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Death Depicted In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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The hush of deathly mutilation will always follow a downpour of stones. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” ends in this grim death after being misled by the title. What seems to start out as a virtuous time in the story, a traditional gathering on a sunny day with green grass and children running amok, takes a severe turn when the friendly community is actually coming together to play the game of stoning roulette. At the assembly, the head of each attending household will pull a card, either blank or marked with a dot. Of course, if the card is blank, the entire household is in the clear of facing their doom. But if the dot-marked card is pulled, each family member draws from an equal amount of slips to decide which of them is to never see another day again. Every year this takes place, someone chosen to die, and no one has ever questioned it. Jackson uses an ironical setting, symbolism, and character development to show that fear-induced conformity can be overridden by the democracy of people. The setting of the story comes into play starting with the first sentence. Jackson writes, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were …show more content…

This character, Tessie Hutchinson, also hides in the conformity in the beginning, even making humoredly comments such as, “Wouldn't have me leave m'dishes in the sink, now, would you,” as it’s followed by the laughter of other villagers (292). When she arrives for the lottery, she exchanges words with one of her acquaintances, Mrs. Delacroix, which also plays a key role in the theme later. After a long anticipation, the winner of the lottery is chosen, being Hutchinson. Her attitude quickly changes, exclaiming that it wasn’t fair, as the rest of the village closes in on her for the stoning. Even Delacroix selects a stone so big, she must hold it with two

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