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Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

593 Words3 Pages

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. Through her use of setting, …show more content…

Using the the setting of men talking about their daily lives, Jackson conceals the horrific ending. Also Jackson describes the setting of the day to be pleasant and soothing.Shirley Jackson illustrates"The morning of June 27th, was clear and sunny" and indicates "flowers were blooming profusely and the grass was richly green". Jackson describes the day as winsome and typical.Jackson also specifies the day the of the tradition was June 27th, which also induces the reader that the tradition is ordinary. Jackson shows the boys are making a big pile of stones in the corner of the square. Shirley divulges"Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones", and they and rest of the boys "made a great pile of stone s in one corner of the square". The boys making a pile of stones is a troubling detail Jackson describes in the short story. Jackson betokened the eventual ending that the reader could possibly portray. Another disturbing fact is that a distressed black box is placed in the center of the square. Shirley Jackson says "the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr. Summers but the black box on it". This is disturbing detail that makes the reader wonder what is in the mysterious box .This detail ultimately leads to the terrifying ending. The people choosing from the box is another disturbing fact. Jackson writes “Mr. Summers declared the box to be open" and adresses "There had been a ritual

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