Devil And Miss Prym

In various stories, the authors often use literary devices to express feeling and thought and to distinguish their stories from others. At times, similar patterns can be found once critically examined instead of simply being read. In two stories, The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the main idea is the sacrifice of one person in a village and how other villagers are affected by it. In The Devil and Miss Prym, barmaid Chantal Prym meets “stranger” Carlos when he visits the village searching for answers. In “The Lottery”, the villagers have an annual drawing to rid of one of their own as tradition. While comparing and contrasting both stories, one can begin to see apparent types of conflict,

There are many people that are terrible villains who deserve to be on the devil’s jury pool, and there are many so-called villains that do not belong on the devil’s jury pool. The story that talks about people on the devil’s trials is called “ The Devil and Daniel Webster”. The author of the short story is Stephen Vincent Benet and the genre of the story is a fantasy. The short story’s main character is a lawyer named Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster defends a man in court named Jabez Stone. Daniel Webster is protecting Jabez by going on trail against the devil. The judge of the trail is John Hathorne. The trail was rigged against Webster because, the judge was the executor of the Salem Witch Trials. The

The lottery went on just like all other activities in the town. Mr. Summers leads the town in this yearly activity. Each family member is required to draw a slip of paper from a designated box. If the slip of paper has a black dot on it, that person wins the lottery. The reader is tricked into thinking this is a good win, but this is not the case. The lottery ends with a fatality in which the townspeople readily and willingly stone one of their own people. This demonstrates the good vs. evil characterization in this story. In “The Most Dangerous Game,” Connell uses General Zaroff to set the stage for a friendly act of hunting. He and Rainsford have a friendly chat about hunting before the General reveals to Rainsford that he wants to use him for his prey. Rainsford accepts his challenge and runs into the woods and prepares himself for what he thinks is a friendly game of hunting. The good vs. evil in this story is clearly portrayed in the end when it also ends in a fatality.

Then there is the actually lottery, were the drawings of a ticket by a villager. Just like a lottery this person is responsible to receive there “winnings”. After everyone, raffles out there sheet of paper, there is a ritual performed were families gather. Then the family members have to draw their numbers. Finally, Tess Hutchinson receives the winnings; a piece of paper with a black dot present. We soon realize that in fact, this is no winning at all; the black dot is a sign of death. To be stoned by the villagers of the town to keep ritual alive. End of story!

The Lottery is another story of a seemingly perfect town that sacrifices one for the sake of many, but in this instance, the sacrifice is in vain because it is just a superstitious tradition. The citizens of this town were blinded by tradition and rituals of the town even though many have forgotten why they do the lottery. Jackson shows this when she wrote, “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” (The Lottery 1). It likens these common and cheerful events such as dances and Halloween programs to the sacrificing of an innocent person to better their year. The village seemed so calm and peaceful, but they were still inclined to sin and did not feel much guilt when stoning. The Lotter depicts a dystopian society because a person is being immorally killed every year and no one is stopping it. The event has become dull and repetitive but is still being followed by the families in The Lottery. This theme is very common in dystopian societies and is shown in the evilness of the Lottery.

Shirley Jackson exploits a true form of human nature in this story. The lottery, a deadly tradition, is a draw for death. The selfish need to survive is shown by all the townspeople, who stone the chosen one to death, be it their friend or family, with only the thought that they themselves survived. Every lottery, the people look at the black box, and desperately hope that they aren’t chosen. It is a gruesome reminder of what they have witnessed and taken part of; the murders of innocent

Tess’s tone in her last words before being stoned is desperate and hysterical, because she knows that her protests will not result in anything but death. The black box used in the lottery each year isn’t something that the reader would usually associate with a happy lottery. The box is described as, “shabby…splintered…faded and stained,” yet no one in the community wants to replace it because, “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” The color black symbolizes the savage and evil nature of the lottery as well as the townspeople’s participation in it and the shabbiness of the box indicates how outdated the tradition truly is. Like the lottery, the box is well worn with its real purpose lost, and the townspeople are extremely reluctant in letting it go, even getting defensive when the idea of it is brought up. After the stoning of the “winner” occurs, the townspeople go on with their lives as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. The lottery takes less than two hours so that the townspeople could, “…get home for noon dinner,” immediately following the execution. The normalcy of the lottery to the townspeople is horrifying and all throughout the story everyone seems ok with this evil tradition, children are shown laughing and their parents, gossiping and talking about work. When Tess Hutchinson chooses the paper slip with a black dot making her the “winner”, Bill Hutchinson, her husband, as

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.

Many of the small, undetected details throughout “ The Lottery” seem to foreshadow a disturbing ending to the story. In the beginning of the story children gather around and form piles of stones in the time square. This comes off as very child-like and innocent and does not lead the reader to feel any way suspicious about these children’s purpose for piling the stones. The real purpose of the stones is obviously is revealed toward the end of the story. Tessie seems to show up late to the lottery, which kind of shines a light on her, and makes her stand out from the crowd. Mr. Summers makes a comment on how they were going to have to start the lottery without

In “The Lottery”, author Shirley Jackson portrays the importance of violence and inhumanity that is being shown throughout the community and how the townspeople play a major roll in it. Shirley Jackson believes that violence is huge within this community and she also believes that the community isn’t aware of their actions. Every year on June 27th, the community gathers at the town's square to attend the lottery. The folks who run this lottery are Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves (The Postmaster). Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves will randomly announce names from the lottery box. If the name announced was on the paper the family member selected, then the audience would throw stones at them until they were dead.

The conflict of the story is when Tessie disagrees with the tradition of the lottery. Things begin to change when the Mr. Summers chose the paper that said Tessie. Tessie’s husband took the paper out of Mr. Summers hand and saw that it was marked with a black dot. He soon realizes that the Mr. Summers had chosen the victim already. The result was that the Tessie was stoned to death.

As the plot of the stories unfolds, the greater influence of violent tensions become evident. In The Lottery, people follow the tradition despite its cruelty and absurdity. Although the ritual of the lottery is brutal, the dwellers of the village do not seem to see how barbaric it is because “there’s always been a lottery” (Jackson, 1982, p. 118). Nevertheless, the tensions grow when the lottery begin and every citizen is awaiting for its end. The climatic moment of the story grows when the reader discovers that Tess

All the towns people get together on June 27 in the middle of the town square for the drawing of the lottery. The townspeople the lottery is just like any other town gathering like a holiday program, school play, or a dance. Mr. Summers is the person in charge of the lottery; she has to gather the information from all the townspeople about their households the day before the lottery to make a list for the next day. He places papers in a box and mixes them around with one paper with a black dot on it. The townspeople pick out a piece of paper, but only the head of the house which is in most cases the husband. The family that draws the black dot has to then draw once again to see who will lose in their specific household. Unfortunately the person in the family that draws the dot will be stoned to death. This tradition of the town takes place every year and everyone is forced to participate in the lottery. Traditions are hard to break or stray away from; especially in this specific story.

Carol F. Karlsen was born on December 15, 1940. The location of where she was born is unknown. Karlsen received her B.A. degree from the University of Maryland in 1970, her M.A. degree from New York University in 1972, and her Ph.D. degree from Yale University. She was a professor of history at the University of Michigan and a professor of history and women’s studies in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. She retired from teaching on May 31, 2011. Other books written by Karlsen are The Journal of Esther Edwards Burr, 1754-1757 and The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A History in Documents. The time period of the book The Devil in the Shape of a Woman was during the 1600’s and 1700’s. The

there is quiet conversation between friends. Mr. Summers, who runs the lottery, arrives with a black box. The original box was lost many years ago, even before Old Man Warner, the oldest person in the village, can remember. Each year Mr. Summers suggests that they make a new box, but no one is willing to go against tradition. The people were willing to use slips of paper instead of woodchips as markers, as the village had grown too large for the wood chips to fit in the box. A list of all the families and households in the village is made, and several matters of who will draw for each family are decided. Mr. Summers is sworn in as the official of the lottery in a specific ceremony. Some people remember that there used to be a song and salute as part of the ceremony, but these are no longer performed. Tessie Hutchinson arrives in the square late because she has forgotten what day it was. She joins her husband and children before the lottery can begin. Mr. Summers explains the lottery’s rules: each family will be called up to the box and draw a slip of paper. One of the villagers tells Old Man Warner that the people of a nearby village are thinking about ending the lottery. Old Man Warner laughs at the idea. He believes that giving up the lottery would cause nothing but trouble, and a loss of civilized behavior. A woman responds that some places have already given up the lottery. Everyone finishes drawing, and each