The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

On the surface, Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” reads as a work of horror. There is a village that holds an annual lottery where the winner is stoned to death so the village and its people could prosper. Some underlying themes include: the idea that faith and tradition are often followed blindly, and those who veer away from tradition are met with punishment, as well as the idea of a herd mentality and bystander apathy. What the author manages to do successfully is that she actually uses the names of historical figures to add to the underlying themes of the story. Some names include the Puritan spiritual advisor Anne Hutchinson, who is banished for speaking out against Christian beliefs and traditions, the founder of

What is the difference between superstitions and traditions? «The lottery» by Shirley Jackson provides a good example how superstitions of people from a tiny town affect on those traditions. This story shows dark side of Humanity. Whole community entrusts their life with a small black box. The allegory can confuse you, because the main purpose of the «lottery» is kill one of the citizens for a strange false belief. To my mind, the author tried to explain why new generation sometimes shouldn’t continue the weird and cruel traditions.

In some ways, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson could be seen as controversial. Within the first paragraph, we are left with two main questions; “what is the lottery?” and “why does it happen?” A major theme that answers the first question is all about tradition. Yes, the lottery is a tradition in many towns. No one has ever questioned this tradition, even though it is quite inhumane. In all honesty, you could compare this story very well to The Hunger Games just because of what this tradition consists of. Imagine being in a town of around three hundred people and having your life put on the line. The lottery itself comes down to all of the townspeople meeting up, and each family name is read by Mr. Summers, and the head of the family

Jackson uses Old Man Warner as the town's consistent reminder of the origins and sanctity of the lottery and strongly blockading the community of change. His name refers to his constant warnings of what could come of losing the lottery and not respecting the tradition. After participating in

The author of “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson decided it was important to write this short story in order to inform the readers about another dimension, where a certain common tradition gets prized with something obscure. Some readers can be shocked when reading this story, because they might be surprised and even shocked with the themes that play along in the storyline. This short story “The Lottery” was so controversial at the time, because in the date it was published in June 24, 1948 there were so many themes from the stories that could relate to past events or even event that were taking place at the time.

“The Lottery” was written in 1948 by Shirley Jackson. Mrs. Jackson, born in 1916, was known for her tales of horror and supernatural novels. She and her literary critic husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman lived in a little town called Bennington, Vermont. Mrs. Jackson was not accepted by the town. Her novels, especially “The Lottery”, revealed the dark side of human nature. Stephen King honored Shirley Jackson by dedicating his book Firestarter to her.

The people stoning Mrs. Hutchison are not only symbolic of religion, but the community’s connection to this act of murder. Stoning is prevalent throughout the history of Christianity. The stones are used to represent an ancestral way of committing murder or expelling someone. This further reinforces just how dependent this community is on their past. In the stoning, everyone is encouraged to participate from young to old as “someone gave little Davy Hutchison few pebbles” (Jackson 7). From a young age, these people are taught that their tradition is morally acceptable and absolutely necessary. Through the act of stoning, killing someone becomes a group effort and therefore no single person can take on the blame. Their morals can be more subdued if there is less for them to feel guilty towards. With this in mind, no one is observed refraining from stoning Mrs. Hutchison. However, with the huge crowd, they could likely decide against it and no one would be aware.

Throughout the work of Langston Hughes, and the documentary film, “The Lottery”, you find many similarities, and differences from today’s society and acceptance of black Americans. In today’s society these works and many others of the Harlem Renaissance era still hold true, but the most important is the African Americans reliance on God.

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.

Jackson states that Mr. Summers is pitied because he has no children and his wife is a scold using irony. "People were sorry for him because he had no children and his wife was a scold" (Jackson 1). The author introduces Mr. Summers through lack of detail, characterizing him as enigmatic, like the box, and also dull. In "The Lottery", having more children is a benefit to the family. The more children a family has, the less of a chance each family member has of being picked. In the twisted society illustrated by "The Lottery", women seemingly exist only to clean and produce children for their husbands. Only because he is a man, Summers, an ordinary villager, is promoted to a position higher than anyone else. His wife, on the other hand, is looked down upon because she had no children. Felix Oehlschlaeger’s critique, entitled “The Stoning of Mistress Hutchinson: Meaning and context in ‘The Lottery’”, describes society in Jackson’s short story as “The woman who is without children is dismissed as a ‘scold,’ a challenge to male authority. The childless man, on the other hand, is elevated to a place of special responsibility and even sanctity…” (Oehlschlaeger 1). This quote clearly shows the extent of male control on society. Oehlschlaeger differentiates the female from the male in Jackson’s short story by acknowledging that the female is only used for childbearing and housework,

This day is also known as St, John’s day, but this date changes depending on the culture. The Christian church chose June 24 as the day they celebrate for St. John the Baptist. Each name that Jackson used throughout the story plays a really big part in “The Lottery”. Jackson uses Symbolic names to indicate and foreshadow what will happen at the end of the story after they finish the lottery. The first name mention in “The Lottery “Mr. Summers” is the name of the main guy who is in charge of the lottery. This lotter is on June 27th which it takes place during the summer and Mr. Summer’s assistant is “Mr. Graves” which means that there will be a grave in the summer. A grave is a place of burial for a dead body, typically a hole dug in the ground and marked by a stone or mound. The third symbolic name mentioned in Jackson’s “The Lottery” is Delacroix. Delacroix is a French surname that derives from de la Croix (“of the Cross”). The lottery finished and everyone is picking up stones, “Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands” (Jackson’s

Mr. Summers seems to be very cheerful and joyous at times, and his name represents the time of year where people tend to be most light-hearted. He is later revealed to be one of the prominent figures of the lottery as he prepares the slips and draws them from the black box. Old Man Warner is an older gentleman who has participated in seventy-seven lotteries. He cautions the people of the other villages who have decided not to continue the lottery. His name symbolizes his nature of warning the village of the dangers of not continuing the lottery. Mr. Harry Graves is the postmaster who helps Mr. Summers get ready for the lottery. His last name exemplifies the danger and impending outcome of “The

“It isn’t fair, it isn’t right!” screamed Tessie Hutchinson before she was stoned to death (Jackson). “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, is a short story about a village that has an annual lottery; however, in this lottery, one does not win the typical million dollar prize. They win death. Mr. Summers, the man who organizes the lottery, calls each family, up to a box to draw papers. All the papers are blank, but there is one paper with a single, black dot on it. The family that draws the paper with a black dot marked in the middle draws a second time to see which individual, within that family, will be stoned to death. The family that is unfortunately selected is the Hutchinson family. This means that there are five potential victims: Mr. Hutchinson, the husband/father, Tessie Hutchinson, the wife/mother, Nancy Hutchinson, the daughter, Davy Hutchinson, the youngest son, and Bill Hutchinson Jr., the eldest son. After they all select papers, Tessie Hutchinson is stoned to death for drawing the only marked paper. The time period in which Shirley Jackson lived suggests a psycho-analytical reading of “The Lottery” because the actions of the village reflect an everyman for himself, or mob, mentality.

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.”

The author uses symbolism to show and foreshadow the event after the lottery happens. For instance, the name “Delacroix,” in French meaning of “Of the cross,” which the author draws the readers’ attention when she says that the villagers mispronounced the name as “Dellacroy.” Jackson is giving the audience a hint by using the religious symbol of a Christian, which helps audience unify that the story relates to torment, torture, and death. Mrs. Delacroix appears several times in the story as a friend of the main character, Tessie Hutchinson, yet she turns on Mrs. Hutchinson and helps the townspeople kill her at the end. “Mr. Summers” and “Mr. Graves” are other characters who also have symbolic names in the story. Mr. Summer is the owner of the coal business and the conductor of the lottery; his name is representing the lottery itself because the event takes place every summer. Mr. Graves is the town mailman, also Mr. Summer’s assistant in the ceremony selecting the winner of the lottery. The author’s cautious way of putting the hint by using the names “Mr. Graves” and “Mr. Summers” which reveal that there will be a death during the summer. Jackson carries the idea of symbolism in seasons to symbols in