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Symbolism in literature essay
Life and works of shirley jackson
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Symbolism in literature essay
Life and works of shirley jackson
Literary analysis the help
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The short story that is in review is Shirley Jackson’s, The Lottery. This book was released in June 1948. Soon after its release many people have been said to write letters to Jackson on how offended they were after reading it. This is a very controversial short story in which some of its key literary techniques are going to be evaluated.
When you think of a monster what do you think of? Maybe a childhood bully, a big beast with scary looking features, or maybe the monsters from the movie Monsters Inc. We all have a different perspective on what a monster could be. The dictionary definition of a monster is “an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening” but there is more than one definition of what a monster could be.
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.
Francis Bacon, an English philosopher and author, said, "Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly." An author known as Shirley Jackson created a short story, The Lottery. Similar to the quote, The Lottery should be chewed and digested thoroughly to understand the story's surprising theme. To summarize, in The Lottery, the theme things may not always be as they seem is portrayed through imagery and foreshadowing.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is known as one of the most controversial short stories ever written. It depicts a small fictional town, and weaves details of small-town life into the annual tradition of “the lottery”. The lottery is a barbaric ritual in which a villager is selected at random to be stoned to death by the other villagers. A controversial story that attacks human nature in this way would make a good film, right? Although many people have tried, it wouldn’t.
Shirley Jackson once said, “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.”. Shirley’s story “The Lottery” takes place in a small village where the population was only 300. The children picked up some stones outside the village and brought it where the people do the lottery, which was run by Mr.Summers and Mr.Grave. From the commencement, it sounds normal but as the story progresses the reader will start to notice that it is not a normal lottery. It was actually like a ritual in which one of the people who receives a paper marked with a black dot will be stoned to death with the stones brought by the children. The unfortunate winner was Tessie who was late to the lottery said it was unfair, but at the denouement nothing changed and she was stoned to death.
"The Lottery" is a story about the human capacity for violence, especially when that violence is couched in an appeal to tradition or social order. The lottery itself is tense and very stressful. The characters do not look around at each other. The villagers like to imagine that they're preserving tradition by doing the lottery at its same time every year. The villagers remember very few details, and the box itself that is used to hold the pieces of paper, is not the original.
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson was published on June 26, 1948. Some of her other works include “The Haunting of Hill House”, “Hangsaman”, And “The Sundial”. Jackson is known for many things but mostly for her Horror/Mystery stories as they are known to captivate the reader. Shirley Jackson is a very prolific author because she to brings a unique form of writing to her readers. This is seen through her many novels and short stories as the reader is greeted with something new in each one.
The Lottery is a short story made by Shirley Jackson. In this short story she tells us about the most important day of the year, June 27. Each year on June 27 the town holds an annual lottery where every citizen, young and old, participate. Unfortunately, to who ever is reading, the surprise occurs at the end when Mrs. Hutchinson is the winner of the lottery and the winning she receives is being stoned to death just so the town can have good crop in the fall.
Shirley Jackson was a mid-twentieth century novelist who composed many awarded pieces, most notably being “The Lottery”. Within this piece Jackson was able to adhere to multiple literary devices to create a dark dystopian setting throughout the short story. Jackson utilizes elements such as foreshadowing, juxtaposition, and irony in order to show that human nature is something to be cautious of. Throughout the story Jackson creates specific moments with certain characters or aspects that hint towards the shocking ending.
Many characters in the story have different viewpoint on the lottery. Old Man Warner was one of the advocates for this ritual for many reasons. In the book, it says how there has always been a lottery and how after, they would be eating stewed chickweed and acorns, suggesting that he still believes that the ritual would bring good crops and how it has always been a thing so why give it up now. One person that doesn’t like the lottery is Tessie Hutchinson. When she knew her husband got the slip of paper, she said how it was unfair and he didn’t get enough time to pick the piece of paper.
In “The Lottery” Jackson uses a black box to symbolize death, Jackson says “The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been long lost ago,and the black box now had been resting on the stool. It had been there even before old man Warner”(Jackson 1).This shows symbolism because it shows how old the black box really is. The reader of “The Lottery” can tell that author is using symbolism. In the beginning, Shirley Jackson says “the original paraphernalia had been long lost ago”.(Jackson 1). Jackson also says “They always had spoke of making a new box but no one ever wanted to.
Traditions are not always what they seem to be. In “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, this central idea is clearly stated through the use of symbolism. The text states, “There’s always been a lottery," he added petulantly. " Bad enough to see young Joe Summers up there joking with everybody.
In addition, the superstition of it all does not come to an end yet. Old man Warner remains stuck in his ways as he views the lottery to be necessary for the people of the village. Old man Warner announces his blunt beliefs toward the lottery aloud for those present to listen and criticized how other villages discontinued the tradition. Warner states, “Nothing but trouble in that...pack of young fools” (246). He believes that the ceremony is crucial to a booming village and represents the dedication to his seventy-seventh year of participation while warning others what would happen if the tradition of the ceremony were to be forgotten.
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is basically trying to comprehend the readers what the symbols in the short story could mean. In "The Lottery" there are an amount of symbols that are included in the short story, such as, the black box, the stoning, the people who live in the village, and even the date of the lottery. A symbol is represented through the use of objects. Furthermost noticeable of these objects would be the black box mentioned in the short story.