The Lottery Point Of View Analysis

Shirley Jackson is often regarded as one of the most brilliant authors of the twentieth century. Born in San Francisco in 1916, she spent the majority of her adolescence writing short stories and poetry (Allen). While she is known best for her supernatural stories, one of her most popular works is a short story called “The Lottery”. The lottery takes place in a small village in which once a year on June 24th, the town population is gathered. After the gathering, there is a drawing to see which family is chosen, after the family is chosen, another drawing takes place to see who is stoned to death. In the New Yorker's magazine book review hailed “The Lottery” as “one of the most haunting and shocking short stories of modern America and is one of the most frequently anthologized” (Jackson). This review stems heavily from Jackson’s brilliant use of irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing. However, perhaps what truly stands out is how Jackson is able to wrap all of those elements together as a way to show an overarching theme of the corruption that exists in human nature. While the real source of “The Lottery’s” inspiration is unclear, there has been heavy speculation that the roots lie heavily in the actions of the holocaust and the actions that took place during World War II. Regardless of the source material, a general consensus can be made that the plot of the lottery is a dark reflection of human actions.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson was written in 1948. The story takes place in a village square of a town on June 27th. The author does not use much emotion in the writing to show how the barbaric act that is going on is look at as normal. This story is about a town that has a lottery once a year to choose who should be sacrificed, so that the town will have a plentiful year for growing crops. Jackson has many messages about human nature in this short story. The most important message she conveys is how cruel and violent people can be to one another. Another very significant message she conveys is how custom and tradition can hold great power over people. Jackson also conveys the message of

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a story littered with warnings and subtext about the dangers a submissive society can pose. While the opening is deceptively cheery and light Jackson uses an array of symbols and ominous syntax to help create the apprehensive and grim tone the story ends with. Her portrayal of the town folk as blindly following tradition represents the world during World War II when people’s failure to not mindlessly accept and heed authority lead to disastrous consequences. . Shirley Jackson uses a large array of techniques to help convey the idea that recklessly following and accepting traditions and orders can lead to disastrous consequences.

“A stone hit her on the side of the head. "It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her” (34). “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson which, sparked controversy when published in the June 26, 1948 issue of the New Yorker. Jackson used several different literary devices to support her theme that people who don’t question tradition get what they deserve. The literary devices Jackson uses to support the theme of ‘The Lottery’ are irony, foreshadowing, and pacing.

How do our relationships with others define who we are? Others affect us greatly. The people who surround us everyday have a great impact on our own life. Friends and family are the people who create you, and are part of the reason of who you are today. For example, when there’s a new trend, or when someone says a mean comment, you might change something about you at one point or another. Who affects your life?

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)

Shirley Jackson is to be considered one of the best authors of the 1900’s. Her style of writing reeled in readers from all different ages. She can be creepy, hilarious, and inspiring to the eyes that see her words. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, she keeps the reader on the edge of their seat wanting to continue reading beyond the final word. She uses literary devices to shape her story to grab her readers attention all throughout the story. By using these literary devices, Shirley Jackson shows off her dark and twisted side as well as her fantastic writing style to emphasize why she is one of the writers of her generation.

The short story, “The Lottery by Shirley Jackson”, shows how scapegoatism forms violence and cruelty behind the story's structural character Old Man Warner. Warners meaning towards the stoning was that one had to have a connection with fertility in order to have successful crop growth. Warners behavior towards the ritual tradition has changed many things from wooded chips to slips of paper to the black box symbolizing death, and continuing to use stones in their ritual.

Progress is only possible with a change in attitude. In A Teacher’s Rewards, a previous student, Raybe believes he ended up in jail because he is mistreated by his former teacher Miss Scofield. Then, he returns to visit Miss Scofield in order to settle the score. In The Lottery, the town prepares for its annual lottery. However, the winner of the lottery is stoned to death as a sacrifice. In A Teacher’s Rewards by Robert Phillips and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, the authors illustrate that one's flawed perception causes individuals to blindly follow outdated views that cause harm to themselves and to society as a whole.

that farming is a way of life that is handed down from generation to generation,

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" uses the third-person dramatic point of view to tell a story about an un-named village that celebrates a wicked, annual event. The narrator in the story gives many small details of the lottery taking place, but leaves the most crucial and chilling detail until the end: the winner of the lottery is stoned to death by the other villagers. The use of the third-person point of view, with just a few cases of third-person omniscient thrown in, is an effective way of telling this ironic tale, both because the narrator's reporter-like blandness parallels the villagers' apparent apathy to the lottery, and because it helps build to the surprise ending by giving away bits of

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.

Have you ever won the lottery but you actually didn’t win? Well in the story “the lottery” By Shirley Jackson you don’t get the best of it and the same for “first they came” By martin Niemoller! Both “the lottery” and “First they came” deal with stand up for what’s right but they do so in the same way. In “the lottery” people are killed if they win the lottery so “winning” “The Lottery”.

In her short story, “The Lottery”, Sheila Jackson invites us into the square of a small village on a warm summer day (247). It is not just any day. It is the 27th of June; an annually anticipated day for this community (Jackson, 247). The scene is described to depict a pre-technology era, most likely resembling an early American town. They have postal service, a school, and a bank, but no mention of devices, such as telephones, or modern transportation is made. (Jackson, 247). It is possible that the author wanted to represent the very basic elements in our humanity when choosing the setting.

    Often, we paint a fairytale view of life for ourselves and our children. Sometimes, an author paints a frightfully realistic picture of life and forces us to reconsider the fairytale. In Shirley Jackson’s story, "The Lottery," a town each year conducts a lottery in which the winner or looser, in this case, is stoned to death by his or her own neighbors. The tradition is supposed to uphold social structure within the town, but in order to comprehend the true meaning of the story you must be able to read between the lines. "The Lottery" is a story about a town that has let its traditions go too far. Also, it is clear that the story contains eye-opening facts that lead me to