The Nature Of Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

“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.

Conformity can make people do cruel things without reason. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” highlights a village that continues a senseless tradition of stoning the winner of a lottery. Although all the villagers initially seemed innocuous and welcoming, as soon as the winning ticket was drawn, everybody quickly turned against the winner, Mrs. Hutchinson. Through a stark, cold tone, Jackson brings attention to the dangers of unquestionable loyalty to old traditions. Jackson starts the story with antiquated characters that contribute to the blunt tone.

The use of foreshadowing and tone in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery effectively establishes the suspense and a sense of dread in the story. The writer holds back on the revelation of what is happening for so long yet there are subtle uses of foreshadowing to prepare the reader. When the characters assemble in the town square for “the lottery”, it creates suspense as a lottery is usually a positive event. The first example of foreshadowing is when the boys begin to stuff their pockets with stones, at that point in the story – there is no explanation for this yet by the end of the story, this event turns the ending into a realization rather than a surprise. There are many signs of tension throughout the story but they are all subtler than piles

In 1948, the magazine The New Yorker published a short story called The Lottery. Shirley Jackson ,the author, wrote this short story as a fictional story and all the actions in the story are fictional as well. Although this story may seem very real because it didn’t go into graphic details about the time and date giving readers the impression that it could happen anywhere and anytime, the reader can relate better this way because the time wasn’t emphasized, therefore making the story more believable and gives people the feeling that it might happen right now in his/her town. The introduction of this story the day was clear and sunny, it was a warm summer day and all the kids were starting to gather. Flowers were blooming and the grass was a rich green.

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 An example of characterization used by Jackson to help communicate the theme is when Mr. Summers is presenting the black box to the villagers.

The Lottery In the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson the characters have different feelings about The Lottery.One of the characters, Tessie Hutchings feels that The Lottery is unfair. This happens when Tessie 's family is chosen and she all of a sudden thinks The Lottery is unfair. Tessie complains that Mr. Summers didn 't give her husband enough time to choose so that why her family got chosen. Some of the characters think the exact opposite they think The Lottery is fair. Mr Warner thinks the exact opposite he loves The Lottery and thinks it should continue.

There are a few hints in the text that no one enjoys it, including, “ ‘Well, now,’ Mr. Summers said soberly, ‘guess we better get started, get this over with so’s we can go back to work. (p. 19, lines 169-171).’ ” and “She watched while Mr. Graves came around from the side of the box, greeted Mr. Summers gravely and selected a slip of paper from the box (p. 22, lines 238-241).” Shouldn’t a lottery be a joyful occasion? Why is everyone so gloomy? The characters’ behaviors don’t exactly scream “I love the lottery!” The most logical reason for doing something that makes them unhappy is they are doing it as a tradition. But why not break the tradition?

In the short story, “The Second Bakery Attack”, Haruki Murakami shows the plights of a young married couple struggling with a peculiar hunger that can only be solved through the illegal act of attacking a bakery. Although there is immense detail about the struggles of the couple and how their “curse” develops, key ideas such as their names, year they were married, and their backgrounds are left out of the narrative completely. Ambiguity in “The Second Bakery Attack” gives the reader a sense of the unknown and possibly supernatural themes to create the image of a curse. This along with the introduction of the curse itself is a reflection of statements Murakami was making about life. Murakami uses the curse and the unsettling vagueness to symbolize supernatural ideas and create the idea that the marriage of the couple is unsatisfactory.

Othello 's race differentiates him from all other characters and makes him very self-conscious. It makes him work harder for his reputation, so he has the possibility to be regarded as equal to the white people that dominate Venice. Perhaps this is the reason for his success, but the prejudice that is being projected onto him, especially considering his marriage to Desdemona leads to a tragic outcome. Another topic that is being repeated through the play is magic. Othello is accused of using magic to woo his future wife, merely because of his racial disparity, and therefore is called a “pagan” (Shakespeare, 2016, Act 1 Scene 1).

This action rattles the townspeople and catches them off guard, foreshadowing the unsettling impact of her visit. Dürrenmatt plays with the theatrical device deus ex machina in Claire 's character. Defined as "a person or thing that appears or is introduced into a situation suddenly and unexpectedly and provides an artificial or contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty. "(The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). Claire 's character contrives artificial solutions herself to the problems of Güllen while at the same time creating them through manipulation and control over the town.