Authorial Background
Shirley Hardie Jackson was born on December 14, 1916 in San Francisco, California. She is best known for her short story The Lottery, which has received negative feedback because of its dark undertones, and her best-selling novel The Haunting of Hill House. Shirley has influenced many writers like Stephen King. Unfortunately she passed away because of heart failure on August 8, 1965.
Setting
The story takes place in a small town with around 300 villagers on the warm summer day of June 27th. Since the story does not give specifics we can only assume it takes place in the United States. If the short story’s time period were the same as when the author wrote it, then the year would be 1948.
Characters Tessie Hutchinson
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Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.”(5)
Plot Summary On the warm summer day of June 27th, the villagers in the town gather together to participate in the annual lottery. Mr. Summers, who runs the event, begins by having the head of every household pick a slip of paper from a black box. Whichever family has the slip with the black dot enters the second drawing of the lottery in which every member of the household participates. Unfortunately the member of the family who picks the slip with the black dot this time does not win money. That person, no matter how old or young, ends up being stoned to death.
Themes The Lottery deals with the theme of Traditions and Rituals. Everyone in the town blindly follows the annual tradition of the lottery. No matter how sickening it is, no one dares to question it because this tradition has been around for so long. Longer than the eldest person in the town, Old Man Warner. People are not only wary about stopping the lottery, but also small things like a new box for the lottery drawings. This story shows the danger of blindly following traditions and how people can get so stuck in their way that they won’t accept
On the day of the lottery everyone was gathered at the town square. Once the lottery began Mr. Summers, who runs the lottery, announced names. As the villagers nervously stepped up they were eager to open the paper. Finally it was time. Everyone opened their paper.
“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.
Shirley Jackson uses rhetoric in her fictional short story “The Lottery” to criticize the perpetuation of outdated traditions. She creates a fictional example that includes enthymemes, intrinsic appeals, and extrinsic proofs between characters as well as in the narration to make her thematic argument that mindlessly keeping traditions is foolish. The lottery example is deliberately exaggerated to accentuate her argument and to present an honorable case that her audience will support. In doing this, Jackson establishes a strong kairos and demonstrates her ability to aptly use rhetoric to make an argument through fiction. Jackson utilizes the dialogue between characters to make some of her strongest points and appeals, particularly through
The Lottery itself represents a primal example of loss of innocence; portrayed through the young boys who gather at the town square to collect rocks for the horrors soon to follow. An illustration of how traditions can lose their true meanings and come to represent violence and warfare. Furthermore, “The Lottery” also represents the decaying characteristics of traditions, as symbolized by the town’s black box, in this case where every year, someone’s name is drawn out of the black box and they are stoned to death, by other members who may or may not end up to be family. Nonetheless, it ends up to be the villagers who
The short story, “The Lottery” was written and published in 1948, three years after the end of the Second World War. During World War II, there was a system set up called the draft in which the government chooses groups of young men to fight at random. This was very scary and chosen at random for the young men. The draft, in a few ways, refers a lot to “The Lottery” and Shirley Jackson was surely influenced by the recent war in the making of this short story. It is a totally random and scary for the individuals called in both instances.
The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story of horror and realism. On June 27th on a late summer morning, the villagers of a small New England village gatherd together in the town square to conduct their annual lottery. There is a black box on a stool and in the box there is pieces of paper in the box. Each person from a family get one paper from the black box even the children get a piece of paper and every stayed quiet and nervouse. Then Bill Hutchinson looked at the paper and notice that he got the black dot.
The tradition of the lottery has been carried out for so long in this village that nobody even knows the reason for its occurring in the first place and nobody questions it. When Old Man Warner, the oldest man in the village, is told about other villages giving up the tradition of the lottery, he says that they are, “[A] pack of crazy fools [...]. There [has] always been a lottery [...]” (Jackson, 4). There is no reason why there has always been a lottery except that every year on June 27th, they held the lottery.
It is hinted that the village started a long time ago because the oldest man in town, Old Man Warner says, “Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery ... Seventy-seventh time. (p. 23, lines 280-282).” Since the lottery has been going on for at least 77 years, it has happened for enough time to call it a
“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is atypical of any other story from its time. Jackson utilizes a shift in tone that is emphasized through the event’s location, attendees, and rituals found within her work to take readers on a wild ride. What begins as an average day on June 27, unfolds into a situation that never could have been expected. Jackson’s use of tone in “The Lottery” functions as a way to distract readers from the overall mood of the gathering. The pleasant and easy-going tone, presented throughout the beginning of Jacksons’s work aims to deter readers from questioning the villager’s initial motives.
The short story “The lottery” is about a small village that has an annual lottery in which the winner gets stoned to death. Many of the townspeople know this is inhumane, but they choose not to speak out because their name isn’t picked. Jackson uses direct characterization to describe all the characters in the village and uses symbolism throughout the story. Not to forget about the vivid description of the setting in the beginning of the short story. Shirley
Throughout centuries, traditions and rituals have had the ability to control one’s behavior. In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, she tells the reader of a small village. On the surface, this community may seem relatively normal. However, despite the picturesque appeal, this falsely serene village has a distinct deceitful flaw. On June 27th, every year, a lottery takes place.
One of the pieces of paper has a black dot on it, and the family that receives the black dot has to draw again, this time facing the possibility of death. In the story, Bill Hutchinson has the black dot, and his wife starts screaming about how unfair it is. She starts yelling about how it’s rigged, and how Bill didn’t get to pick the piece of paper he wanted. Her neighbors started yelling at her to shut up, and telling her to be a good sport.
“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).
The short story “The Lottery” is written by Shirley Jackson. This story takes place in a small village where everybody knows each other. In this story all the villagers gather around town for their annual lottery. Everyone in the village is compelled to follow this tradition even if the outcome ends up with someone dying. In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses conflict, theme, and irony to develop this suspenseful short story.
They do not want to follow the other towns that had given up the lottery. The townspeople are apprehensive of transition because of the unknown factors. One of the examples in the story that shows their lack of willingness to change their customs is the battered black box they use for the lottery. It has been stained and the original color of the wood is shown on the side. Every year, Mr. Summers, who manages the lottery suggests to the villagers to get a new box.