The lottery is about a little village where they had a gathering called “The Lottery.” where who ever got the black dot would be stoned. For example as the author quotes “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her” as quoted in “The Lottery”by Shirley Jackson. In the short story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to illustrate the themes of the tradition and randomness of persecution. In the short story it show the tradition on how dangerous it is when people follow it blindly. The villagers seem harmless even with their preparation.
Other villages have already stop the lottery. But not this one. Things that we can take away for the story is tradition. The people continue the lottery because it’s a ritual and maybe it leads to growing of better crops. Obviously Tessie Hutchinson is more likely to stone other people is somebody else would’ve gotten the black dot paper but now she argues that the lottery is unfair because she got the paper with the black dots.
According to the most elderly man in the village, “Old Man Warner:” “‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’” (p.22 l.260-261) The first villagers created the lottery to acquire a heavy harvest. Their method to this was questionable, considering they were willing to take the life of
“The Lottery” is a use of irony itself. Usually when hearing lottery, something good comes to mind, which is why the title is very misleading. She creates a lot of suspense while leading up to what actually happens, because in reality something really devastating comes from this tradition. Also, the entire reason the lottery even started was forgotten. However, the villagers did not forget how to use the stones.
This allusion of sacrifice also suggests that the villagers view the lottery as normal, even necessary, as it is ritualized. To the villagers, the yearly stoning
Though essential to them, the townsfolk are unaware and begin to question why they continue to participate in such the barbaric ritual of selecting a villager at random, and stoning them to death. Peer pressure and conformity are the reasons that the clear majority of these villagers are participating. One of the frightening elements of this tradition, is that it seems eternal. The townsfolk are unaware of the origin of “The Lottery”, and by the sounds of Old Man Warner practically forcing the townsfolk to allow the ritual to continue, there seems to be no end in sight. The lack of knowledge about the tradition, shows just how strong the tradition has become.
In all books authors use figurative language to create suspense and get the reader interested. In “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, a small village gets together on June 27th every year to do the “lottery.” Generally people think of the lottery as being a good thing. In this book, however; if you win you die. One member of each family in the village must walk up to a black box alphabetically, select a piece of paper, and return to their spots. Which every family has the piece of paper with the black dot on it must redraw from the box and who ever then gets the dot will “win” the lottery and get stoned.
Everyone usually has a family tradition that they do every year. Every year my family celebrates Christmas during Christmas we wake up and open gifts and go to my grandparents house for dinner and usually open more gifts. In my short story “The Lottery” their tradition is putting names into a box and if your name gets called and there is a black dot on your slip,you get rocks thrown at you until you die. In The Lottery Jackson uses the black box to symbolize death and if you're going to die. In “The Lottery” Jackson uses a black box to symbolize death, Jackson says “The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been long lost ago,and the black box now had been resting on the stool.
Literary Analysis of “The Lottery” Nobody loves tradition more than a small town and Old Man Warner in a story called “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. This story starts out as a normal town everyone is happy chatting in their groups and gossiping. Children are playing outside, and they are also collecting rocks. Wait? Rocks, yes rocks for the annual lottery.
The reader is not told of any scientific or just reasoning as to how this tradition will improve the society’s economy and thus, the reader would consider whether or not this is just a tradition, which is uplifted by mob psychology, in a progressive society. "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones." This is a quote which gives the reader an assumption as to how the villagers pick and choose the aspects of the lottery which they do every year. that they do. This proves that the citizens are doing the tradition for traditions sake and not for the right reasons.