Stephen L. Carter, an American law professor at Yale University said, “When you shoot someone who is fleeing, it's not self-defense. It's an execution.” In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, townspeople randomly persecute their peers. Victims of the strange tradition are guilty of no transgression other than having drawn a marked slip of paper from a box. The villagers turned against the victim without hesitation; the instant that Tessie Hutchinson chose the marked slip of paper, she lost her identity as a popular housewife and became prey. Tessie’s closest friends and family eagerly participated in the killing with as much enthusiasm as everyone else. Jackson mislead the audience by portraying a false sense of community and proved that …show more content…
The townspeople believed they earned the right to murder a member of their community because they were all at risk to be the victim. Mrs. Graves claimed, “All of us took the same chance.” Although, the lottery unified the community through an adhesiveness to tradition, the divisive tradition destroyed families and slowly killed off members of the community. When Tessie arrived, her neighbor, Mrs. Delacroix, greeted her and engaged in a friendly conversation. As Tessie moved toward her husband a slight cheer and laughter emerged from the crowd. Jackson wrote, “The people separated good-humoredly to let her through…” Mrs. Hutchinson even grinned and joked, “Wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink, now, would you, Joe?” and a soft laugh rang out. However, the crowd became very defensive when Tessie Hutchinson claimed her husband didn’t have enough time to draw, and insisted it wasn’t fair. Earlier though, she hurried him by calling out, “Get up there, Bill.” When the Hutchinson family was announced the winner Tessie panicked and was soon distraught. When Mr. Summers asked if there were any other households in the Hutchinsons, Tessie exclaimed, “There’s Don and Eva. Make them take their chance.” Tessie desperately offered her daughter and son in law in an attempt to …show more content…
The U.S. was founded that all men were born equal and given unalienable rights. These rights bond Americans of all ethnicities, races, religions, and cultures. Today, many Americans perceive extremists as a representation of the entire population they belong to. Islamophobia is defined as an exaggerated fear, hatred, or hostility toward Muslims that is perpetuated by negative stereotypes resulting in bias, discrimination, and the marginalization and exclusion of Muslims from social, political, and civic life. Islamophobia creates prejudice and discrimination among the general population. Prejudice combined with overt actions, creates a dangerous environment for its victims, in this case, Muslims. After the events of 9/11, Arabs and Muslims became the main targets of racial profiling. Many report being kicked off of planes and questioned at airports simply because of their physical appearances. Since the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, security profiling specifically targets people of Arab descent or those who are believed to be Muslims. At airports and border crossings, people with Middle Eastern names and physical features expect to be pulled from the security line for questioning. Like members of other racial or cultural groups, Arab Americans resent being perceived as potential terrorists and
there is quiet conversation between friends. Mr. Summers, who runs the lottery, arrives with a black box. The original box was lost many years ago, even before Old Man Warner, the oldest person in the village, can remember. Each year Mr. Summers suggests that they make a new box, but no one is willing to go against tradition. The people were willing to use slips of paper instead of woodchips as markers, as the village had grown too large for the wood chips to fit in the box. A list of all the families and households in the village is made, and several matters of who will draw for each family are decided. Mr. Summers is sworn in as the official of the lottery in a specific ceremony. Some people remember that there used to be a song and salute as part of the ceremony, but these are no longer performed. Tessie Hutchinson arrives in the square late because she has forgotten what day it was. She joins her husband and children before the lottery can begin. Mr. Summers explains the lottery’s rules: each family will be called up to the box and draw a slip of paper. One of the villagers tells Old Man Warner that the people of a nearby village are thinking about ending the lottery. Old Man Warner laughs at the idea. He believes that giving up the lottery would cause nothing but trouble, and a loss of civilized behavior. A woman responds that some places have already given up the lottery. Everyone finishes drawing, and each
“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.”
motion. The lottery happens every single year where winner gets stoned to death. The original purpose of the lottery was to sacrifice to the gods for corn. Now, the purpose is to continue lost tradition.
The reader is once again put on the wrong scent through clever use of seemingly useless details when she reveals the strong impact it has on the community, it promotes unavoidable barbarism. Jackson overloads the reader with even more innocence by including the children playing in the background while they wait for the lottery to start. The kids had just started their summer break and they “broke into boisterous play,” they played with rocks till made “a great pile of stones.” Children are the prime suspects of innocence, they lack the intellect to know what’s right or wrong and they are simply too young to be thought of as devilish creatures. However, the same pile of stones they made is used to kill Tessie Hutchinson and the “innocent” children participate in the murder. Jackson includes the fact that the villagers converse to show the calmness of the villagers themselves. The men got together and talked of “planting and rain, tractors and taxes,” they also joked quietly where they “smiled rather than laughed.” The whole ordeal is well executed and shows that the villagers know how to converse formally, it gives the impression that they are worry-free of the lottery. When time comes the reader can see that their calm impression is fake and that they are actually very nervous about the consequences of
Americans day after day live much of their lives following time-honored traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. From simple everyday cooking and raising children, to holidays and other family rituals, tradition plays a significant role on how they go by there everyday lives. In Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," the citizens of a small farming town follow one such tradition. A point is made regarding human nature in relation to tradition. The story begins on a beautiful summer afternoon. The town's citizens are eager, gathering in the town square in order to take part in the yearly lottery. With the story focused around one particular family, the Hutchinsons, who
Everyone has their own way of solving problems; however, ritual is a form that people doing one thing in the same way. It defines as “the prescribed form of conducting a formal secular ceremony.” However if the meaning of ritual is mistaken, the consequence could be unpredictable." The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson gives us a lecture about a tortuous ritual. The story takes place in a small village with 300 citizens, they gather for a yearly lottery which everyone should participate. The story leads to a horrific ending by people forgetting the concept of ritual.
Shirley Jackson's story, The Lottery is about a group of towns people who meet every year on the 27th of June. On this day a stoning takes place, as it washes away the sins of everyone that lived in the village. However, should the tradition of the stoning be changed when it becomes your time?
In Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," what appears to be an ordinary day in a small town takes an evil turn when a woman is stoned to death after "winning" the town lottery. The lottery in this story reflects an old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order to encourage the growth of crops. But this story is not about the past, for through the actions of the town, Jackson shows us many of the social ills that exist in our own lives.
Shirley Jackson?s insights and observations about society are reflected in her shocking and disturbing short story The Lottery. Jackson reveals two general attitudes in this story: first is the shocking tendency for societies to select a scapegoat and second is the idea that communities are victims of social tradition and rituals.
Society today sees the lottery as an easy way to win a ginormous amount of cash just by buying a little slip of paper with a combination of numbers. The irony that Shirley Jackson uses in her short story, The Lottery, is used to the extreme by not only the title being ironic, but also within the story. The lottery is seen as a way to gain cash, but the ironic part of the title is that the reader sees it and thinks that the story will be about someone winning a big prize, yet the winner is sentenced to being stoned to death. Within the story, Shirley Jackson writes about how one member of the community ultimately chooses who wins the lottery. Another ironic thing about someone chooses the winner is that one of the communities sons picked his own father to win the lottery. Linda Wagner-Martin analyzes The Lottery and its irony by writing, “Bringing in the small children as she does, from early in the story (they are gathering stones, piling them up where they will be handy, and participating in the ritual as if it were a kind of play), creates a poignance not only for the death of Tessie the mother, but for the sympathy the crowd gives to the youngest Hutchinson, little Dave. Having the child draw his own slip of paper from the box reinforces the normality of the occasion, and thereby adds to Jackson's irony. It is family members, women and children, and fellow residents who are being killed through this orderly, ritualized process. As Jackson herself once wrote, "I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village, to shock the story's
“The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson shows that often people can be unconcerned with injustice until it directly impacts them. Tessie Hutchinson starts out cheerful, until her family is chosen. At that point, she begins yelling and screaming “It isn’t fair. It isn’t right.” (Jackson 62) She even shouts that her daughter should be included in the second drawing. In “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, Tessie Hutchinson participates in group violence willingly until she becomes the victim.
“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.
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.
Now that all the papers are handed out the men begin to unfold the slips of paper to reveal blank pieces of paper. However one man is left with a paper with a black dot on it. The man unlucky enough to receive this slip of paper is Bill Hutchinson. Promptly Tessie Hutchinson, Bill’s wife, begins to panic saying he didn’t have enough time to pick his paper. Being a reasonable official Mr. Summers allows Hutchinson and each of his family members to reselect a paper. Bill, his two sons, one daughter, and wife Tessie each take a paper and Tessie Hutchinson is left with the paper with the black dot. The townspeople begin to clear a space around Tessie Hutchinson. One of the younger boys from earlier in the story hands her son a stone. While she screams “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” the townspeople begin stoning her, the lottery “winner”.
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" satirizes barbaric traditions in a supposedly civilized village. As the story begins, the villagers appear to be fairly civilized and carry on fairly modern lifestyles. This is assumed by the men's discussion of planting, rain, tractors, and taxes. The lottery was outdated to such a degree that some may think that the tradition is primal competition of anthropoid beasts. On the other hand, some think that carrying on the tradition was necessary. The question that must be answered is: Was this a barbaric tradition or was this ritual an honest attempt to better other villager's lives?