What Is The Lottery A Universal Statement About Dangerous Tendencies In Human Nature

    Traditions can be part of one 's culture but should they be changed? The author’s purpose is to make the reader’s question some traditions. In the story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, uses tone and mood to make the reader question the tradition of stoning people. In the story, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseni uses person vs person conflict to make the reader question the tradition of calling unwanted kids harami. In the story, “2BR02B” by Kurt Vonnegut, uses person vs society conflict to make the reader question the tradition of population control. Authors demonstrate purpose in their writing with tone/mood, person vs person conflict, and person vs society conflict.

In the short story, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, the characters have a different type of normal. June 27, lottery day, marks the day of the death of an innocent person. As I read this story, I was very puzzled. This story made me think about the death of a person, whether be young or old, liked or disliked. The death on lottery day was thought to be normal in these towns, but it was not normal to me. This tradition is gruesome and made me uncomfortable that this could be normal to anyone, fictional or real.

“The Lottery,” a short story written by Shirley Jackson, takes place in a small, simple town. The main characters are Tessi, Bill, Old Man Warner, and Mr. Summers. This town is very strict to tradition. Annually this town holds a “Lottery”, is actually a drawing where people get stoned. Not everyone gets stoned to death. It depends on what paper you draw. They can’t get out of it, they are all forced. A major issue to this story is social conformity, this means that people do something because it seems like everyone else is doing the same thing. Social conformity really hurts people because it blocks people from seeing the real you, this happens basically throughout the entire story.

“The Lottery”, a horror story created by Shirley Jackson, is about a moderate sized village that sacrifices innocent villagers in a forsaken lottery for the sake of tradition, and for their belief of good fortune that will arise. This story presents a lot of themes that relate to the real world, and these themes revolve around the negatives of society such as shunning, and forced indoctrination. One theme demonstrated was the theme of tradition versus progress. Tradition is not always right because it prevents society from progressing forward. Shirley Jackson vividly presents that theme through the characters’ malicious actions.

The short story, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, is about a village that takes part in this annual ritual called the lottery, but instead of the usual winning and receiving a heaping of money, you get pelted with stones until you are no longer breathing. Harsh right? There is actually a harsh reality to this story. It is shown in The Lottery that society and humans are very inhumane at times and that they will follow along side others in traditions with out a sight to what is actually going on.

“The Lottery,” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson portraying what readers think would be an innocent story. The story takes place in the summer, in a small village of 300 people. In the story Jackson describes the people of the village gathering for their annual lottery that has happened for years. She sets up her readers by naming the story “The Lottery,” which have them believe that the lottery will be a great outcome. Although, as readers read the story they have an odd feeling that something terrible will occur at any moment and there will be no great outcome. Throughout the story Jackson uses suspense, symbolism and foreshadowing while having readers discover the main theme of the story.

Imagine a society where killing somebody for the sake of a tradition is acceptable.In the short story “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson describes an ordinary village with normal people, but as the story progress the details of their yearly practice known as “the lottery” unravels to be more disturbing.The author subverts the readers’ expiations by persuading the reader into assuming “the lottery” is a ordinary tradition until unusual details and the behavior of the characters come into place. In her short story “The Lottery,” Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear so, it is inherently barbaric.

Certain rules and traditions are placed to create order in society; although, extreme traditions can cause a corrupt society, instead of benefiting it will damage the society. “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson, one of the first examples of a dystopian society in literature. In the lottery, author Jackson, portrays a rural society from the past, that is unconscionable and corrupt, displaying immoral community caused by living in a bureaucratic dystopian society. This is displayed through characters actions and element’s. Analyzing the text for symbols and archetypes

Throughout time, society has had its ups and downs but in the short story “The Lottery” people’s lives are taken to the next level by challenging their luck of survival. Today winning the lottery is rewarding and a positive feeling, but in the short story it’s nothing but a dangerous tradition that will end someone’s life. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson creates a story filled with foreshadowing, irony and a ritualized tradition that masks evil which ultimately demonstrates the central idea that people should not blindly follow tradition.

As the infamous serial killer, Richard Ramirez, once stated, “We’ve all got the power in our hands to kill, but most people are afraid to use it. The ones who aren’t afraid, control life itself.” Although Ramirez was referring to a single person who may have the desire and intention to kill others, his quote still holds true for Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery. The people of the town hold an annual ritual of each picking a scrap of paper from a box, which ultimately chooses a sacrifice to ensure good crop for that year. The subtle darkness within the story becomes more prevalent with Jackson’s use of symbols and instances of irony. In the end, it is obvious that Tessie, the wife of the villager, Bill Hutchinson, is going to die at

The villagers on “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson are afraid to let go of their tradition, the lottery. They are concern of unknown consequences that will happen if they change their old customs. So, for every year, the villagers gather at the square to do the lottery at 10 AM .

Traditionally many ancient societies would kill their people to sacrifice to God in order to obtain rain or a good harvest. These mindlessly, followed traditions were never critically thought about and therefore citizens died year after year. A similar tragedy occurs in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. This story features a civilization much like our own but with one small difference, the town’s people hold a lottery every year and the town stones who ever loses to death. Through out the story it is evident the danger of blindly following tradition is developed through the symbolism of the black box, the setting and atmosphere the author creates, the symbolism behind the act of the lottery and what it represents on modern day society.

This quotation meaning if the people in The Lottery noticed how unfair the lottery truly was then maybe they could change the society. Thusly, leading them to stop conforming to their old barbaric ideas. However, the people will not stop and see the unfairness of the lottery. They may drop parts of the tradition, but it will always be there in the shabby black box. Furthermore, the people enjoyed the tradition of stoning the chosen one. The boys made it a game to pick the best possible rocks before the person was chosen. Therefore, this demonstrates the idea that, “evil and personal suffering are still connected” (Parks, 27). Mrs. Hutchinson and her family are suffering but the evil of conformity has trained the society to believe this treatment is normal

Human nature can be characterized as being positive, capable of altruism and goodness which sets humankind apart from savage animals; however, human nature possesses a dark side, namely cruelty, and it is capable of barbarism like any beast. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, cruelty is part of human nature, and the participants of the lottery demonstrate human cruelty through violence towards one another; markedly, by exhibiting desensitization to violence and the acceptance of violence resulting in internal dysfunction which is perpetuated yearly.

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is an account of a tradition gone awry. In this short story the villagers of this town have a tradition where they have a “lottery” to see who gets stoned to death. The characterization and symbolism used in the story makes the reader feel as if society has crumbled with the inhumane tradition that ultimately lost its meaning. Throughout the story, Jackson uses characterization and symbolism to imply a message to society about the meaning of tradition. Through the use of characterization and symbolism Jackson establishes that blindly following traditions can be hazardous