While real life traditions are rarely so extreme, Jackson’s exaggerated fictional example emphasizes her point to great effect. By the end of the story, the audience is convinced that the town is wrong to uphold the lottery tradition, but Jackson is not really writing about a lottery; she is writing about how damaging it can
Traditions have been sought after and passed on for generations; with no questions asked, whether humane or not, traditions are hard to break and diminish as they are often what a culture or community stands for. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, a story about the tradition of a small village, is painted in impeccable details of peace, and serenity on a warm summer day, as everyone follows the tradition they have known since a long time ago despite the true intentions and meaning of it forgotten. The Lottery taking place annually is like no other lottery, it paints the true picture of the horror that epitomizes the tradition that none of the villagers dare to question, despite it creating separation between gender and families and ruining
“The Lottery" is a verdict of depraved tradition of a community. The story surrounds a town where the lottery is drawn every year as a sacrifice ritual one 's life for a good fertile crop. The lottery rose up public opinions when it first published in 1948. It is a piece of Shirley Jackson in which she wrote about inhumanity and violence among human based on her real experience when she moved to a small town and was rejected by its people. Shirley Jackson always believed in sinful spirit within each individual self as her writing style portrayed the vicious side of her and people 's souls, “The dark current of awareness of evil that runs through her life and work seems too strong to have as its sole root the observance of suburban hypocrisy” (Judy Oppenhaimer).
Many people feel they are being persuaded into doing acts that they don’t want to, or having judgments that they don’t believe in, all because people are used to doing what they see others do. In Chris Abani’s short story The Lottery, he was only a 10 year old boy when he got pressured into seeing a man burn and had to also spit on him. Langston Hughes was also a young boy in Salvation, when he had to lie in church, about being saved by Jesus. In the short piece Why Are Beggars Despised? George Orwell does not see a difference in beggars who live on the streets and working people.
“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is a very suspenseful, yet very shocking short story. This story is set in a small village, on a hot summers day in June. Flowers are blooming, and the towns people are gathering for the lottery, which is a tradition the town does every year. As the reader reads the first paragraph they think this is a happy story. The title also says, “The Lottery” which is a word often used for winning something or receiving a prize.
We all have our differences, from food to language to beliefs. We all have troubles accepting differences, though, even the author of this herself. Not accepting differences could be the fall of humanity. We all could go against one another, destroying ourselves in the process. If we keep discriminating each other this is a possible effect of it.
The stories "The Lottery" and "The Hunger Games" are very similar to one another. Both stories show fear, sacrifice, and violence in some way. The government is corrupt and is not willing to stop deadly traditions that have gone on for too long. These traditions should have never started in the first place. In "The Lottery," citizens fear that they will no longer be able to grow crops as a result of not having this deadly game.
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. For starters, The short story foreshadows many events to come and makes people’s lives more stressful and fearful.
Literary Elements used in The Lottery By definition the word lottery means a process or thing whose success or outcome is measured by chance (“lottery”). To most people winning the lottery would conjure up excitement and overall good feelings. However, in the short story The Lottery written by Shirley Jackson, the lottery has a twisted and horrific meaning.
The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story of horror and realism. On June 27th on a late summer morning, the villagers of a small New England village gatherd together in the town square to conduct their annual lottery. There is a black box on a stool and in the box there is pieces of paper in the box. Each person from a family get one paper from the black box even the children get a piece of paper and every stayed quiet and nervouse. Then Bill Hutchinson looked at the paper and notice that he got the black dot.
In the story “The Lottery” there is this man named Mr.Summers. In the book Mr.Summers takes on a big role. The book described him as a man “ who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, joval man and he ran the coal business.” In the story people felt bad for Mr.Summers because had no children and a wife that was cold.
“The Lottery” is an realism/horror story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about some villagers of a small New England town who follow the tradition of making a lottery every year. When it comes, they like to celebrate it with the correct rules and the correct objects so they can feel more comfortable. Everyone need to take a slip of paper from a small black box, and the paper with a black dot in it means that the family is the winner, then they raffle again; Bill Hutchinson, who was the husband of the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson picked a paper with a black dot in it, that meant that Tessie was the winner of the lottery, then she starts complaining because the drawing was not conducted properly. At the end, the townspeople moved off to a cleared spot outside the town and they begin stoning her to death (Jackson).
“The Lottery” Short Story Essay In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, Jackson displays many cases of symbolism over an interesting theme. He also shows some irony throughout his short story. His story takes place in a fictional small town around an annual lottery. However, this isn’t a regular lottery. This lottery is based on the idea of “survival of the fittest” and is put in place to keep order in society.
In the story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson; the author believes that following traditions and rituals blindly can lead to bad results. First of all, the disadvantage of following a tradition is that it can create violence and unknowingly distribute the thought of guilt between the people of society. For example, when a person’s name is picked out from the raffle, it’s in their tradition to start throwing stones at the unlucky person thoughtlessly. This also generates the eagerness to hurt the individual. Besides, the family members of the victim are not allowed to defy the society and dispute.
As ‘The Lottery’ is a short story, the author doesn’t expound each and every detail. There is a ‘vacuum’ in the story, but it is a desirable vacuum. It leaves a room for diverse imaginations, accommodating an active participation of its readers. For example, the author doesn’t give much information about the lottery or characters. All we know about the lottery is that it is an old tradition that involves
