Theme Of Selfishness In The Lottery

Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. 'It isn't fair,' she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, 'Come on, come on, everyone.' [...]. 'It isn't fair, it isn't right,' Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her (Jackson 6).

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 feelings of uneasiness caused by executions being performed in an arbitrary manner reverberates on several levels. First, we see the characters within the story itself begin to question the necessity of the ritual” (Shields 412-413). There has to be a point where someone could have spoken to reveal the inhumanity of this pugnacious tradition that has plagued the community for more than seventy-seven years. Then again, no, there are no words said about the inhumanity of the violence, until Tessie Hutchinsons’ family gets chosen. She defends her family stating, “You didn't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair!”(Jackson). She then is attacked by her fellow friends, "Be a good sport, Tessie." Mrs. Delacroix called, and Mrs. Graves said, "All of us took the same chance." Mrs. Hutchinson at this point is being very hypocritical; the lottery was fair for all the citizens, so why doesn’t she just go along with the tradition? Would her outbursts have been the same if Mrs. Hutchinsons’ family wasn’t chosen? The final words of Mrs. Hutchinson were "It isn't fair, it isn't right.”

“You didn’t give him time enough to take any paper he wanted! I saw you. It wasn’t fair!” (Jackson 264) Tessie was desperate to get redo and be able to redraw. Another instance that foreshadows the ending was how a girl from the crowd whispered, “I hope it’s not Nancy” (Jackson 265) one of Tessie’s kids, signaling that whoever is the “chosen one” from the Hutchinson family will face something terrible. “Then the stoning begins, turning reality on its head. Because Jackson is so meticulous in grounding us in realistic, specific details, they sharpen the violence and make the ending so incredibly surprising.”

    "The Lottery," a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale about a disturbing social practice.  The setting takes place in a small village consisting of about three hundred denizens.  On June twenty-seventh of every year, the members of this traditional community hold a village-wide lottery in which everyone is expected to participate.  Throughout the story, the reader gets an odd feeling regarding the residents and their annual practice.  Not until the end does he or she gets to know what the lottery is about.  Thus, from the beginning of the story until almost the end, there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the Jackson's effective

Before I start to write this paper, I have to say that I literally like this passage “The Lottery”, because it reflects many of the problems that exist in today’s society. The passage “ Lottery ” has several visible subjects and symbols as well as some that are not easy to find them. I personally found that one of the main subjects to this article is tradition. Later on I figured out that the tone is a very significant element in the article. Shirley Jackson uses the tone in "The Lottery" is not entirely same with the subjects mentioned above. I compared with the previous articles that we have read which was “The One Who walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, he uses a satirical tone to describe utopianism; nevertheless, let’s return to this article, Shirley Jackson uses a very light tone, but at the end of the passage, I can see that there’s a dark ending in the story.

Stamp Paid, a former slave who ferries Sethe and Denver across the Ohio River, tried to take Beloved’s corpse from the mother’s clinging hands and give Denver to her. A mother killing her own child is an act that subverts the natural order of the world. A mother is expected to create life, not destroy it, but with Sethe’s case, she was insane and out of control at that specific moment when she imagined that her child might face the same assault in future. Thus, she prefers to put an end to this situation. On the other hand, we notice that she was very anxious about the feeling of Beloved, her murdered child. She stated, “Do you forgive me? Will you stay? You safe here now”

in the annual stoning until it had directly affected her, “ Tessie Hutchison was in the

Empathy is fundamental to institute showing sympathy and understanding towards other people. The two stories, “The Lottery” and “The Interlopers”, are centered around solidifying how significant empathy is. The authors in both of the stories use specific literary devices to get their message across. The techniques they use include situational irony, characterization, and pacing. Each of these devices help create the mood of their stories, which aids in your understanding of why empathy is vital in human nature.

The short story, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, managed to capture various human tendencies stemming from the very heart of the unalterable human condition. The willingness to follow tradition blindly, the inherent cruelty of humans, and the unwillingness to change were the primary negative behaviors depicted in the story.

Until they realized she had a mutated gene and would eventually endure surgery to become male. The conclusion of filling what Tessie is missing symbolizes the mixed outcomes, because she had gotten what she wanted to begin with, a daughter. But, in the end would not receive what she wanted as her daughter’s surgery would morph her into a son. A person’s need to fill a missing piece may ensue into what they want, but later could morph into what they already have. To find contentment people should not look at what they are lacking, but enjoy what they have.

On the outside, the average human being appears to be kind and friendly, but beneath that shell lies the true characteristics of man. Buried beneath that put on act there is an evil that lies within. This evil is unmasked by the qualities of pride and selfishness. No matter the being, everybody is selfish in his or her own way and concerned mostly with his or her own well-being. This can result in searching for a scapegoat when things turn bad. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” these characteristics of the evil tendency, selfishness, and scapegoating prevail, revealing to the world the dark nature of mankind.

While waiting for Katherine Lincoln’s service to begin, Margaret entered the sanctuary and looked at the number of plants and colorful bouquets. Looking for the ones her daughter sent, Knowing since Stephanie failed to attend the service. She would do something outstanding to overshadow everyone else’s contribution. Finally, Margaret noticed a large, beautiful bouquet of pink roses, with white baby’s breath, and went over to them. She whispered “I’m sure this is the one Stephanie sent. She wants to show off, but

Every year this small town draws names and they conduct a stoning. There is no reason for this event to happen, but it’s a tradition. It’s the worst day of some people’s lives, just like it was going to be for Tessie Hutchinson.

This was because she was trying to change things that had been “perfectly fine” for many years. The villagers take the lottery very seriously, everyone has to participate in them. The children, as young as they may be had to participate, “The children had stones already. And someone had gave little Dary Hutchinson a few pebbles” (53). This example shows that everyone got things done very quickly and they just wanted her to stop whining. It also shows that even from a young age children had to help in the annual stoning. Soon enough, Tessie starts to realize that there is nothing she can do to save herself and the village so she starts to accept her death. When she finally accepts this, the village kills her, “...Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her” (53). The village would not end the tradition. After all, the tradition was very old and special, the ‘winner’ would always be killed no matter what. In the end, Tessie could not get the village to listen to her, because of this she ended up dying and that meant that her motivation meant nothing in the end.