The Lottery Analytical Essay In this short story, written by Shirley Jackson, the townspeople have somewhat of violent “tradition”. The people participate in this process called stoning where someone is randomly beaten to death by stones. Shirley doesn't specifically say why they do this or why it is still happening but she does drop hints. Now, here are some theories why. Towards the middle of the story, a character, Old Man Warner says “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” This might mean that they do this as a sacrifice to a god or higher being. Maybe, so they can get rich soil to grow crops in or so they have a plentiful harvest. But maybe they do the lottery because for another reason. During the story Old Man Warner says that if they
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story that paints an illustration of either a post-civilization society or a pre-civilized society depending on your interpretation of the situation. Regardless though, the civilization that is described throughout the short story is one that would not be considered within the norm when discussing societies in a modern setting. The antithetical juxtaposition of the characters from the beginning of the story to the final stanzas offer an example of conforming to social norms which include the murder of innocent members of the civilization. Throughout the story, Jackson uses foreshadow and biblical allusions to build suspense for the unexpected. Jackson begins by describing what seems to be a normal sunny day at the end of June in a small town in New England where three hundred people gathered in suspense for the upcoming lottery.
The use of the word lottery makes the reader think that the towns people are drawing for a prize. The “prize” being that the person to win, actually loses their life. Old Man Warner hears that the towns people are entertaining the though of ending the lottery and he says, ”Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves “ (240). The irony of this is that the lottery itself is as primitive a l practice as that of people living in
Human nature is what defines the way that people behave and think. In her story "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson describes the different ways people react to the probability of getting killed. In the town presented, people have a tradition called The Lottery in which a human sacrifice is made every year, and it is associated with good agriculture and nature; however, the ritual is so old there's no way of actually knowing why or how it started. They decide who the victim will be by a paper draw between all of the people in town and at the end whoever gets the slip with the black dot, is stoned to death. The unlucky winner is Tessie Hutchinson and other members of the town like Mr. Summer; who conducts it, and Old man Warner; who is a loyal follower of the ritual are involved.
How do authors demonstrate their purpose through their writing? In three short stories different authors use literary devices to make their readers question tradition. The first story named “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is about a tradition where a village throw stones at a person every year. Another story “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury is about people being inside their homes at night watching television, except one man who will rather walk outside. Kurt Vonnegut has a story called “2BRO2B” in which he discusses how people are in favor of a perfect world.
In the short story, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, the characters have a different type of normal. June 27, lottery day, marks the day of the death of an innocent person. As I read this story, I was very puzzled. This story made me think about the death of a person, whether be young or old, liked or disliked. The death on lottery day was thought to be normal in these towns, but it was not normal to me.
Plot and Central Idea: “The Lottery” The short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson begins with the idealistic image of children playing in town on a summer morning. Eventually, their fathers and mothers began to congregate followed by Mr.Summers, who was in charge of the assembly, carrying a large black box. The attention of the villagers was quickly redirected to aid Mr.Summers in creating and confirming a list of all the families in the village. As this occurred, the town's oldest participant in the lottery, Old Man Warner began to discuss the importance of the tradition of the lottery and how foolish it was that surrounding towns were getting rid of it.
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, is about a tradition that happens every year on June 27th. On this warm day of June, the people of the village gather in a square to participate in the tradition lead by Mr. Summers. In the tradition (lottery), Mr. Summers first calls every head of a family (men) forward to pick a piece of paper from a black faded box. Each man has to wait until all the other men of the village have chosen and then they all open the piece of paper at the same time. The winner is the one that has a black dot on their paper.
The main theme of the lottery is power of tradition. In this story they talk about how they have done the lottery for years. The oldest man in the town said he has been doing the lottery of “77 years”. It is very hard to break tradition. Tradition can change a little.
In this lottery, everyone in the village gathers and the heads of families all draw paper from a black box. The family that has a paper with a dot on it draws again and the person with the dot then gets beaten to death by the other villagers throwing rocks at them. The Lottery’s theme is that blindly following rules and tradition can be bad. The townspeople had no other reason for the lottery besides that it was “tradition”.
The Lottery Template Topic Sentence: One can see by examining the symbolism of the worn out black box, and the foreshadowing of the children putting rocks in their pockets in the The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, that this story is a classic archetypal horror story. Argument: Firstly, one can see that when Mr. Summers arrived at the square carrying a black wooden box, he asked the villagers if anyone would give him a hand with putting the box on the three- legged stool, however, many hesitated to come near the black box, a symbolic twist that foreshadows the imminent ending. The black box has been used for generations, even before the oldest villager. It has been said that the current box was made from the pieces of the
The villagers no longer question the reason behind conducting the lottery, nor do they feel the gravity of the event. One scene in particular involves Mr. Adams exclaiming that the village to the north of them were contemplating removing the lottery. In response, Old Man Warner refutes Mr. Adam’s claim by saying, “‘Pack of crazy fools,’...“Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them’” (Jackson) Implying that the youth are foolish and idiotic for having such notions, any opposition is thus linked with being insignificant. Old Man Warner then follows up his claim by saying, “There’s always been a lottery.”
The Lottery In this short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson we can see the theme of the duality of human nature. Tessie Hutchinson thinks the lottery is unfair. She claims that they didn't get through time. But everybody had the same chance and time.
The villagers are reluctant to give up their beliefs because they think that they might lose their distinction that separates them from others. Old Man Warner strongly disapproves of people who want to quit the lottery. He says, “There’s always been a lottery”3 so for him, these people are “crazy.”4 However, for the readers, his reluctance means that he is afraid to change his place within the society. He has gained the title of Old Man not only because he is the oldest man in the village but he has also been in the lottery for 77 years.
They have been doing the lottery for so long
This comment shows the ignorance in society; the townspeople do not think about what they are doing or why they are doing it, but just do it. Though this story was a rather extreme example, it perfectly illustrates how society just does as the past did, as seen through the fact that the person in charge of the lottery refused to replace the broken box because of the box’s history. Jackson is trying to point out society’s tendency to follow long-standing traditions without fully understanding the reason behind the traditions. Overall, the purpose of this story was to point out society’s tendency to blindly follow traditions without every questioning the purpose of the