Utopianism In The Lottery

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 is a Shirley Jackson’s short story, in which she depicts the ideology of capitalism in the society. In this short story, Jackson conveys how capitalism exists in the society by enclosing its fundamental characteristic. Jackson distinguishes the villagers into capitalist and working class, this can be seen obviously from the work they do. Moreover, Jackson also portrays how the capitalist class can rule the village, while at the same time, the working class have no power at all, even for their own live. The distinction of the social class in this Jackson’s short story illustrates the fundamental characteristics of capitalism ideology.

When many people think about a lottery, they think about the possibility of winning million dollar jackpots. Lottery ticket buyers hope that eventually one day, they will be the lucky winner to take home enough money to afford their greatest dreams and desires. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” the lottery that takes place drastically differs from the common win big lotteries of the modern day; rather, in this lottery, the citizens win big if they don’t get chosen for the lottery and get to keep their lives. Leaders of this village tell the citizens that they need to go through with this tradition In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” from 1948, she uses a Darwinism lens, criticism from current historical events, and literary elements such as foreshadowing and symbolism to show that human nature mindlessly follows tradition to be accepted in society and to survive.

Within the first few lines of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" we are faced with such adjectives as clear, sunny, fresh and warmth. She goes on to paint a picture of small children just out of school for the summer, as the townspeople gather for the annual Lottery. This leads us to believe that the rest of the story is as cheery as the summer day initially described. We as the readers are virtually unaware of the horrible senseless events that lie ahead. Through the use of symbolism Shirley Jackson reveals the underlying decay of ethics that results from an empty ritual followed by narrow-minded people.

In the short story "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson uses figurative language, symbolism, and irony to reveal her theme that things are not always what they seem to be. In this shocking short story, she reveals the corruption of human nature by telling of the ceremony they call “The lottery”.

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.

In her story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson manages to catch the readers’ attention and ultimately shock them with an unexpected ending; all of which help her emphasize her critique toward the dark side of human nature and the evil that resides, sometimes, in those who we less expect it from. Jackson uses symbolism throughout the story that helps her set the mood and also makes the readers wonder and analyze the senseless violence and cruelty in their own lives.

In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson writes about the game lottery, which makes the story very ironic. Unlike all of the other Lottery games, in this traditional version no one wants to be chosen, because that brings them the end of their life. Jackson explains how keeping up with some traditions that are part of people’s life, may not be the best choice to embrace a particular culture. Jackson uses the Lottery as an example to express her idea about the ethical issues such as; violent murder, harming people, forcefully following a tradition, and lying. All of these ethical issues are created by blindly following tradition in “The Lottery.”

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a story filled with sunny weather and boisterous play and a town filled with a what seems like a burden--a lottery to see who will be the one to leave their town and the Earth forever. For many people, this story is dark, compelling, and mind boggling, yet it also feels that it gives a warning to humanity and to the entire face of the Earth. I believe that Shirley Jackson is warning us about what humanity is capable of doing, and how people conform blindly to society’s expectations. Throughout the story, many signs of this is shown from the year the story was written to the very last sentence.

It is human nature to uphold tradition. Shirley Jackson’s  “The Lottery” display’s the issue with society unquestioning approach to institutions. The shocking tale, which takes place in a fictional unnamed town in America, convey’s the dangers of clinging to tradition and not questioning the the institutions that practice them, and just how common they occur. Accordingly, these dangers manifest in the way the characters of the story accept the process of the lottery, but do not comprehend its purpose, the older generation’s disdainful view of noncompliance with tradition, and the townspeople’s callous demeanor in stoning Mrs. Hutchinson.

Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”, raises various questions concerning society’s actions as a group. Shirley’s surprise conclusion shocked readers of The New Yorker magazine when the story was first published. However, Shirley’s writing style is carefully planned and written as the finish is a shock to the reader. Jackson’s usage of foreshadowing and arrangement of writing aids in the building of the story’s climax, blindsiding the reader with its ending. One major element prominently found in Jackson’s writing is her subtle placing of foreshadowing.

Imagine this; it is 9am, the sun is out and even though the children are playing , but before the day is done, someone will find themselves the winner of the lottery. However, it is not the lottery that most are familiar with. In 1988 author Judy Oppenheimer conducted an interview with author Shirley Jackson, the author of '' The Lottery'' . In this interview Shirley explained why she wrote the short story in the following excerpt ; " I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives " (Oppenheimer 1988 ). In order to identify the key elements of the

A close examination of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson leads to understanding that utilizes symbolism to help her speak to human instinct as corrupted, regardless of how immaculate one considers himself or herself, or how pure their surroundings may appear to be. The story is extremely viable in bringing up numerous issues about the pointless way of mankind with respect to tradition and savagery. 'The Lottery' plainly expresses Jackson's emotions concerning mankind's malicious nature holing up behind tradition and

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” also portrays many conflicts between the idea of traditions and modernity. One of the biggest examples in “The Lottery”

We live in a world today where of something isn 't morally right, we get rid of it. There are, however still things that plays a part in our everyday life that we don 't see the moral issue behind. Like the lottery. I had never thought about the lottery as a moral concept until I saw an old tupac interview. In the interview he stated his opinions on poverty, wealth, and the lottery. The part that got me thinking was when he said, “I mean, nobody should be hitting Lotto for 36 million and we got people starving in the streets. That is not idealistic, that’s just real”.That quote stuck with me. If there are people on the streets starving, then why are millions of dollars just given away. When you look into it, you start to see it become less and less moral and more of an obstacle that Americans and the states are currently dealing with. The lottery exploits the hopes of low income Americans who want to escape from poverty, while also pushing them back into the cycle of it. As for the tiny percent of people who do win, most end up worse off than they were before hitting the jackpot, in the matter of a few years. States also could be using this money better for things like; helping the poor, the hungry, the homeless, education, or research funding. My question is, should the lottery be abolished? My answer, without a doubt.