Women In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Andrew Lansley once said “Peer pressure and social norms are powerful influences on behavior, and they are classic excuses.” Most people tend to follow cultural customs because they have grown with them or it has been forced onto them with factors such as parents or their environment. However, is it always right to follow these customs even if they are in fact considered wrong? Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a short story about the cultural norms of a small community and its annual lottery ritual; a stoning. Jackson overthrows the story by making the lottery a corrupt occurrence rather than a victory. The reader would probably think that the “winner” of the lottery would be benefited but in this case the victory was not so delightful. In her short story “The Lottery” Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear so, it is inherently barbaric.

Once upon a time there was a little village. In this village three hundred people happily farmed and played and went about their business. The children went to school while the men cut wood or farmed, and the women cooked and cleaned. Every summer in June each of villagers took part in the traditional lottery drawing and one villager was picked for the prize – a stoning. In 1948, Shirley Jackson published this short story known as “The Lottery,” in The New York Times. The story’s plot shocked readers all over America as they learned of the horror happening in such a quaint town. Jackson purposely set this tragic event in this innocent setting to emphasize humanity’s cruelty. Using her appalling short story, The Lottery,

The author of “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson decided it was important to write this short story in order to inform the readers about another dimension, where a certain common tradition gets prized with something obscure. Some readers can be shocked when reading this story, because they might be surprised and even shocked with the themes that play along in the storyline. This short story “The Lottery” was so controversial at the time, because in the date it was published in June 24, 1948 there were so many themes from the stories that could relate to past events or even event that were taking place at the time.

“The Lottery” was written in 1948 by Shirley Jackson. Mrs. Jackson, born in 1916, was known for her tales of horror and supernatural novels. She and her literary critic husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman lived in a little town called Bennington, Vermont. Mrs. Jackson was not accepted by the town. Her novels, especially “The Lottery”, revealed the dark side of human nature. Stephen King honored Shirley Jackson by dedicating his book Firestarter to her.

In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” a small village is preparing for an annual drawing, a tradition carried out for generations. During this ritual, the head of each household draws a blank piece of paper out of a black box. One piece of paper is marked with a single black dot and if chosen, the outcome is having the winner’s entire household draw out of the box. Whoever chooses the black dot out of the household is stoned to death by the entire village. In this instance, a husband wins to which his wife protests, and then she is the ultimate victim who is sacrificed. This story includes many literary elements like foreshadowing, warning of a future event, symbolism, symbols used in the story to represent ideas,and irony, when the contrary to what is expected to happen, occurs. Jackson uses foreshadowing, symbolism, and irony to prove the theme that it is foolish and barbaric to blindly follow tradition.

The theme of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is that frequently, people have no concern about inequity until they are the victims of such injustice. Tessie Hutchinson approves of the lottery and its purpose, until she is chosen and experiences the brutality first hand.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson artfully uses foreshadowing in order to build suspense and create a shocking ending. Jackson’s success in “The Lottery” comes from her ability to keep the reader in the dark about the evils, until the very end. She has masterfully set up what the reader believes as a pleasant event. But, it is not until the ending, can the reader see the foreshadowing of the evils to come. Through the use of foreshadowing, Jackson is able to contribute to the story 's overall effect of suspense and a shocking ending.

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" describes a little urban society where the residents meet for an annual lottery. In most cases the lottery is something everyone would like to win, I doubt if this type of lottery falls into the same category. In the story, Jackson pays close attentions to men and women from this community to exhibit the role of each gender. Gender role is the expectation the society have for an individual depending on their sex, particularly to the community culture and beliefs. Definite purpose or men and women are present in the society in the novel The Lottery, the actions of women and men expound the characters accomplishments and beliefs.

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.”

Would it feel good to the win the lottery? When people win the lottery, they are filled with excitement and joy, but this lottery is one that people would rather have no chance of winning. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” the members of a small town gather each year to hold a special event to see what “lucky” towns member will win the annual lottery. Each year the families of the town meet in the square and the head of each household draws a slip of paper to determine which family wins the “lottery.” The Hutchinson family has chosen the winning slip of paper and then the family draws amongst themselves to find the sole winner of the lottery. The short story, “The Lottery” begins with a beautiful day and all of the town members joking and laughing, but the actual dark meaning slowly starts to be revealed. “The Lottery” uses a joyful tone to show how people can become accustomed to a particular lifestyle, along with irony, the use of hidden symbols and foreshadowing to hint at the outcome of the story.

General inhumanity and violence typically manifests itself in an extensive, controversial manner such as the Holocaust, World War II, and the enslavement of African Americans. However, atrocities and brutality invade the life of an everyday individual in a more inconspicuous manner that may be overlooked or not considered unjust behavior against their fellow man. Shirley Jackson, author of literary classic The Lottery, begins by describing what appears to be a pleasant, summer day in a quaint English village. The villagers gather for their yearly humdrum lottery in which tradition entails each of them to participate. After each head of the household has drawn for their respective family from a shabby black box and the winner is announced, the villagers proceed to stone their likable neighbor, Tessie Hutchinson, to death and partake in ritualistic murder. Since published in 1948, the sinister short story has continued to stir up eerie feelings amongst readers. Although Jackson holds off until the conclusion to unravel the true purpose behind the uncanny lottery, the story sends a blatant message, blind adherence towards tradition or social order reveal the darker side of human nature. Shirley Jackson tactfully combined style, tone, and symbolism to create a chilling dramatization of conformity unhinged.

The story of “The Lottery” is a dark tale that gives the reader a window into a community blighted by an tradition propagated by ignorance; sending a message that reverberates with many events, ideas, and observations throughout the annals of time. Written by the great Shirley Jackson, this fable exemplifies how delusion and illogical thinking led to the terrifying and morose ending of Tessie Hutchinson's existence. Shirley Jackson was well known in her lifetime, but not necessarily as the literary master she is hailed as today. Jackson had great interest in the culture of witchcraft, and deeply incorporated this knowledge into one of her first short stories: “The Lottery.” While this influence greatly improved the haunted tone of the

Tradition is defined as the passing down of an act or belief from generation to generation. Different traditions are found in every society, culture, location, and family. Usually, when one hears the word ‘tradition’ they think of family gatherings, unique cuisine or other pleasant festivities. However, the townspeople in the story “The Lottery” may have a different connotation for the word. In “The Lottery”, the town in which the story takes place has a random drawing on the twenty-seventh of June every year to see who will be stoned by the rest of the villagers. Though this sounds cruel and unusual, the practice was a tradition of the village and of other surrounding villages as well. In this short story "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson, the author, uses symbolism to emphasize the absurdity in upholding some traditions.

Ever wondered what perfect society would be like? At some point everyone has dreamt of a society where there is total peace and equality for all peoples alike. When reading “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, she describes what most people would think of as the perfect small town setting. In the town, families and friends get together every year to hold an annual lottery in the town’s square. However; this is not an average lottery and it turns out that this small village has a very dark secret. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula LE Guin , is more imaginary than anything else. In Omelas there are green hills and beautiful meadows. People throw big parties with all the food and drink you could possibly consume. But this perfect society in the green hills has a dirty secret too. There is a small child about the age of 12 kept in a closet, and that child must bear all the pain for the entire city of Omelas. Without the child the city is no different than any other, and some of its citizens can’t forget about the secret and choose to leave. In these stories both authors discuss the idea of a perfect world and challenge the reader to consider what a utopia really is. After reading these two articles, the authors show you there cannot be a utopia if even a single person is suffering, which is also why there can’t be a perfect society because of human nature.

In the short story “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson shows apparent gender roles where women have little to no say with decisions and arrangements. The women in the story are portrayed as mediocre to the men of the village. This is mainly shown by there not being a single dominant female character throughout the story. Not only is the social standing of the women lower, they are not treated with the respect that women deserve. The women are shown as so insignificant that even the bond of marriage is broken by the gender socialism of the story. Not only do the adults of the small village show gender roles, but the children also show gender roles as well. Jackson uses some devices like imagery and symbols to show