The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

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.

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,

In the short story, The Lottery, Jackson tells a rich symbolic story of a little village that practiced the art of sacrificing a person annually, to ensure the success of the cultivation of crops. One of the rhetorical devices that was used heavily was the practice of symbolism throughout the short story. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas and opinions that the author has, and we see a various number of different symbols, be it an object, a name, or possibly even a concept, that can be established, in The Lottery, as the reader tries to make sense of the situation at hand. In The Lottery, Jackson used the name of characters and their actions to symbolize and depict how twisted and hypocritical society is, and also used the objects and the ideas that were practiced in the short story to show the shortcomings of a society that practices outdated and rudimentary traditions that hold no place in a civilized society.

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

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 “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.”

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 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.

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.

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

The characters presented throughout the story have appropriately acquitted names that Jackson has utilized for symbolic purposes. Mr. Summers is one of the first characters introduced with a description, detailed as a “round-faced and jovial man” (Jackson, 283). Jackson has previously used the setting to establish the lottery taking place in the summer-time, and by naming the main character

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 Jackson 's short story “The Lottery”, Jackson tells the story of a small town who is clearly strong about ‘tradition’. The small town, “New Hope”, feels so strong about tradition that they are willing to sacrifice one of their very own citizens annually to keep the tradition alive. Drawing tickets from the ‘black box’ helped indicate who the lucky citizen, from New Hope, was to be sacrificed. The twist to this story is that in fact, New Hope has lost sight of all tradition. The small town decides to make changes to their annual ritual that fits their needs. For example, instead of using chips of wood for the drawings, as done for generations, the town now uses marked sheets of paper. The only “tradition” that the town

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