The Lottery Analysis

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

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.

Another message that Jackson illustrates is the blind following of tradition and how that can be a terrible thing. All the members of the community participate in this horrible act because it is a tradition. The people believe that if it is a tradition it then the lottery must not be a bad thing. When Old Man Warner heard that some communities had stopped the lottery he called them a “pack of crazy fools.” He said, “There’s always been a lottery.”(247) Jackson shows how a tradition can be so brutal yet everyone will go with it because it’s in fact tradition. To go against tradition would be to go against the community, so no one is willing to do that. Jackson shows the long running tradition when the black box that is used to hold the slips of paper never changes. It shows the inability for change in the community.

The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson, is about a small town that dedicates a day to killing one person from the town by stones. The head of the household each draw a paper from the box and whoever receives the one with the black dot, their family has to draw again. Whichever family member has the black dot, essentially wins the lottery. One character in the story, Old Man Warner, has survived each lottery that has happened. Warner has a lack of guilt and claims the lottery should be an occurrence each year. The mention of discontinuing the lottery irritates Warner. “‘Pack of crazy fools,’ he said… ‘There’s always been a lottery…’” (Jackson). He also expresses his dislike for the lack of seriousness when he comments on Mr. Summers, a man “who had the time and energy to devote to civic activities” (Jackson), joking around with the crowd. Perhaps the reason Old Man Warner is accepting towards this event is because this is the “Seventy-seventh year [he][has] been in the lottery” (Jackson). He also comments on how the people have changed. Exclaiming “‘It’s not the way it used to be… People ain’t the way they used to be’” (Jackson). Warner feels no remorse towards the lottery and believes it should continue as a tradition.

Through use of having community events, celebrating traditions, and repeating the traditions, Shirley Jackson is able to prove that the townspeople are not as cruel as the audience may think. They have many community gatherings that are happy, unlike the lottery. “Jovial man” Mr. Summers conducts the lottery, “the square dances, the teenage club, and Halloween program.” It is very obvious that Mr. Summers, is not a bad man, so he cannot, and should not be blamed for the lottery. Shirley Jackson is trying to prove that although the lottery itself is bad, the people who participate in it are not. Even though the lottery appears to be horrid, Jackson attempts to make the town look civil and human. All the town does the lottery so that they can have good crops that season. The saying goes “lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” People are considered “crazy fools” if they do not continue with the lottery. Jackson tries to show that the people who second guess the lottery are not popular with some people in town. Also if the town has a bad crop year townspeople will probably blame the doubters. The townspeople have always had a lottery, so it is unknown what would happen if they decided to skip it. Old Man Warner is the town’s oldest townsperson, and he is most experienced with the lottery. No one‒Old Man Warner included‒ ever remembers a time where there was not a lottery. “There’s always been a lottery”

How do our relationships with others define who we are? Others affect us greatly. The people who surround us everyday have a great impact on our own life. Friends and family are the people who create you, and are part of the reason of who you are today. For example, when there’s a new trend, or when someone says a mean comment, you might change something about you at one point or another. Who affects your life?

Society today sees the lottery as an easy way to win a ginormous amount of cash just by buying a little slip of paper with a combination of numbers. The irony that Shirley Jackson uses in her short story, The Lottery, is used to the extreme by not only the title being ironic, but also within the story. The lottery is seen as a way to gain cash, but the ironic part of the title is that the reader sees it and thinks that the story will be about someone winning a big prize, yet the winner is sentenced to being stoned to death. Within the story, Shirley Jackson writes about how one member of the community ultimately chooses who wins the lottery. Another ironic thing about someone chooses the winner is that one of the communities sons picked his own father to win the lottery. Linda Wagner-Martin analyzes The Lottery and its irony by writing, “Bringing in the small children as she does, from early in the story (they are gathering stones, piling them up where they will be handy, and participating in the ritual as if it were a kind of play), creates a poignance not only for the death of Tessie the mother, but for the sympathy the crowd gives to the youngest Hutchinson, little Dave. Having the child draw his own slip of paper from the box reinforces the normality of the occasion, and thereby adds to Jackson's irony. It is family members, women and children, and fellow residents who are being killed through this orderly, ritualized process. As Jackson herself once wrote, "I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village, to shock the story's

The short story, “The Lottery by Shirley Jackson”, shows how scapegoatism forms violence and cruelty behind the story's structural character Old Man Warner. Warners meaning towards the stoning was that one had to have a connection with fertility in order to have successful crop growth. Warners behavior towards the ritual tradition has changed many things from wooded chips to slips of paper to the black box symbolizing death, and continuing to use stones in their ritual.

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.

With the historical proximity to World War II, specifically events surrounding the Holocaust, I think Jackson is commenting on the threat groupthink poses to a population. In the story, the town seems content with the lottery, even though it results in something humans tend to be fundamentally opposed to. Additionally, while talking to Mr. and Mrs. Adams, Old Man Warner actively demonizes the towns that have decided to abandon the lottery. In psychology, groupthink generally consists of collective rationalization of actions, such as stoning people to death when they have done nothing to deserve it, and direct rejection of dissenters, like Old Man Warner's words about the other towns. The Lottery represents a textbook example of groupthink,

     Furthermore, Old Man Warner is horrified at the thought of ever stopping the lottery. When another villager speaks of other towns that have done away with the lottery he says, ?Pack of crazy fools? (Jackson 369),and ?Nothing but trouble in that? (Jackson 369)

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson has many themes or message throughout its short story. It deals with blind faith, customs and traditions, the idea of scapegoat, the cruelty of human nature, crowd psychology, and even classic gender roles in many societies.

Jackson story is very similar to Collins. In The Lottery, there is no explanation on why this tradition is necessary or why it has to be done. Jackson does make it clear that she does introduce the oldest character; Old Man Warner is making the statement that “there's always been the lottery” (Jackson). Later on in the story; its mentioned that the other townspeople mentioned in quitting the tradition and Old Man Warner said “ Nothing but trouble in that” (Jackson). Jackson used Old Man Warner’s character and old age to represent the older generations that have a hard time adapting to changes. When Mr. Adams mention quitting the tradition, Old Man Warner’s response was “Pack of crazy fools. Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll want to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live that way for a while. Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, Corn be heavy soon.’ The first thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There’s always been a lottery. Bad enough to see young Joe Summers up there joking with everyone” (Jackson). Old Man Warner’s Character shows how the older generations have a harder time adapting to change. The younger generations usually are the ones who introduce change, which is looked down upon by more of the traditional person. It's interesting the way Jackson made Old Man Warner of the

In modern society innovation is highly valued, while traditions become less prominent. I believe traditions play a critical role in developing genuine and quality characteristics in human beings. Without knowing what is perceived to be good or bad, or having traditions and morals to guide people along the way, these boundaries become obsolete.