The Lottery Essay

Accordingly, "The Lottery" is a tale that is difficult to set aside. It is a story that every reader might feel both love and hatred. The story has the inner power that would probably create an emotion to everyone who plans to read it. In this analysis we will be able to know what figurative language that the author used and the unique theme of the story.

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the small village, at first, seems to be lovely, full of tradition, with the townspeople fulfilling their civic duties, but instead this story is bursting with contrast. The expectations that the reader has are increasingly altered. The title of this short story raises hope, for in our society the term “lottery” typically is associated with winning money or other perceived “good” things. Most people associate winning a lottery with luck, yet Jackson twists this notion around and the luck in this village is with each of the losers.

Within the first few lines of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" we are faced with such adjectives as clear, sunny, fresh and warmth. She goes on to paint a picture of small children just out of school for the summer, as the townspeople gather for the annual Lottery. This leads us to believe that the rest of the story is as cheery as the summer day initially described. We as the readers are virtually unaware of the horrible senseless events that lie ahead. Through the use of symbolism Shirley Jackson reveals the underlying decay of ethics that results from an empty ritual followed by narrow-minded people.

As Tessie’s protests continue and the Hutchinson family prepares to draw again the sense of apprehension is one again mounting, this time fearing for whoever wins yet still not knowing what their “prize” will be. “The crowd was quiet. A girl whispered, ‘I hope it’s not Nancy’”, the silence and fear of the crowds manifests in the reader as the three children and their parents all draw slips of paper. Tessie “wins” the lottery and when the narrator explains “although the villagers had forgotten the ritual, and lost they original black box, they still remembered to use stones” (6) its suddenly shockingly clear to the readers what the winner is to receive. The drastic switch from a light and cheerful tone with talk of the beautiful day and children playing to the closing like of “and they were upon her” (7) is in part why this story is so effective. The unforeseen sinister end of the story makes the revelation of the tradition much more shocking and unsettling than had the reader known from the beginning what the outcome would be. Jackson very effectively builds a sense of apprehension and foreboding as she slowly cues the reader into the reality of the situation.

The short story, “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, shows the different feelings of characters towards the “lottery”. The characters in the story have various thoughts on the “lottery” such as Mrs. Hutchinson who thought that it was not important or serious. What makes Mrs. Hutchinson have a different perspective about this event that everybody else? Her actions shown, provides signs of her opinion in the story. Even though the many villagers have a different feelings, Mrs. Hutchinson’s was unlike the others. She was the only one who felt that way. Other than Mrs.Hutchinson’s emotions, there was a variety of emotions the many other villagers showed. For example, Old Man Warner felt very serious about the “lottery” and that it was a necessary,

In her story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson manages to catch the readers’ attention and ultimately shock them with an unexpected ending; all of which help her emphasize her critique toward the dark side of human nature and the evil that resides, sometimes, in those who we less expect it from. Jackson uses symbolism throughout the story that helps her set the mood and also makes the readers wonder and analyze the senseless violence and cruelty in their own lives.

The third-person point of view in Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery" demonstrates a remarkably unbiased narrator. The storyteller does not inquire into the direction of the minds of the characters or drift into their emotions or feelings. As the story unfolds, the narrator purely acknowledges the development of “The Lottery.” The reader only has information contributed by the outside perception of events in the story, and Jackson uses the narrator to increase the tension of the story. To obtain clues and possible explanations, this type of narration allows the reader to take a more active, committed role in the reading. The direction of the point of view guides the reader as an eyewitness to the story; it is up to the reader to judge the meaning of the physical phenomenon regarding the black box (Jackson 237)

According to Helen E. Nebeker, most acknowledge the energy of The Lottery, admitting that the psychological stun of the ritual murder in a modern, rural small-town cannot be easily overlooked. Virgil Scott, for instance, says, “the story leaves me uneasy because of the author's use of incidental symbolism: the black box, the forgotten tuneless chant, the ritual salute to assure the entire recreation of the procedure of the lottery forget to serve the story as they may have.” At that point, they indicate fundamental weakness by acknowledging that Jackson has preferred to give no answer to her story, but it leaves the meaning to our imagination, allowing a good deal of flexibility in our interpretation, while yet demanding that everything in the story has been obtained to assure us how we are to 'take' the ending events in the story. Maybe the critical conflict depicted above comes from failure to see that The Lottery really intertwines two stories and subjects into a fictional vehicle. The obvious, easily discovered story shows up in the facts, wherein members of a small town meet to decide who will be the next victim of the annual savagery. The symbolic hints which develop into a second, sub rosa story becomes apparent as early as the fourth word of the story when the date of June 27th alerts us to the season of the summertime with all its connotation of ancient ritual. From the symbolic development of the black box, the story shifts quickly to climax.

As the plot of the stories unfolds, the greater influence of violent tensions become evident. In The Lottery, people follow the tradition despite its cruelty and absurdity. Although the ritual of the lottery is brutal, the dwellers of the village do not seem to see how barbaric it is because “there’s always been a lottery” (Jackson, 1982, p. 118). Nevertheless, the tensions grow when the lottery begin and every citizen is awaiting for its end. The climatic moment of the story grows when the reader discovers that Tess

Thesis Statement: The Lottery by Jackson demonstrates how it's possible to neglectfully take after the customs, the estimation of a piece paper and the mystery of the black box. I. The Black Box and the Paper A. The Black Box 1. The black box represents mystery, old-tainted, and tradition (Jackson, 1948) 2.

There are many Americans and people all over the world that live their lives following traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. A tradition can be as simple as cooking a recipe to how you raise your children and holiday traditions. Culture plays a significant role in how people live their day to day lives. In Shirley Jacksons “The Lottery” the people that lived in the town follow a tradition every year. It's easy to understand why Shirley Jackson’s Lottery caused controversy when it was published shortly after World War II in 1948. The Lottery has been dramatized, televised and turned into a ballet. It is taught in high schools and colleges. (Whittier). The Lottery held many questions about traditions that have

The third person limited point of view of “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, strengthens the

Everyone has an understanding on what goes on in life. We all agree in a general sense. Mountains are mountains, and rivers are rivers. The Lottery by shirley jackson has taken this idea to a whole new level. Shirley introduces a culture in which indoctrination has taken over. The lottery might seem like the happiest day in the world to most people, but on June 27th in the local village square an unordinary tradition takes place. Through the allegory The Lottery, Shirley Jackson depicts, through extreme satire, a society that includes Mr. Joe Summers who blindly follows a tradition in which amplifies the theme of indoctrination, even tho he does not believe in it.

The Lottery “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson published in 1948 generated negative reactions and public debates when it appeared in an issue of the New Yorker in June. The story is set in a small rural village in America in the summer of 1948. The short story culminated in a violent murder of people every year in a bizarre ritual. It is these murders that bring out the theme in the story, which suggests the dangers of following traditions blindly. Initially, the villagers and their preparations seemed harmless as they conducted their lottery.

‘’The Lottery’’ is about people in a small town having a Lottery and whoever ‘’wins’’ they get pelted to death by the people in town. Nobody spoke up for Tessie Hutchinson, not even her own family. They believe that if they don’t have The Lottery their crops won’t grow. It’s almost like their sacrificing her so they’ll have a good harvest in the Fall. At the end she said ‘’this isn’t fair this isn’t right’’. She thought she wouldn’t win, she thought she wasn’t