The Challenges Of Jack Whittaker

When most people play the lottery today, they think about having wealth. Generally, people who win are happy about it whether they win one dollar or a million. The lottery in our society has grown to support education and it is often worth several million dollars. Usually, the winner of the lottery gains a lot of recognition for the money they win. But what would happen if there was a small town where people held a yearly lottery in which the “winner” was the member of the town who was not sacrificed? This question is answered in Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery.” In reading this story, and reading literary criticism about the story, there were many symbols and much symbolism in this story.

Shirley Jackson’s use of characters is very detrimental to keeping the theme of the story lively. Whether they play a minor or significant role to the story each character reveals a lot of information about the tradition of the lottery and its intentions, varying from subtle to obvious details. One of the most important characters is Old Man Warner, an elderly man who is very conservative about the preservation of this tradition He holds it dearly to his heart, despite the fact that this tradition is slowly deteriorating in villages around him. Old Man Warner represents the stubborn nature of all the townspeople who are reluctant to

Summers stating he is glad that one lady has a man to participate, and Mrs. Hutchinson is told to be a good sport. When a group of men starts discussing towns that have given up the lottery, they state those towns would go barbaric and live in caves (Jackson 240). Also, Patrick J. Shields states in “Arbitrary Condemnation and Sanctioned Violence in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery,’’ “[o]ld man warner is the elder of the community and has survived 77 lotteries. He views them as a necessary and good (Shields 415).” This is ironic since a stoning is primitive and not a positive event for a town to hold; thus, stopping the lottery would do the opposite. Also, Mr. Summers states briefly”’[g]lad to see your mother’s got a man to do it’’’ (Jackson 239). This is outrageous since the husband probably died from the lottery. Therefore, being all pretentious about this in uncalled for. Finally, when the Hutchinsons are selected, Tessie states the lottery is unfair; shortly after Mrs. Delacroix tells her to be a good sport (Jackson 241). Although Mrs. Delacroix probably just does not want the lottery to be done again, so she does not possibly get selected. Therefore, this story shows verbal irony when the men discuss the lottery, the boy pulls for his mother, and Mrs. Hutchison being told to be a good

One can say that there are certain demons that inhabit the closest people in your life, such as betrayal and jealousy to protect themselves. To shed more light on this, in the short story “The Lottery” stated that, “And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles" -- and closes in on her” (Jackson). As I read this section of the story, I strongly believe that money tends to destroy the strong bonds one has with their own family members. Furthermore, after seeing a movie clip of this story, I seen Davy Hutchinson and Mr. Hutchinson moving away from Mrs. Hutchinson in a clam way, they had no expression in their face that made them look hurt after what was going to happen to Mrs. Hutchison (Jackson, Rando). I think that Jackson was showing us that your own family turns against you and that cruel things would continue to happen in life. In addition, Jackson is trying to say that winning is not always a positive thing or it’s not guaranteed a happy

The fact that he has participated in the lottery seventy seven times it has become a way of life for him. The lottery has become a part of him. Just like everyday people the use of a cell phone becomes part of us. If someone asked to get rid of this device the people would go into an uproar. Old Man Warren’s motivation is to continue the lottery for as long as he lives. As it is a way of life, and a way to produce a bountiful crop.

In “The Lottery” Old Man Warner warns against not having a lottery. He says that there, “Used to be a saying about Lottery in June, corn will be heavy soon.” He also wishes for things to stay the same, as bad as they might be. In contrast, Mrs. Adams tries talk about the possibility of ending the lottery. Instead of trying to end the lottery, when the stoning of Tessie Hutchinson occurs, Mr. Adams is the head of the crowd.

The lottery offers a wonderful opportunity to possibly win millions of dollars. While this might seems amazing, it might not be as wonderful as imagined. In fact, maybe even the opposite might true as stated by numerous studies and research done since the 1970s.

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Old man Warner plays a significant role in “The Lottery” considering he is one of the main symbols. Old man Warner is the oldest man in the town, and has participated in seventy seven of the lotteries. Mr, Warner represents the tradition of the lottery in his

Old Man Warner is the epitome of the lottery and its tradition. He is the oldest man in town, having participated in seventy-seven lotteries total. As a steadfast advocate for keeping things exactly how they stand and someone who is threatened by the idea of change, he distinguishes all the towns and the young people who have stopped pursuing the lottery as a “pack of crazy fools” (Jackson, 27). He is trapped within the past traditions, even if they should not sustain. Being the antagonist, Old Man Warner does not veer away from the tradition, even though many others do not agree with it.

In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson writes about the game lottery, which makes the story very ironic. Unlike all of the other Lottery games, in this traditional version no one wants to be chosen, because that brings them the end of their life. Jackson explains how keeping up with some traditions that are part of people’s life, may not be the best choice to embrace a particular culture. Jackson uses the Lottery as an example to express her idea about the ethical issues such as; violent murder, harming people, forcefully following a tradition, and lying. All of these ethical issues are created by blindly following tradition in “The Lottery.”

Andrew Wyeth was born July 12, 1917 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of five children. Andrew was a sickly child and so his mother and father made the decision to pull him out of school after he contracted whooping cough. He received schooling in all subjects including art education.

     By using the heads of households in the initial round of the lottery, the blame could be passed off to him. The eldest men, and only the men were supposed to draw from the first round as expressed by ?Don?t you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?? (Jackson 368) and ?Glad to see your mother?s got a man to do it.? (Jackson 368) were responsible for their families and the man who drew the

In Shirley Jackson's, "The Lottery", human morals and values are thrown away all for the pride of winning something. What is it that they really win? When you win the lottery in this story, you actually win death by stoning. Isn't that ironic, people actually being competitive and getting excited about death in public. What morals or values do these people really have, and how are they different from what common society is thought today?

One by one the men draw for their family’s chance at the lottery (Jackson, 250). The tension is so thick, one could not help but anticipate the grandest prize (Jackson, 250-251). A prize that would change the life of the winner forever, most certainly. It would stand to reason this is a subtle tap on the shoulder regarding how greedy we have become as a society.