“The Lottery”written by Shirley jackson. The story is about how a town followed by others had a ritual that was strongly followed. The townspeople thought by killing one of the villagers it would bring them a good year of crops. In “the lottery”,Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to strengthen the theme of the story. One of the literary devices that Shirley Jackson uses is symbolism.
This twisted world represents a how blinded we can become by traditions and this can ultimately lead to the loss of great relationships. After Tessie won the lottery, her family and friends turned on her and stoned her to death without having a valid reason to do so. However the event of the lottery resulted in the unity of the town as they helped one another in preparing for the lottery and during the time of the stoning. This tight grasp on tradition can give families and communities a common connection; my family always eats tamales and reads the Christmas story every Christmas Eve. This tradition is an outward act of showing others that we are a family and belong together.
The one who wins the lottery suffers while everyone else in the society benefits; they continue being happy at the expense of the unfortunate character who wins. In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” one child is chosen and forced to live in an unpleasant basement with undesirable living conditions. Everybody in the society knows of this child’s suffering but refrains from helping him in order to continue being happy themselves. LeGuin writes, “Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children,...depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery” (LeGuin, 3). The people in Omelas
Describe the “tradition” of the Lottery. In other words, what was the original purpose of the lottery? The original purpose of The Lottery was to sacrifice a person so they will have a pletiful harvest the next season. “lottery in June, Corn be heavy soon” (P.641) this shows how the towns people belived in the superstision that having the lottery would make their harvest more successful.
The theme of “The Lottery” is that you can’t trust everyone that you think trusts you. This is proven when Tessie desperately tries to explain the situation to her friends and family, but they kill her anyway, “ ‘It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,’ Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and they were upon her” (Jackson, 7). The Hunger Games’ theme is that you can find trust where your heart lies. “Peeta, who’s wounded, is now my ally….The thought makes me smile”(Collins, 244-248).
Katniss also believed that the games were an unnecessary event and the districts should not continue supporting it. Effie disagrees with her beliefs towards the games and forced her to compete. Bigotry is also present in the novel, Ender's Game. Bean, the main character does not want to be seen as a murderer or have other people dislike him for what he is being forced to do. On page 108, Ender says to another character Dink, “It’s the teachers, they’re the enemy.
They spent lots of time together and had very sweet and passionate experiences. Sadly she had to leave her aunt’s house, leave the first boys she has ever been in love with and go back to a torturous place, her home. When she got back, she got beat up a lot more because while living with her aunt, she learned how to stand up for herself and grow up. That didn’t sit well with her father and he beat her up for standing up for herself at the dinner table. Of course it didn’t faze her mother because she was eat herself, but it emotionally hurt her younger siblings.
For example, she witnesses bullying in kindergarten class. She fears the white girl with golden hair, “Stacey Sherwin was the kingmaker, already adept at wielding her power. A few days earlier, she had announced, “Jeannine Collins stinks like garbage water,” and Jeannine Collins had peeled away from the group, ripping her glasses from her tear-smudged face, while the other girls in Stacey’s coterie tittered (p.165). Because Stacey has the power to oppress the person she does not like, Lydia experiences panic when Stacey asks her to visit her home. Lydia is afraid for being choosing as the next target of the bullying.
Helen didn't respect Annie, she would throw spoons, eat off other’s plates, and try escaping, hiding, biting,stabbing her with a sewing needle. Annie had to try and not hit her back even though she did horrible things to her. Helen when her mom brought a new baby home she didn’t realize that the baby crate was there where it was sound asleep, and she knocked it over and it knocked the baby out of it and the crate landed on top of the baby. Her dad yelled at her and the other nanny grab helen and gave her a doll. Helen starts crying because her nanny throws her to show her what it feels like and picks her back up to comfort her.
“And when it’s done?” Julian said. “And Mark’s back? How do we explain that?” (148) The Hunger Games is a very famous answer to this question, as Katniss and Peeta are breaking the rules every single day that they survive, from not killing each other in the first story, to breaking the shield around the second Hunger Games, and in the third story, flat out rebelling against the capital using propaganda, such as the song “The Hanging Tree.”
“The Lottery,” a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a woman who has been selected for sacrifice by a lottery drawing. Tessie Hutchinson, and the rest of her town, are unfeeling about how the annual sacrifice affects the selected. However, they carry on with their tradition year after year, with no intent to make changes to meet modern day morals and needs. “The Lottery” is about blindly following tradition, the awareness of how cruel a practice sacrificing is, and how one’s mindset can change when they are the chosen one. (1) When one blindly follows tradition, they become unmindful.
Even though she is only there for 15 months, she realizes soon that this will be a challenge for her. Piper offends the prison kitchen cook, Red, who then punishes Piper for her actions by serving her a bloody tampon and starving her. If Piper had just eaten what she was offered instead of making sure that her comment was heard, Red wouldn’t have made Piper suffer the way she did. According to “Howard Journal of Criminal Justice,” “None of these comments suggest rationality other than the rational need of more marginalized young people to feel a sense of belonging and to have some form of social- and self-identity in an otherwise liminal period of their lives. Yet the focus on individual deficiencies and responsibilisation does not encourage offenders to gain a sense of belonging or motivation to change; on the contrary, it positively discourages it” (Barry 353).
Even though they know it is a cruel thing to do, they aimlessly continue this tradition without questioning it because they are not sure what might happen if they stop. This short story shows how senseless people can be when it comes to following fatal traditions.
Jackson in her story “The Lottery” takes readers on an obscure emotional journey. In her story she implies that it can be dangerous to blindly follow tradition. In a small seemingly peace filled village a lottery is taking place. Everyone is participating Mr. Summers, the event organizer arrives carry the black box which hold all of the lots. One father, Mr. Hutchinson, takes his turn and draws the loosing lot.
Another thing she does constantly is not let her brother do things alone. Jem would want to go do things alone, but Scout would say “no, I 'm comin’ with you”. Scout is a vital part of to Kill a Mockingbird not only because she is the point of view, but the book would be boring without her even as a supporting role. She is this prominent because of her personality and assertiveness.