Violence In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” (Twain). The Lottery begins during the summer. A small, seemingly normal, town is gathering to throw the annual “Lottery”. In the end, the townspeople—children included—gather around and stone the winner to death, simply because it was tradition. The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective. “I suppose, 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” (Jackson). As humans develop as a race, their practices should develop with them. Shirley Jackson develops the

In the fictional short story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, on June 27th a small village gathered together to participate in the annual lottery, an old village tradition, conducted by Mr. Summers, the lottery official. During the lottery, the head of each household in the village draws one slip of paper. Whoever draws the slip of paper with the charcoal dot on it is sacrificed for the crop season. This time it was Mr. Hutchinson, who drew the dire slip of paper. So then each member of his household had to draw, including his three small young children, Bill, Jr., and little Dave.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a deceptively simple story about a small town community that holds an annual lottery. Naturally, what makes the plot less simple is the way the story ends with one of the townspeople being stoned as a result of “winning” the lottery. A deeper look at the story reveals that the story is about tradition. Although tradition is often considered to be something positive, in “The Lottery,” tradition is something undesirable and even deadly.

Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” is a short story about the annual gathering of the villagers to conduct an ancient ritual. The ritual ends in the stoning of one of the residents of this small village. This murder functions under the guise of a sacrament that, at one time, served the purpose of ensuring a bountiful harvest. This original meaning, however, is lost over the years and generations of villagers. The loss of meaning has changed the nature and overall purpose of the lottery. This ritual is no longer a humble sacrifice that serves the purpose of securing the harvest but instead is a ceremony of violence and murder only existing for the pleasure found in this violence.

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.

Traditions are widespread among many different people and cultures; It is an explanation for acting without thinking. Not all traditions are a good thing, though, and blindly following them can lead to harsh consequences. The villagers in a small town in “The Lottery” gather together annually to participate in this tradition, where one person in the town is randomly chosen in a drawing to be violently stoned to death by citizens. It has been around for seventy-seven years and everyone partakes in it. People always attend, showing the importance of tradition amongst the society. However, in the short story, “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses many literary devices to show that traditions are not always meant to be followed.

As the plot of the stories unfolds, the greater influence of violent tensions become evident. In The Lottery, people follow the tradition despite its cruelty and absurdity. Although the ritual of the lottery is brutal, the dwellers of the village do not seem to see how barbaric it is because “there’s always been a lottery” (Jackson, 1982, p. 118). Nevertheless, the tensions grow when the lottery begin and every citizen is awaiting for its end. The climatic moment of the story grows when the reader discovers that Tess

Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery is set in a small village who relies deeply on their crops. This story is about a sacrifice that takes place every year in which the heads of households draw for their families in order to see who “wins” and saves the town. The readers grow close to a character named Tessie who decides to speak her mind when it’s too late. In the end, the townsfolk realise that what comes around goes around.

The short story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson begins with villagers gathering in the square, between the post office and the bank, to participate in the lottery which is not what it seems like because the story’s surprising ending reveals that Tessie Hutchinson, who draws the slip of paper with the black spot on it is stoned to death when the lottery ends. Shirley Jackson reveals through the use of irony, foreshadow, and symbolism in the story how much people can get caught up in maintaining a tradition that they wouldn’t question their wrongful actions, such as the murder of an innocent human being.

"It isn't fair, it isn't right, Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her" (Jackson). Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” is brimming with illustrations of how thoughtless repetition dilutes foundations that were once rock solid. The traditions of the village in the story lead to the stoning to death of one of the residents on a yearly basis. The people were not so clear as to how, when, or why this took place every year; however, this did not stop them from continuing with an encore. The limited view they had on life and of growth was the road block that prevented any major change. Traditions can overcome society's better judgement.

“The Lottery” describes the proceedings of a lottery in an American village, in which the winner of the lottery will be stoned to death. Most readers are shocked when they get to the ending, mainly because they would never expect something so horrific to be described with such normality. Perhaps the narrator of the “Lottery” themselves grew up with and is used to such a tradition. Perhaps to them, they are just describing a regular part of life. It can be said, then, that “The Lottery” depicts how a person’s surroundings play the role of guide, shaping their morals and ethics.

Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” shows the reader that the human race will do any horrible act for success, in this case holding a town lottery where the winner is stoned to death in the towns square in hopes of a bountiful corn crop come during harvest time. The lottery is a tradition held in the town annually on June 27 and is done right as the corn is ready to become fruitful. Even in the day and age where technology is used for farming (tractors, plows) to till and harvest the land, this is a communal tradition that cannot be broken.

This is where the line between what is good and what is required lies: in following the traditions and the ritual of the village, and doing so with reverence and dignity. The locals can take the life of their neighbor because they understand that it is part of who they are. They also know that it fulfills some need, some greater good, though they may not all remember exactly what that greater good is. This story may seem cold, barbaric, and cruel, but it is in painting this bleak picture of society that Shirley Jackson succeeds in turning the lens back around onto the reader. Jackson makes us reflect on our own lives, on our own society, and on the barbarism that exists there. In reading “The Lottery” we are, on some inherent level, forced to consider the “blood sacrifices” of our own culture, which we ourselves may gloss over every day or every year. It is only by confronting the dark rituals in our lives that we are able to distinguish where the line between what we feel is good and what we feel is required falls for us. But once we have done this, maybe we can start to change things, and end the bloodshed.

In the story, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, we are introduced to a story where traditions can be dangerous. It is a warm sunny day, and the time is approaching for the event to occur, the people gather in the town square and prepare for what they know happens every year. Slowly but surely, one by one they draw from the black box and the one that draws the right one, is chosen. The other villagers stone the chosen one to death. Although some readers may think this is just a normal story about a parable, it represents much more than just that. The author portrays a story about an attack on a small-town America. Shirley Jackson gives the reader this understanding by using the elements of irony, foreshadowing and symbolism.

In a dystopian village, “A stone hit her in the side of the head. It isn’t fair, it isn’t right, Mrs. Hutchinson screamed and then they were upon her” (7). Keeping the tradition of the lottery alive means that the members of Tessie’s family, her friends, and the villagers will stone her to death. Tessie Hutchinson is the unluckiest person this year, having won the lottery. The theme of “The Lottery” is that there are some traditions that should not be kept alive.