“The Lottery” Interpretive Essay “The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a lottery that takes place in a small village. The story starts of with the whole town gathering in the town square, where Mr. Summers, the official, holds the lottery. After that, every family draws out of an old black box, and a certain family gets picked. Out of the certain family, one person gets picked as the unlucky “winner” of the lottery. In this short story, after the Hutchinson family gets drawn, Tessie Hutchinson is declared “winner” of the lottery.
They think the lottery is a rigged program that shouldn't exist just because they have to die now. Before they were picked they saw the lottery as a just system that makes the person pay their dues to the town. When Mrs. Hutchinson was picked she yelled “It isn't fair, it isn't right”. (23) When the chosen person is about to lose their life they feel sad and fear. But before being chosen they a compassionless.
.and then they were upon her” (Lowry 11). Mrs. Hutchinson’s protest proves to readers that in this situation, people are likely to complain only if they are the ones being harmed. It is to be noted that Tessie is complaining that it isn’t fair as she is claiming that the lottery process wasn’t fair, but not that the lottery itself isn’t fair. This shows that the only person who questions the tradition questions it since they are being harmed by it themselves, but in order to eliminate dangerous traditions, people need to think twice about practices that are unfair.
“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is a very suspenseful, yet very shocking short story. This story is set in a small village, on a hot summers day in June. Flowers are blooming, and the towns people are gathering for the lottery, which is a tradition the town does every year. As the reader reads the first paragraph they think this is a happy story. The title also says, “The Lottery” which is a word often used for winning something or receiving a prize.
Annotated Bibliography 1. Jackson The Lottery By: Yarmove, Jay A. Explicator. Summer94, Vol. 52 Issue 4, p242. 4p.
What if the lottery was win lose situation? The lottery usually would be a good thing nowadays, perhaps maybe not in the older days. Tessie Hutchinson the wife of Mr. Hutchinson arrives late to the lottery flustered and out of breath. She admits that she forgets its lottery day. Shes more promient then the other villagers and maybe even threathening.
Hutchinson said, as quietly as she could. “I tell you it wasn’t fair. “ (para. 61 ) However, everyone else goes along with the lottery as though blind and oblivious to it’s fatal result that would prove to be the end of one of their own lives. All along, utilitarianism appears to be the key driving force behind this lottery.
In “The Lottery Mrs. Tess Hutchinson” is the only example of the stories theme being, that our senses of justice and unfairness aren’t activated until we ourselves become the victims of injustice. Mrs. Hutchinson refused to accept the fact that her family, later she herself has won the lottery. She never questioned the lottery and its practice until she became the prey of it. The lottery was conducted every year and ended with someone getting stoned to death, which suggests that she helped but when it was her turn, she felt as it was unfair. When the time arrived for her death she starts protesting, saying "It isn't fair," A stone hit her on the side of the head.
By incorporating dramatic irony into “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson is able to convey a sense of understanding and compassion towards the character. This first instance of dramatic irony is where Tessie is pleading to the town’s people that they were unfair to her husband. “People began to look around to see the Hutchinsons. Bill Hutchinson was standing quiet, staring down at the paper in his hand. Suddenly.
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.
In the story “The Lottery” there is this man named Mr.Summers. In the book Mr.Summers takes on a big role. The book described him as a man “ who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, joval man and he ran the coal business.” In the story people felt bad for Mr.Summers because had no children and a wife that was cold.
“The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a lottery that takes place in a small village. The story starts off with the whole town gathering in the town square, where Mr. Summers holds the lottery. Once everyone gathers, every family draws a slip of paper out of an old black box, and the family with the black mark on their paper gets picked. After that, each family member older than 3 years of age re-draws a slip of paper again and this time, the person with the black mark on their paper gets picked as the “lucky winner” of the lottery. In this short story, after the Hutchinson family gets drawn, Tessie Hutchinson is declared “winner” of the lottery, with her reward is being stoned to death.
“The Lottery” is an realism/horror story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about some villagers of a small New England town who follow the tradition of making a lottery every year. When it comes, they like to celebrate it with the correct rules and the correct objects so they can feel more comfortable. Everyone need to take a slip of paper from a small black box, and the paper with a black dot in it means that the family is the winner, then they raffle again; Bill Hutchinson, who was the husband of the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson picked a paper with a black dot in it, that meant that Tessie was the winner of the lottery, then she starts complaining because the drawing was not conducted properly. At the end, the townspeople moved off to a cleared spot outside the town and they begin stoning her to death (Jackson).
Shirley Jackson characterizes Tessie Hutchinson as an insurgent, dominating, egotistical person in her short story, “The Lottery”. Jackson successfully creates this image through diction, imagery, and juxtaposition. Tessie Hutchinson is a member of the village that rebels against society’s standards and expectations, dominates her husband, and only cares about
Human nature can be characterized as being positive, capable of altruism and goodness which sets humankind apart from savage animals; however, human nature possesses a dark side, namely cruelty, and it is capable of barbarism like any beast. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, cruelty is part of human nature, and the participants of the lottery demonstrate human cruelty through violence towards one another; markedly, by exhibiting desensitization to violence and the acceptance of violence resulting in internal dysfunction which is perpetuated yearly. Participants of the lottery belong to a close-knit community, and every year the community hosts an enigmatic lottery draw. The conclusion of the lottery draw is only mysterious until the outcome
