The Lottery By Shirley Jackson: A Literary Analysis

In the first place, The Lottery and The Hunger Games both share the theme of tradition. The lotteries in both stories are annual traditions and have been going on for over seventy years. We know this because Jackson writes “Chips of wood, Mr. Summers had argued. had been all very well when the village was tiny, but now that the population was more than three hundred and likely to keep on growing, it was necessary to use something that would fit more easily into the black box.” In The Hunger Games Collins writes “Ladies and gentlemen, let the seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin – and may the odds be ever in your favor!” Both of these statements tell us that in both stories that these drawings are traditions, and have been going on for a long time. These traditions are both similar, but one difference is that in The Hunger Games they choose twenty kids who fight to the death, and in The Lottery, they only chose one person to stone to death. These traditions are both quite grim traditions should be stopped.

“The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson was written in 1948. Jackson declared her purpose for writing the story was “to shock the story’s readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (pg. 250). The main characters in this story are Mr. Summers who draws the names out of the black box; Mr. Graves the post master that assist Mr. Summers; Bill Hutchinson, Tessie Hutchinson who were chosen in the lottery; and the townspeople. Jackson uses the bright and friendly atmosphere set the tone of the story. The story starts off on a clear and sunny morning on June 27th. It was a beautiful day with the flowers blooming and the grass green in a small little town of 300 people. In this town the townspeople felt strongly about upholding traditions. Tradition is important to small towns, a way to link families and generations. Following traditions blindly is what can turn into something terrible. The lottery was held each year where one person was

The storyline in the popular movie "The Hunger Games", is nothing compared to the events that partake in "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. In "The Lottery", the author employs many literary elements to describe a town's annual ritual. At first glance, the reader may think that the story will be a gleeful one, because many of the townspeople enjoyed and looked forward to the ritual. However, as one reads further, the story progresses into a dark and eerie story. The audience doesn't know the ritual; but through foreshadowing the author provides hints towards the dramatic ending. As the audience reads the story, the theme is also developed by the authors use of foreshadowing.

To begin with, both stories are trying to keep the population down. In “The Lottery,” they have a tradition annually, which is the Lottery, and in the lottery, every year someone from the village gets stoned to death by the lottery, or the raffle. In the story, it states, “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. "It isn't fair," she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, "Come on, come on, everyone." Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers…” This can prove that Tessie Hutchinson was elected to get stoned to death, which displays how every year, someone is killed. In “The Hunger Games,” once yearly, there is a day called Reaping Day, like when someone is selected every year to be killed. In the story

To start with, the lottery itself is a huge symbol. Usually, lotteries are associated with winning money. Whereas, the lottery in this short story has a negative outcome of death. Notably, the lottery is a tradition in the town. Since this event has been taking place for many years, they do not even need to explain the lottery to the villagers. Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, makes a point to everyone that there has always been a lottery. The villagers are loyal to this tradition.

The first technique present in this story is symbolism. Two items are used during the lottery: a black box and stones. In a way, the black box holds each and every persons destiny and fate. The fact that it is black is a symbol of what they ahve witnessed every year: death. Every year, the lottery is taken place and, at the same time, death makes its mark. It comes back to take whoever’s been left behind. Like the old saying “It is always darkest before dawn”, death hangs over them until they have pleased the gods; until they have a lifetime supply of crops. This story brings us into the darker side of the lottery. The side where not everything is as it seems. If it weren’t for the color of the box, it would have been harder to interpret where the story was heading off to. The second items where the stones: “the young boys begin to gather their stones and make a pile in the corner, guarding them like their most prized weapon”. The stones symbolize the beating of a person, in

In The Lottery and The Hunger Game, the drawing lots are traditional conformity. In The Lottery, every June 27th, people of village gather in the square and people join the drawing lots. When the drawing lots are going along, people of village use the black box which use from old times traditionally. In The Hunger Game, all people from each district such as children and adults gather for draw lots every year.

The citizens act differently in the two stories. In The Lottery the citizens are happy and want to play. They don’t worry much about what is going to happen. Mrs. Hutchinson in The Lottery came late to the event, nobody was worried about it, not even her slef. And after the winner is chosen, the citizens are a part of throwing the rocks. In The Hunger Games not everyone wants to play, but the government forces them to. The government has people with guns to escort the winners to the stage. The citizens who do not participate can give the

In the story, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, we are introduced to a story where traditions can be dangerous. It is a warm sunny day, and the time is approaching for the event to occur, the people gather in the town square and prepare for what they know happens every year. Slowly but surely, one by one they draw from the black box and the one that draws the right one, is chosen. The other villagers stone the chosen one to death. Although some readers may think this is just a normal story about a parable, it represents much more than just that. The author portrays a story about an attack on a small-town America. Shirley Jackson gives the reader this understanding by using the elements of irony, foreshadowing and symbolism.

“The Lottery”, in comparison to “The hunger games, are the same in some ways; but in

Footsteps trail behind; blood runs from an open wound, no stopping now. Run. In The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross, Katniss volunteers for her sister during the reaping. The reaping is an event held by the capital where they choose two people from each twelve districts to fight in a life or death match called the hunger games. In The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson, there is an event held called the lottery. Each head of household, usually the husband, chooses a slip of paper out of a black box. The family chosen then does the same thing with each individual person of the family and the person who ‘wins’ gets stoned to death by everyone else in the town. The Lottery and The Hunger Games have differences in the characters and society, but they have similarities like the theme.

There are both similarities and differences between the annual event held in ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘The Lottery’. Although ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘The Lottery’ differ in the purpose of the annual event and the processes that lead to death, annual tradition in both ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘The Lottery’ was cruel and inhumane. To begin with, the purpose of annual event held in ‘The Lottery’ and ‘The Hunger Games’ is different. In ‘The

"The Lottery" (Jackson, pg 163-170) and "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008) are both popular pieces of seemingly like, popular literature. Rituals and rules come into play strongly in both stories. In comparing "The Lottery" (Jackson, pg 163-170) and "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008) I find that both stories focus strongly on their annual rituals of sacrifice with a scapegoat. "The Lottery" (Jackson, pg 163-170) and "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008) have a ceremony, a formal event that brings the town or district together while having no real significance. Both stories also include similar rules, such as the rule that all people living in the town or district must attend the day that the person is chosen.

In society rules are made so no one gets hurt and so that there is a standard of living we can all abide by; however, in The Hunger Games and “The Lottery” the rules are set to do the opposite. The rules made by “the game makers” are in place to cause chaos, death, and fear among the citizens in both stories. A rule of significance in each story is that everyone must be present for the “reaping.” Although each story has different reasons as to why everyone must be present the consequences are implied to be the same. In The Hunger Games the

Both The Hunger Games and The Lottery have an annual event. Although both events differ slightly from one another they share a similarities in their settings. This is seen from both author's description of each event as unfolding at similar times of the day, similar weather, and a nervous tension among the crowd. In The Hunger Games the annual event is called the reaping and is held in ‘the square’ this is described as pleasant place for the whole year except for the day of the reaping, this can be seen from Katniss expressing her frustration that for location of the reaping “It’s too bad, really, that they hold the reaping in the square… one of the few places in District 12 that can be pleasant. The square’s surrounded by shops, and on public market days, especially if there’s good weather, it has a holiday feel to it.” (Pg. 16). In The Lottery the meeting place is also named ‘the square’ which is the place where all the main activities