Justin Walters Mrs. Briscoe English I Honors 7 September 2017 Violence in “The Lottery” What does the author of The Lottery want us to understand about violence? Well, there are several things that are related to violence in this story by Shirley Jackson, such as the ritual of doing it the way that it is done, the style of it itself, and not even having enough time to draw a card sometimes. The first thing is the ritual of doing the lottery the way that it is done, and that is by kids drawing cards and having a black dot meaning that they were killed by rock-throwing by all of the other villagers. For example, in paragraph two, Jackson explains, “The children assembled first…”, “pockets full of stones”.
“Why are violence and the sacred so intertwined? Why is death seen as necessary to renew life?” —Micheal Wood From the grotesque brutality of the Aztecs to the inhumane slaying by the celtics; ritualistic human sacrifice has been practiced throughout history. Various cultures use society sanctioned killings for reasons such as to appease a higher power, predicting the future and up holding superstition. Sacrifice is best exemplified in Shirley Jackson’s short essay, “The Lottery” in which each year a community stones a fellow citizen in attempts to assure healthy crops.
Shirley Jackson a very popular author well known for her short story called “The lottery” which always leaves the reader thinking. “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948 which is just weeks after it was written. Some other pieces written by Jackson are “The Haunting of Hill House”, “We have always lived in the castle” as well as “Life among the savages”. Jackson tends to write about horror and mystery and has many other pieces with supernatural themes. Many pieces written by Jackson have a small-town setting that end with horror.
The short story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, the plot in the story that it only gives people an account of drawing lots to determine the winner who shall be stoned to death for harvest. However, we get a deep impression of the characters and their fate after reading the story. Jackson indicated a prevalent theme, the indirect of characterization and using symbolism and irony to modify this horror story. The Allegorical story of “ The Lottery” is often regarded as a satire of human behavior and social institutions, and exemplifies some of the central themes of Jackson’s fiction, including the victimization of the individual by society, the tendency of people to be cruel, and the presence of evil in everyday life.
In many short stories, acts of violence serve as a significant mechanism that contributes to the overall meaning and impact of the narrative the author is writing about. To begin off, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, narrates a comparably perfect small suburban community, later striking the truth of the shocking ritual of stones, constraining readers to challenge the nuance of tradition and collective violence. The dark tradition of the lottery expresses how people can do injurious things when they follow instructions without thinking of consequences. The evidence comes from how the community gathers up every year and stones one of their own members. This shows how painless regular people feel when they are following instructions, along with
The short story “The Lottery” is written by Shirley Jackson. This story takes place in a small village where everybody knows each other. In this story all the villagers gather around town for their annual lottery. Everyone in the village is compelled to follow this tradition even if the outcome ends up with someone dying. In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses conflict, theme, and irony to develop this suspenseful short story.
‘The Lottery’ is a story about tradition and sacrifice. However, even though the NY times article is about sacrifice, they are for different things. Such as money vs. good luck. ‘The Lottery’ talks about this small, peaceful village that have no problems and has mainly positive dialogue. But this village has this really weird tradition.
There seems to be a connection to cruelty and beauty in some degree. The two compliment, create, and destroy one another. Without cruelty and suffering, there could not be a beautiful and admirable existence. Shirley Jackson, author of “The Lottery”, suffered from mental illnesses called agoraphobia and depression (Heller, 2012). In spite of her struggles with these incurable diseases, Jackson channeled her dark thoughts into her writing; one out of 75 short stories, “The Lottery” was published in 1948 (Jackson, 1948).
What is violence? Does violence still exist? How do we get rid of this? According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, violence is the use of physical force to harm someone, to damage property, etc. it is an exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse.
“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 itself represents a primal example of loss of innocence; portrayed through the young boys who gather at the town square to collect rocks for the horrors soon to follow. An illustration of how traditions can lose their true meanings and come to represent violence and warfare. Furthermore, “The Lottery” also represents the decaying characteristics of traditions, as symbolized by the town’s black box, in this case where every year, someone’s name is drawn out of the black box and they are stoned to death, by other members who may or may not end up to be family. Nonetheless, it ends up to be the villagers who
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. Participants of the lottery belong to a close-knit community, and every year the community hosts an enigmatic lottery draw. The conclusion of the lottery draw is only mysterious until the outcome
The Symbolism of The Lottery One big symbol that the short story is discreet about is the black box that is repeated throughout the short story symbolizes fear to adults which could affect even the most innocent. The black box appears to be the only paraphernalia that is still being used in the tradition of having a lottery. Mr. Summers is the one who is running the lottery at the time. Mr. Summers is seen as a nice man, however, when he is introduced, he is seen with the black box. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story that uses the black box as a symbol to convey an underlying message that when the power of a tradition is given to a person, it could lead a crumbling society.
In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," the author has demonstrated each symbol and the meaning that holds behind them. The black box is culturally known as a dark and evil color. It represents the fate of the people in town, and the three-legged stool is used as a support for the black box to lay on top of the object. Stoning is ancient.
The Lottery The short story, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson proposes an annual lottery drawing in a little village set in New England. However, unlike any usual lottery, the winner is stoned to death by their fellow townsmen, women and children included. The lottery seems to have been a custom around the area for over seventy years.
