Theme Of The Lottery

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

The idea of winning a lottery is associated with luck, happiness and anticipation of good things. In Shirley Jackson's story, " The Lottery", this is not the case. The irony of the story is that the winner of the lottery gets stoned to death by everyone else in the town. The story is very effective because it examines certain aspects of human nature.

     The plot as a whole in “The Lottery” is filled with ironic twists. The whole idea of a lottery is to win something, and the reader is led to believe that the winner will receive some prize, when in actuality they will be stoned to death by the rest of the villagers. The villagers act very nonchalant

For example, Jackson describes the weather as clear and sunny. She elaborates on the fact that the flowers are blossoming and that the grass is flourishing. Jackson informs the reader that it is summer and that the children are out of school. She creates an idea of craziness and happiness by describing how the children play with each other. The entire day seems completely normal until it comes to the time for the lottery to take place. As the reader continues to read, the tone becomes dark and heavy. The attitudes of the characters become sour. They know that great pain and sorrow is coming but no one is willing to speak up and stop it; because they are afraid. As he/she is reading the story, the reader becomes aware that the lottery in the story is nothing like the lottery that is known today. Instead of winning money, the winner faces death. Shirley Jackson wrote, “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.” The reader can easily understand that Tessie is afraid and that she believes the lottery is not right. What if one of the villagers stood back and refused to murder Tessie? Maybe the other villagers would also stand up against the lottery and help to put an end to it. It only takes one person to make a difference. Life has a bandwagon effect. When one person does something, whether it is good or bad, it often influences other people to do the same thing. The reader can see that in “The Lottery,” everyone is following each other and they are all doing the same thing, they are killing Tessie, they are following the crowd; and that results in a disastrous consequence, the death of

When a loving, caring, family oriented, women come in conflict with the horrible, despicable, inhumane lottery in a situation in which the town goes together, the results may be a terrible end in a young life. In “The Lottery” written by, Shirley Jackson, the main character Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson’s and the town folk are the main characters of this story. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson uses the use of characterization to portray the main ideas of the story. Shirley Jackson also uses the use of plot structure and the point of view in which the story is being told. The Lottery is a way to make a sacrifice for a good harvest in the upcoming season.

The lottery is usually associated with beating the odds and winning something extravagant. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, the reader is led to believe the story is about something cheerful and happy given the setting of a warm summer day and children out of school for the summer. Jackson turns winning the lottery into a bad thing. Of 300 villagers Tessie Hutchinson shows up late, claiming she forgot about the annual lottery drawing, but seems very excited to have made it on time. When Tessie was in no danger she is gossiping with neighbors and encourages her husband to draw for the winner. Jackson curiously builds up the character of Tessie so that it seems she is blinded by tradition until she becomes a victim of it

            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 theme of crowd psychology is also explored in this story. The villagers believe that since the ritual has been going on for years, it must continue. They follow it without any sense of logic. Though they act sensibly before the lottery, when the time comes, they can do anything in the name of tradition. The psychology of the crowd affects every person’s action. When Mr.

Imagine if one day, you are being left out of the whole school, your friends are forbidden to talk to you and you are sent to do all kinds of embarrassing things as requested. What would it be like? Sally Hanson, a high schooler finds her life completely changed when she becomes the lottery winner of the school year. “The Lottery” by Beth Goobie is a book recommended to read because of the encouraging theme, the author’s writing style and interesting character developments. The story revolves around a highschool girl who overcomes challenges and develops throughout the story.

Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery", ironically gives the lottery a bad meaning. The lottery in this story is used for a public stoning, unlike what would typically come to mind when winning the lottery; a big sum of money. The reader sees both literal and metaphorical meaning of this story because for one it shows for face value what the story is about and hidden behind it is the notion of the scapegoat being picked like a lottery number. The setting of the story in respects to the story's environment served to illustrate the mood of that time in the story.

“The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson and published in 1948. The title of the story initially leads readers to believe the story is going to be about someone winning some kind of prize. Even the opening of the story seems to protest any foul play or cruel behavior. What the reader is introduced to is a seemingly friendly gathering of a small village community, members all gathered around anxiously awaiting their drawing for the lottery. The village members all chatter amongst one another in a tone that kind neighbors would take with one another. To the surprise of the reader, the story provides a shocking twist. The story is not about someone winning a prize. Instead the story reveals

The setting and tone in "The Lottery" are very important aspects that give the reader a sense of where they are and an overall feeling of what the story should be like. At the start, Jackson is very specific in describing the setting of her story. She says "The morning

What does one picture when the word lottery is said? A random selection and a person wins the big prize? Wrong, in the short story “The Lottery” all townspeople gather for a special kind of lottery. Not just any lottery though, one that is quite unique like no other. The townspeople and their families pick up white slips of folded white paper out of a black wooden box. Later to then open them and to find only one has a dark charcoal circle who later gets stoned to death annually.

Personal Response The Lottery “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson presents the theme of tradition to show how harmful it can be if followed without any rationale. My first true impression of what the story was about came from the title, “The Lottery”. It gave me the impression that a genuine lottery was taking place, in that one would ultimately win a sought after reward. This was where my expectations laid and the story appeared to lead this way.

The theme of “The Witch” is that children judge people by their actions while adults judge people by their appearance . In this story a young boy is on a train with his mother and sister. The boy is looking the window telling all of the thing that he is seeing. “I saw a witch” the boy said. The mother would let the words go in one ear and out the other and say,“Fine.”