The Lottery Narrative Analysis

Figurative language is a strategy that authors have used over the years to give the reader different perspectives on the piece that they are reading about. In her short Story, “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson writes about a small town that has a tradition known as the lottery. The way that the lottery works, is that there is black box with pieces of paper in it. The pieces of paper have the family names of every family in town. The last name standing then has to go into an elimination round with the people within the family. Each family member draws out of the black box, and the family member that pulls the slip of paper with the black dot gets stoned to death. In her short story, Jackson utilizes symbolism in the form of Old Man Warren, the black box and the pile of stones to demonstrate how tradition can be blinding without even knowing it.

“The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson is a story based off of its point of view, the story would not be told or understood in the same way if it was written in a different point of view. This story keeps the interest of it's readers because it has a point of view where only the people in the story know whats going to happen and know more information than the readers do. If this story was written in first person the readers would know what the lottery was from the beginning of the story and that would make the story not have the surprise ending that confuses the audience.

Another method Jackson uses is making the characters seem excited and joyful. After the kids arrive, the men begin to gather, talking about planting and rain, tractors and taxes, normal everyday topics that men typically discuss. Next, the women begin to arrive, greeting each other and exchanging gossip. The scene Jackson is painting for the reader is of a common, ordinary gathering of the village like a town meeting only with something exciting about to happen. The town people are all standing around waiting for the lottery, talking, laughing, and carrying on. This is all part of the irony of Jackson’s story. Jackson creates these normal, happy scenarios like when Mrs. Hutchinson and Mrs. Delacroix were talking. It says that the two women “laughed softly,” after exchanging a joke (Jackson n.d.). This is another example that Jackson uses to make the reader believe the day is not overly important. The next light hearted segment we see in the text is when Mr. Adams goes to draw from the lottery. Mr. Adams goes to the stand where Mr. Summers is and they greet each other by first name. It concludes this interaction by saying, “They grinned at one another humorlessly” (Jackson n.d.). Jackson makes this drawing so nonchalant that the reader at this point is dying to understand what great reward is awaiting the winner of the lottery. Now the reader finds what the winner of the lottery

Dystopian stories works depict a negative view of "the way the world is supposedly going in order to provide urgent propaganda for a change in direction”. Often these stories have many themes that can relate to the real world. In the dystopian story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, many themes such as false hopes,hypocrisy, ritual, and mob mentality are expressed throughout the story. In the story everyone in a small village gather in the town square for the lottery, whoever gets chosen gets stoned to death by everyone in the town including friends and loved ones. The use of different themes throughout the story relate to the literary devices and universal storytelling elements setting, verbal irony, symbolism, and social cohesion.

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.

            As the story goes on, each the following paragraphs contains subtle clues as to what is going to unfold.  After all of the children have gathered around, the men began to fill the square, followed by the women.  "They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner" (p.422).  The fact that they stood away from the stones, again, informs the reader that the stones will play a significant role.  Nervousness amongst the people is manifested due to the children's reluctance to join their parents in the square.  At this particular moment, there is a feeling that this lottery is not going to have a pleasant outcome.

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)

?The people had done it so many times that they only half-listened to the directions?? The villager?s passiveness towards the lottery shows, not only that they don?t want to be there, but that the lottery is just another task they need to mark off of their to-do lists. In actuality, the lottery is a tuned-way of choosing someone to die, but the villagers are so desensitized to it, that they fancy the lottery as nothing more than an errand that they must complete.

Now for the next summary it will be based on Shirley Jackson” The Lottery”, it takes place on a warm day in June and the villagers is gathering in the town square to participate in the lottery that is hosted by Mr. Summer every year. It starts with the children arriving first who begin to collect stones until their parents come.

The author presents this information in a way to hide the gruesome event that is going to take place. When Jackson describes the kids gathering rocks, she makes it sound more like a game versus a preparation for an awful act. As the story continues, Jackson reveals the anxious tension amongst the crowd. For example, when Jackson Watson was asked if he was drawing this year, the author mentions his nervous blinking and his timid actions (Jackson 239). The story also includes the regretful feelings of Mrs. Dunbar when she stated that she would be drawing for her husband (Jackson 239). This tension is not something the crowd can get over in a day. When two of the housewives gossiped, they mentioned how they had just gotten over last year's lottery (Jackson 240). In society today, winning the lottery is a positive and lucky event in someone's life. After seeing the natural, but worried action shown by each citizen, the reader can infer how negative this lottery is. In this situation, small children are willing to throw stones at their mom, and are happy when they do not have to see the dot on

Do you know anyone who has won the lottery? In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the winner of this small American town’s lottery didn’t win much. The deep, dark theme of this story is all about death of a lottery. This gothic short story provides excellent examples of foreshadowing, suspense, and conflict.

"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.

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 lottery is held by the village members every year in June. Each villager arrives, collecting stones, then gathering together with their family. Their participation is practiced by the villagers and among the years, the tradition has become meaningless over the time. No one appears to know when the lottery started nor does anyone know when it will end. Each villager sees to the tradition as a force of nature, and the people can not even imagine rebelling against it. Therefore, this relates to the theme about how the villagers blindly follow tradition. So, the villagers’ blind acceptance of the lottery allows ritual murder to become part of the town. Consequently, the villagers feel powerless to change so they continue with the lottery

“The Lottery” documents a small village’s voting process for the lottery and the traditions that keep the town close. Some of the main characters are introduced in the initial scene of the townspeople gathering at the town square. The boys in the crowd search for rocks to add to a pile on the side of the square. The schoolgirls of the “village” are standing near them, talking amongst each other. The men of the village came back from work and talked about farming and finance issues farther away from the boys. Then the women, mothers of the children and housewives, emerged from their homes and gossiped before joining their husbands.