Lila Carroll English 2 Honors Mrs. Lowry April 7, 2023 Consequences of Following Tradition An entire village, for seemingly over a century, has annually committed an act of murder and called it tradition. Shirley Jackson tells the story of a seemingly normal village who is gathering for the town’s annual lottery in the late summer, but the disturbing truth is soon revealed and it highlights how complacency within individuals can have dangerous consequences. Modernism-styled author, Jackson, uses an ironic, nightmarish tone along with frequent imagery to convey humanity’s truth. In her short story "The Lottery" (1948), Shirley Jackson effectively uses the symbolism associated with the lottery’s rituals and situational irony to establish how …show more content…
Jackson creates symbolism with the lottery paraphernalia to represent the village’s lack of care for the Lottery tradition’s actual purpose. The villagers have a specific black box used for drawing names in the Lottery, yet it's described as falling apart, “[growing] shabbier each year”, and finding itself in random places on non-Lottery days (Jackson). The foul condition of the box connects to the lack of care the villagers have for the Lottery and its traditional relevance, although they are very excited for this event. Villagers “had been allowed to lapse” many parts of the Lottery’s ritual, and everyone casually dismissed them over the years (Jackson). Therefore, these people are simply ignoring the functionality of the tradition, if they even knew what it was in the first place. Unlike the rest of the town, Old Man Warner hints that “the ritual might once have held a function” with the saying …show more content…
On the morning of the lottery, children are at play and make “a great pile of stones” while adults speak amongst one another (Jackson). The setting on the day of the Lottery is fresh, warm, and even family friendly to imply a cheerful mood that deeply contrasts to the brutality of the tradition these people are going to take part in. Jackson includes dialogue between Tessie Hutchinson and other villagers and how she “jokes with the crowd about leaving dishes in the sink” as she arrives late and they respond with friendly banter (Michelson). It goes to show that these people were friends, or at least knew one another, and everyone ends up ignoring Tessie after she is chosen, because they aren’t being affected. But Tessie isn’t only a victim in this scenario, she “suggests that Don and Eva should be included in her family’s drawing” in order to increase her chance of survival (Michelson). Tessie’s selfishness is also exposed as she makes last minute offers in order to save herself, volunteering her other family members to take the same chance she is taking. Tessie’s Hutchinson’s final words are “it isn't fair, it isn't right” as the village brutally stones her to death (Jackson). Since she is chosen as the winner of the Lottery, readers can sympathize for Tessie and her tragic fate, but the irony is
One piece of the lottery that kept the most tradition was the black box. The author writes “ the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born. Mr. 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”. This box had been around for so long and represented years of tradition that no one wanted to get a new box.
The Lottery” Essay The lottery, a short story by Shirley Jackson, presents a Dystopia society that follows a tradition of sacrificing one member to ensure good fortune and prosperity. This conforms with the rules of society but exploring beyond this reveals that individuals have the choice to disobey the lotteries’ rules. There are those who adhere to their society's rules and those who attempt to push back against it.
Shirley Jackson strategically withholds information from the reader in order to produce a twist ending that packs a punch in the story, “The Lottery”. As a bonus to the ending of “The Lottery” Jackson foreshadows the late events with irony. Irony is seen as a major component in the title, setting and characterization that helps bring the story toward a shocking conclusion. The use of irony does not begin with any element in the first sentence but within the title itself “The Lottery”.
Since the lottery is randomized, everyone has an equal chance at being slaughtered even though most of them have done absolutely nothing to really deserve it. Tessie is a housewife that is well known in the community and her own friends and family still relentlessly stone her to death. At once all of her family has revealed their papers, and it leaves her paper to reveal the single black dot of death that everyone in the village is fearful of. Assuming that since she is “marked for death”, she deserves to die. They start acting, as though the person that she was once before no longer exists, and she is is not even a human being anymore once that is revealed.
Shirley Jackson's acclaimed short story, "The Lottery," artfully uses different types of irony to skillfully explore its underlying theme. By utilizing verbal irony, situational irony, and irony of setting, Jackson weaves a chilling narrative that critically examines blind conformity to tradition and delves into the dark aspects of human nature. The story's theme, which is revealed through these ironies, serves as a cautionary tale against the dangers of group mentality, the perpetuation of harmful customs, and the sinister realities lurking beneath seemingly ideal environments. Through her skillful use of verbal irony, situational irony, and irony of setting, Shirley Jackson effectively develops the theme of "The Lottery" by shedding light on the dangerous consequences of unquestioningly following tradition, highlighting the inherent cruelty within humanity, and questioning the facade of peace and harmony in society. Verbal irony plays a pivotal role in exposing the hypocrisy and shallowness of the characters in "The Lottery.
All the villagers clear from where Tessie was standing and begin to throw rocks at her. In her last moments, Tessie screams, “‘It wasn’t fair, it isn’t right’” (Jackson 7). Situational irony is utilized in this story to surprise the reader with the outcome of the lottery. The whole idea of a lottery is to win a prize, but in reality, the winner is stoned to death.
Tessie wins the lottery, and the story finishes as the townspeople, including members of her own family, start throwing rocks at her. It is then revealed that the "winner" of the lottery is executed with stones by the remaining citizens. This tradition was created in order to guarantee a successful crop and rid the town of evil prophecies, and the lottery is meticulously explained, along with the events that led to it, but the outcome for the winner is kept a secret until the very end. The frightening community ritual of selecting someone arbitrarily to be stoned to death is literally depicted. However, figuratively speaking, one section of Jackson's short story bravely reveals the truth of the current societal control of women by enforcing standards and limitations upon them. "
In 1948, when the New Yorker published Shirley Jacksons piece, “The Lottery,” it sparked outrage among readers, but could arguably be known as one of her most famous pieces of writing. In this short story, Shirley Jackson used literally elements such as imagery, diction, and symbolism to foreshadow the negative and harsh ending of the story; the harsh ending that sparked such outrage by society in the 1940’s. One of the main ways Jackson foreshadows the ending and true meaning of her short story, “The Lottery,” is through symbolism. Jackson uses the color black throughout the story.
The Lottery Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a short story depicting an event where one member of a community is chosen to be killed at random. Instead of the truth of the lottery being displayed at the beginning of the story, its fatal end is not revealed until the end. The characters’ point of views in the passage expose the irony of this lottery and how each one processes the event from different perspectives. The varying viewpoints visible allow us to gain a better understanding of the emotions felt during the event and better develop the story’s timeline. Mr. Summers, described as a proper and jovial man, has been bestowed the honor of directing the lottery.
“The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson. It was originally published in 1948. This is a few years after the end of World War Two, which probably influenced Jackson into writing this short story. “The Lottery “was very different from anything that had been published in America up to this point. Shirley Jackson incorporated a couple of themes into the story that she felt, needed to be exposed so society could better itself.
“The lottery was conducted—as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program— ” (Jackson 1). These are all events that would be used to bring the community together in a positive and fun way. Readers would not expect that the same place where these light hearted events occur would be the same place that an innocent woman would be stoned to death by her own community and family. Also, this place was strategically placed so that Tessie could be surrounded to be stoned and could not escape. Jackson elaborates on this further by describing, “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” (Jackson 8).
In The Lottery, Tessie has fear for her life and that causes her to betray her culture by being against her tradition. In the start, Tessie supports the tradition of the Lottery but as soon as she realizes that she was the one who got the paper with the black spot, she starts saying “I think we ought to start over, I tell you it wasn’t fair” (Jackson). This act shows that when Tessie finds out that she was going to be stoned, she says that the tradition is not right. The fear of being stoned affects Tessie’s opinion about the tradition and causes her to betray her culture. If someone else had gotten the paper with the black spot, Tessie would have still supported the tradition but the dread of losing her own life changed her mind.
Tessie Hutchinson is the only villager who protests against the Lottery. When the Hutchinson family draws the marked paper, Tessie exclaims: “It wasn’t fair!”. But her fight is not supported by her family and people around. Her voice is ignored even her husband asks her to be quiet. This refrain continues as she is selected and subsequently stoned to death, but people are always selfish.
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a short story about a small rural town with only about three hundred people conducting their annual lottery. The story begins on the morning of the designated day for the lottery. People begin to gather, acting calm as they pass the time making small talk, playing around, and gathering rocks. After some time passes Mr. Summers, the man running the lottery, makes sure everyone is either present or accounted for and the lottery finally begins. Representatives of the families in the town walk up to the old, damaged, black box to draw a slip of paper.
Her statement reveals her belief that the lottery is unfair and the process was not done correctly. However, the other villagers view the lottery as an essential part of their cultural heritage and respond to Tessie's objections with, "Be a good sport, Tessie" (Jackson 7). This response highlights their cultural background and the importance placed on tradition and