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Symbolism In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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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. When reading The Lottery for the first time, the story is quite confusing until you get to the end. But once you get to the end and put all the pieces together one can find symbolism throughout the whole story. For example the black box, the last name of the characters. One character that stands out is Tess Hutchinson. Tess Hutchinson is Bill Hutchinson's wife. In The Lottery Tess does many things to separate/ make herself stand out from everyone else throughout the story. Many of the things she does is what leads to her death. When the reader first meets Tess she is arriving late …show more content…

The narrator notes that “They [the men] stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.” (3) Compare this to how Tess came in “Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square.” (8) and is reassured that she is one time. The other women just stand and observe when their husbands draw but Tess says “Get up there, Bill,” and the people near her laugh, making her stand out once again. Tess isn't very symbolic in The Lottery when compared to Mr. Graves, Mr. Summers, or Old Man Warner, Tess is actually very anti-symbolic. She is just a woman with an apron and soapsuds on her hands, who cracks jokes so she can feel like part of her community. But her community does not want her. Tess is the “sacrificial lamb” for that year. Tess is an outsider of that village who is then violently

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Usually there’s a winner in a lottery, but not in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. This story intrigued me by it's suspenseful nature and it's chaotic events. In small town America, they come together once a year to perform an annual tradition. Mrs. Jackson demonstrates literary devices such as foreshadowing, mood, and conflict in “The Lottery”. Foreshadowing is used quite a few times in “The Lottery”.

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“The Lottery” Interpretive Essay “The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a lottery that takes place in a small village. The story starts of with the whole town gathering in the town square, where Mr. Summers, the official, holds the lottery. After that, every family draws out of an old black box, and a certain family gets picked. Out of the certain family, one person gets picked as the unlucky “winner” of the lottery. In this short story, after the Hutchinson family gets drawn, Tessie Hutchinson is declared “winner” of the lottery.

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It wasn't fair!". This allows the reader to see that maybe winning the Lottery might not be so desirable. While the others try to calm her down, she tries to substitute to her own daughter instead of herself even though she rightfully was chosen. Through all of this happening the reader has no idea what is going on which makes it even more disturbing. The reader does not know why the lottery is undesirable and why Tess is so sad she is chosen.

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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.

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Additionally, the black box Old Man Warner brings to the square holds more than the “original paraphernalia for the lottery”, which was lost long ago (Jackson, 1948). The box shows importance and unknown powers that gives the reader a hint that its use draws the supposedly winning lottery. Then there was Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson, a woman who was late to the sacred meeting, which set her apart from the other families gathered at the square on time. The fact she was late isolated the character and possibly foreshadowed her secluded fate (Marshall, 2014). The use of foreshadowing builds up an unforthcoming tension throughout the story, leaving the reader searching for relief.

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Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper are classic short stories that have a powerful effect on their readers. Through the plight of their characters, Tessie and the Jane, Jackson and Gilman masterfully introduce their readers to the harsh realities of cruel and unjust societies. Although Tessie and Jane are from two separate stories, they bare many remarkable similarities, as both women are victims of their worlds’ formidable and stifling traditions. Both of the women’s different approaches to their similar plights, as well as the treatment they receive from their husbands, create unique and intriguing characters for both stories.

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So then Tessie starts to complain that the drawing was not set up properly (Jackson). In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses the symbolism, characterization, and theme to develop this short story. The symbolism of

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In “Birthday Party,” Katharine Brush’s purpose for writing the short story was to reveal how something that is good can go so wrong. She also demonstrates how some things are not what they seem. Especially in the situation that she wrote. Her purpose from the beginning to end is demonstrated by the use of literary devices. Brush begins by describing the scenario, she states, “They sat on the banquette opposite us.”

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The Lottery is a story by Shirley Jackson. It is about a town that has a type of stoning event called the lottery. It is basically like gambling with your life. Each person has to pull out a slip of paper out of a black box. There are enough slips for each member of the town.

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“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.

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The narrator states that in the story, “Just as Mr.Summers finally left off talking and turned to the assembled villagers, Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly the path to the square, her sweater thrown over her shoulders, and slid into place in the back of the crowd. “ Clean forgot what day it was,” she said to Mrs. Delacroix, who stood next to her, and they both laughed softly. “Thought my old man was out back stacking wood,” Mrs. Hutchinson went on. “And looked out the window and the kids were gone, and then I remembered it was the 27th and then came running.” This quotation shows that there is something going on because Mrs. Hutchinson is acting strange.

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Another quote to suggest the crowd grew nervous was when Mr. Adams was called upon, “They grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously”. She described what the characters were doing and not what their thoughts or intentions were. Shirley Jackson intensified the feeling when Tessie hysterically protested Bill’s “winning” selection, by withholding information until the last possible second, she builds the story’s suspense and creates a shocking, powerful conclusion. In conclusion, The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson builds up suspense by foreshadowing the horrible moment through the children who felt uneasy and collected rocks, creating a character that stands out from the crowd, Tessie Hutchinson, the person who saved her husband but could not save herself. More importantly, withholding the true nature of the story until the end, leading to the tragic death of Tessie

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“The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a lottery that takes place in a small village. The story starts off with the whole town gathering in the town square, where Mr. Summers holds the lottery. Once everyone gathers, every family draws a slip of paper out of an old black box, and the family with the black mark on their paper gets picked. After that, each family member older than 3 years of age re-draws a slip of paper again and this time, the person with the black mark on their paper gets picked as the “lucky winner” of the lottery. In this short story, after the Hutchinson family gets drawn, Tessie Hutchinson is declared “winner” of the lottery, with her reward is being stoned to death.

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She realizes that this is an unpleasurable and outdated tradition and should be forgotten only because she got chosen. However, if her family’s name wasn’t drawn, she would have blindly followed the ritual, thrilled to have escaped a gruesome, sacrificial death. As a reader it is easy to empathize for Tessie since she or others don’t have a voice in their community or are even able to look at the bigger picture and see that the lottery is unnecessary. Not only does the dramatic irony of the lottery allow the reader to understand Tessie’s view, it creates a similar feeling towards Bill Hutchinson. For example, “Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand.

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