Shirley Jackson's Lottery

Jackson The Lottery By: Yarmove, Jay A. Explicator. Summer94, Vol. 52 Issue 4, p242. 4p. Reading Level (Lexile): 1230. , Database: MasterFILE Premier

Anticipation mingled with uncertainty, better known, as suspense, is an inevitable quality of human nature. Suspense is occasionally a great mechanism. It allows the author to keep the readers alert and leads up to the element of surprise, which is a successful writing tool that makes a story more enjoyable. The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson builds up suspense through the foreshadowing of a horrible moment, creating a character that stands out from the crowd all while withholding the true nature of the story.

Shirley Jackson a very popular author well known for her short story called “The lottery” which always leaves the reader thinking. “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948 which is just weeks after it was written. Some other pieces written by Jackson are “The Haunting of Hill House”, “We have always lived in the castle” as well as “Life among the savages”. Jackson tends to write about horror and mystery and has many other pieces with supernatural themes. Many pieces written by Jackson have a small-town setting that end with horror. 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

On June 26 of 1948, Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, made its first appearance in an issue of The New Yorker. Jackson was surprised by the substantial amount of backlash she received in regards to her harrowing writing that manifests the rituals of human sacrifice. The story takes place in a small town on an ordinary summer morning. The villagers assemble at the town square for the annual lottery, where one of the villagers will be randomly chosen to sacrifice themselves to the gods of a fertility religion. The villagers believe that a human sacrifice must take place in June to ensure that a bountiful harvest was ahead of them. Jackson satirizes many social issues within the plot of The Lottery, including the reluctance of people to abandon obsolete traditions, ideas, practices, rules, and laws. The superstitious notions tied to tradition provokes the participants to carry out certain customs and set morals aside in order to safeguard a fabricated future. Jackson’s piece embodies underlying attributes of human sacrifice and rituals similar to events that are prevalent in American History, such as the Salem Witch Trials. In colonial Massachusetts, between 1692 and 1693, a series and hearings and prosecutions of people allegedly performing witchcraft took place. A simple rumor precipitated a widespread hysteria, leading to approximately 200 accusations and 20 deaths. Both The Lottery and Salem Witch Trials exemplify how the American culture is essentially

In society, there are many standards that people must uphold to. In western society, it is uncommon for men to have long hair or for women to have short hair. Naturally, people will be conscientious of their differences between other people and try to change them or cover them up, and often times people who do not follow the standard are looked down upon. This leads to people trying to fit into the groups around them almost thoughtlessly. However, when people conform without thinking, it can lead to dangerous consequences. Often times, mindless conformity leads to senseless violence that could have been avoided with just a little more thought.

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. The purpose of the lottery is to continue the old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order for a harvest. The scapegoat is chosen at random and then stoned to death by his/her companions. Although “The Lottery” reflects an event from the past, Jackson shows that many of the actions of the town resemble the tribulations that ensue in today’s society.

A persons’ preconceived notion that their authority has their best interest at hand can often lead to a corrupt society. According to Septima Poinsette Clark, “The greatest evil in our country today is...ignorance...We need to be taught to study rather than to believe.” In other words, people are taught to blindly believe what they are told without questioning whether it is right or wrong. This quote is valid because if the masses of a society believe in a corrupt authority then the few who rebel will be dismissed and thought of as outcasts. Two literary works that support this quote are “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. In both story’s the societies believe in an unjust authority which ultimately

“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. Why would such a cruel event take

In her story "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson implies the negative consequences of blindly following tradition through the acceptance, by the villagers, of the tradition of the lottery. Jackson suggests that the people of the village are afraid to give up the little tradition they have, even if it is not good. Every year after the lottery, the conductor of the lottery, Mr. Summers suggests that they should build a new box but, “No one [likes] to upset even as much tradition as [is] represented by the box.” (Jackson, 1). The black box symbolizes ritual and tradition. This quote reveals how firmly rooted the villagers are to this tradition and how menacing they find the idea of change. The villagers take such pride in the ritual of the lottery

The story started when people are gathered every end of June for the annual lottery ritual in a small village. All the head of each family are required to grab a slip of paper in the box that is placed in the middle of the village. The in charge of the lottery was Mr. Summer. The conflict occurs when Tessie found out that her husband Bill was the center of the Villager’s attention. There is something on the paper that he picked. Because of that Tessie can’t even accept it and she keep on yelling that it is not fair. She believed that the time given to Bill was not enough to pick the paper that he wanted from Mr. Summer. The entire Hutchinson family, are called up to the box. Mr. Summers puts five slips of papers inside the box including the paper that Bill had picked earlier. Due to it, all the family member of Hutchinson draws a slip of paper from the box. Unfortunately, only Tessie who had picked the paper with a black dot of pencil on it. From that, she begins to yell again and screams that it was not fair. A minute passed, all the villagers formed a circle together with the stone that they have picked earlier and they surrounded Tessie. They made sure that the ritual will go over before dinner. Tessie keeps screaming until a stones struck on her head. It was the oldest man in the village, Man Warner urges the villagers on. The villagers descend Tessie with the stones.

Many people would die to win the lottery; in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson you would do anything NOT to win this lottery. This annual lottery reveals the negative aspects of this town’s Tradition, Savagery, Barbarism, and cold-heartedness. In this paper I will show why this town blindly follows these customs, not because it’s a tradition but because of the accepting wickedness that can be shown.

Was conducted the lottery story in 1948. In this story, the lottery is a yearly tradition that takes place in a small American Town. Contrary to the normal lottery, in this case one person is randomly selected to be killed by stoning, something the villagers believe to be good for the village. This tradition is accepted by everyone in the village, in fact, including women and children. The author of this story shows the theme of conflict and controversy that hits the lottery.

Shirley Jackson’s “The lottery” is a story based on tradition. When hearing the word tradition, most people think of team rituals before games, or something families do together annually. However, Jackson is obviously not like most people. She builds up a fair amount of tension around this ritual that is taking place to make readers wonder what is going on. She uses many different techniques to show that sometimes, traditions are not always meant to go on forever. The three techniques she used that were most prominent are symbolism, irony, and diction.

The short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson takes place in a small New England village. It is in summer, to be more specific, 27th June. It is a clear and sunny day. From the start of the short story, there is no clear reason why the village conducts the lottery. There are some villagers that are not keen to participate in it. The real reason behind the lottery is slowly revealed as the story progresses. Jackson writes the story from a third-person narrator. Therefore, there is no access to the thoughts and feelings of the characters. With action and dialogue, villagers express themselves. The story is about a culture of the village, which is called “The Lottery”. Before reading the story, the main idea is about people winning prizes at a lottery.

The story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, wanted us to acquire that the fear of change, and expressing your opinion can drive you to follow the crowd. This short story takes place in a small New England village on June 27th. A ritual called The Lottery was being practiced. A case in point, the author tells us, “Every year after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without being done.” (p. 1-2) The villagers experiencing the lottery all wanted a change. They did not understand the ritual or favor it at all. The villagers were afraid to fully modify this event. They were scared of speaking up and taking action. To illustrate that the fear of expressing your opinions