“the Lottery” and “Hills Like White Elephants” Essay

Figurative language is a strategy that authors have used over the years to give the reader different perspectives on the piece that they are reading about. In her short Story, “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson writes about a small town that has a tradition known as the lottery. The way that the lottery works, is that there is black box with pieces of paper in it. The pieces of paper have the family names of every family in town. The last name standing then has to go into an elimination round with the people within the family. Each family member draws out of the black box, and the family member that pulls the slip of paper with the black dot gets stoned to death. In her short story, Jackson utilizes symbolism in the form of Old Man Warren, the black box and the pile of stones to demonstrate how tradition can be blinding without even knowing it.

In "The Lottery", Jackson utilizes a character vs. character conflict to publicly display the concept of having a scapegoat – someone to be discarded after absorbing the sins of the entire community. In the story, Mrs. Hutchinson is randomly chosen by way of the lottery to become the sacrifice. Once it was determined that she was, in

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.

The two stories are both centered on a particular person in the story. “The Lottery” was centered round Tessie Hutchinsen who happened to be the unlucky one to have picked the

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.”

Over the years many critics have wrote articles on Shirley Jackson's numerous works. Many critics had much to say about Jackson's most famous short story, "The Lottery". Her insights and observations about man and society are disturbing; and in the case of "The Lottery," they are shocking. "The themes themselves are not new, evil cloaked in seeming good, prejudice and hypocrisy, loneliness and frustration, psychological studies of minds that have slipped the bonds of reality" (Friedman). Literary critic, Elizabeth Janeway wrote that, " 'The Lottery' makes its effect without having to state a moral about humanity's need to deflect the knowledge of its own death on a victim. That uneasy consciousness is

The first technique present in this story is symbolism. Two items are used during the lottery: a black box and stones. In a way, the black box holds each and every persons destiny and fate. The fact that it is black is a symbol of what they ahve witnessed every year: death. Every year, the lottery is taken place and, at the same time, death makes its mark. It comes back to take whoever’s been left behind. Like the old saying “It is always darkest before dawn”, death hangs over them until they have pleased the gods; until they have a lifetime supply of crops. This story brings us into the darker side of the lottery. The side where not everything is as it seems. If it weren’t for the color of the box, it would have been harder to interpret where the story was heading off to. The second items where the stones: “the young boys begin to gather their stones and make a pile in the corner, guarding them like their most prized weapon”. The stones symbolize the beating of a person, in

In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and the historical event of blacklisting Americans during the 1950s, the authors convey that loyalty causes us to turn against others around you through symbols. In “The Lottery”, loyalty to tradition caused a society to turn on one another. “The Lottery” was an annual tradition where each head of household (the dominant male in each home) picked a slip of paper. If the piece selected had a black dot on it, you had to go through the selection process again, but this time each individual member of your family had to choose a slip out of the box. Whoever chose the black dot out of there family had won the Lottery, and would be sacrificed for a good corn season. On the seventy-seventh lottery, the

There are many Americans and people all over the world that live their lives following traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. A tradition can be as simple as cooking a recipe to how you raise your children and holiday traditions. Culture plays a significant role in how people live their day to day lives. In Shirley Jacksons “The Lottery” the people that lived in the town follow a tradition every year. It's easy to understand why Shirley Jackson’s Lottery caused controversy when it was published shortly after World War II in 1948. The Lottery has been dramatized, televised and turned into a ballet. It is taught in high schools and colleges. (Whittier). The Lottery held many questions about traditions that have

For example, Mrs. Hutchinson yells “There's Don and Eva,” and exclaims “Make them take their chance!” to which Mr. Summers replies, “Daughter’s draw with their husbands’ families, Tessie,” and “You know that as well as anyone else” (642). This shows that Mrs. Hutchinson is a selfish character, and would be content with sacrificing members of her own family, while also expressing that Mr. Summers attempts to be a character that upholds fairness by abiding by the known lottery rules. Mrs. Hutchinson also attempted to issue a

At the surface level, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson tells an ironic and grim story in which a seemingly close town stones one of its own citizens to death. However, under the Marxist literary lens, The Lottery describes a modern world where paper money holds value despite its invaluable nature, wealth is spread randomly and unevenly, and the upper class systematically oppress the lower classes of society. Throughout history, currencies have always held a meaningful value. For example, a common “meaningful” currency would be gold.

As a matter of fact, in quite a few cases male writers were often accompanied by their wives on writing assignments; however, it was not unusual for their wives to also be writers with unpublished works. The literature field at this time was dominated by male writers who discriminated against the women writers and felt their works would automatically be at a lower quality to the literature men had written. Ultimately, women writers were invisible at that point in literature history. In “The Lottery” the same undertones of marginalisation are distributed throughout the story. “Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her … ‘Thought my old man was out back stacking wood’. (Jackson) One would think that for an event as important as the Lottery, or for that matter, any event that would require the attendance of both husband and wife, that they would inform the other if they were leaving, especially if the children were expected to go with them. In the case of this town, Mrs Hutchinson was neither surprised or disappointed that her family had left her without telling her they were leaving for the gathering. Due to her lack of reaction, one can assume that being treated like a second class citizen and being invisible was a way of life in her

When I think of the lottery, I think of a game basically where they choose one number and something or something gets chosen.

“The Lottery” documents a small village’s voting process for the lottery and the traditions that keep the town close. Some of the main characters are introduced in the initial scene of the townspeople gathering at the town square. The boys in the crowd search for rocks to add to a pile on the side of the square. The schoolgirls of the “village” are standing near them, talking amongst each other. The men of the village came back from work and talked about farming and finance issues farther away from the boys. Then the women, mothers of the children and housewives, emerged from their homes and gossiped before joining their husbands.

Society is ever changing and evolving; the interactions between family members and those in a person’s community can change from day to day, these interactions mold the person and this molding furthers how society changes its inhabitants. Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Ernest Hemingway’s Indian Camp, explore society and the interaction between people within a society to show a human’s true nature. The authors both use short yet intense diction which places the reader’s within the story. The twists within the plot lines of both narratives explore similar themes which lead back to life as being always unexpected and that although one may believe they know the conclusion they are blindsided by the truth. Both writers broach their stories very similarly, through use of diction, tone, and structure. Their approach to these tales hides the climax until the end of their storyline, allowing the reader to see how society has casted the individuals from childhood and how each interaction alters the person's perspective on society.