ipl-logo

The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Essay

408 Words2 Pages

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

The American writer, Shirley Jackson, is best known for her story 'The Lottery'. It's perfect candidate for anthologies, having manageable length at about 3,400 words. It was published in the New Yorker on 1948 and collected in the lottery and other stories, the story is about a village where an annual lottery us drawn. However, the fate of the person who draws the 'winning' slip is only revealed at the end of the story in a dark twist.
" The Lottery" is a story about a mob mentally and blind tradition, where people perform seemingly irrational virtuals simply because' they've always done so' for as long as they can remember. Did man Warner the old man of the village, qoutes and old saying 'lottery in June, can be heavy soon' , indicating that the annual lottery is thought to bring …show more content…

It also tells us that when a practice is part of our society, we won't think about wether it's right or wrong.
Certainly there are several disconcerting revelation about human nature in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery". One of these is man's innate penchant for violence. How carefully people disguise this desire with cheerful words such as those Mr. Summer and Mrs. Delacroix, who is always laughs softly with Tessie Hutchinson yet, as the ritual is about to start, this same friendly Mrs. Delacroix lugs a huge stone with both hands, encouraging others to "hurry up" in her lust for violence.
What a reader sees in the story depends on which point of view one wants to take: Is it the hypocrisy of the people? The coldness of their hearts? The practice of ridiculous tradition? The ignorance of people under a bad leadership? There are several themes that we can find in the lottery. They all teach the reader the importance of always questioning the purpose of our action and the consequences that they may

Show More
Related

Brief Summary Of The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

812 Words | 4 Pages

The Lottery, was published by the magazine The New Yorker, the story is written by Shirley Jackson. It was a clear warm sunny day on the 27 of June, it was also the day of the lottery. The farming village of about 300 people started gathering up at about 10:00 o'clock. The children met up and started collecting rocks as the parents of the children started gathering up in the town square. As they were meeting up Mr.Summers and Mr.Graves came with the black box.

Read More

Use Of Foreshadowing In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

502 Words | 3 Pages

Published in the summer of 1948 ,the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson received a lot of criticism at the time. “The Lottery” is about a small town where the tradition of a lottery is used to determine which resident will be stone to death that year at random. Jackson uses foreshadowing, setting and irony to create suspense in the story. Jackson uses foreshadowing to create suspense by giving out inconspicuous clues to what the lottery consist of. In the second paragraph it describes the kids gathering stones.

Read More

Interpretive Essay: The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

520 Words | 3 Pages

“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.

Read More

Danced In The Sky Poem

415 Words | 2 Pages

To start off, the third and fourth lines of the first stanza illustrate how the flag of the ship appears to the American people. In the poem, explains the people watching the banner’s movement in the air stating, “many an eye has danced to see/ The banner in the sky.” The banner, in the poem, was a representation of the reassurance of the people. It seems to be that the flag of the ship has waved for a number of years and so the people looked onto the flag for comfort during the War of 1812.

Read More

The Lottery Rhetorical Analysis

807 Words | 4 Pages

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson begins innocently enough with a village preparing for an annual event, but as the story progresses, it becomes clear that the seemingly harmless tradition is anything but, forcing readers to confront the dangers of blindly following tradition. Jackson employs rhetorical techniques that highlight the importance of avoiding conformity, as it will lead to dire consequences. Shirley Jackson's story is a powerful example of the use of symbolism, vivid imagery, and irony to illuminate the danger and violence of blindly following traditions, as the seemingly innocent annual lottery in a small town ultimately reveals the brutal consequences of conformity and the human capacity for violence. Throughout the story Jackson

Read More

The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Literary Devices

990 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Examples Of Irony In The Lottery

1191 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Patrick Lin Here's A Terrible Idea Summary

644 Words | 3 Pages

Patrick Lin’s article Here’s a Terrible Idea: Robot Cars with Adjustable Ethics Settings discusses the “moral dilemma” (Lin, 2014) that autonomous vehicles introduce into the world. The root of the ethical problem is in the event of an inevitable collision or crash who does the vehicle make the decision to save. The question suggests the concepts of egoism and utilitarianism, (both previously discussed in this course), the different possibilities based on what split-second decision the autonomous vehicle makes, and the fact that there is no easy solution to this dilemma.

Read More

Themes And Imagery In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

909 Words | 4 Pages

“The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson. The story commences with a vivid description of the summer day in the town, giving us the idea that the day will be good. When the lottery begins, families begin to draw slips of paper from the black box. Finally, when Bill Hutchinson withdrew the slip of paper with the black dot, his wife Tessie starts yelling that it wasn 't fair. When the second drawing was held only among the Hutchinson’s family, Tessie gets the same piece of paper with the dot and is stoned to death.

Read More

Symbolism And Themes In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

1474 Words | 6 Pages

As well, Shirley uses themes in the hole story to not forget the main topic in different sections, and to understand how important the values and the manners are. My opinion of “The Lottery” is that sometimes the writer can express herself with the readers using different literary devices on the story, and this helps to understand the main purpose of the story. The story was very entertaining and it has a great conclusion because we never expected that kind of end. She also used a lot of different characters to demonstrate the different perspectives that each part of the

Read More

The Lottery Argumentative Essay

691 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout centuries, traditions and rituals have had the ability to control one’s behavior. In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, she tells the reader of a small village. On the surface, this community may seem relatively normal. However, despite the picturesque appeal, this falsely serene village has a distinct deceitful flaw. On June 27th, every year, a lottery takes place.

Read More

Literary Analysis Of The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

1033 Words | 5 Pages

“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.

Read More

Human Nature In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

1220 Words | 5 Pages

Adam’s and Old Man Warner’s discussion about the idea of giving up the lottery. Old Man Warner states that “there’s always been a lottery” (Jackson 142). The inference of Old Man Warner’s words and tone suggests that there will always be a lottery, and that it should always remain, that it is wrong to question its existence. Given the violent nature of the lottery’s results and its enduring tradition throughout generations of participants, each succeeding generation obviously grows accustom to the violence and brutality it calls for. The children, for example, readily prepare for the occasion by amassing “a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and [guarding] it” (Jackson 139).

Read More

Research Paper On The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

1675 Words | 7 Pages

Through my reading of Helen Nebeker's article " The Lottery: Symbolic Tour de Force, I've found many symbolic items throughout the story as according to Nebeker, "It is at this secondary point that the reader begins to suspect that a second story lies beneath the first and that Miss Jackson's "symbolic intentions" are not "incidental" but, indeed, paramount. Then one discovers that the author's careful structure and consistent symbolism work to present not only a symbolic summary of man's past but a prognosis for his future which is far more devastating than the mere reminder that man has savage potential. Ultimately one finds that the ritual of the lottery, beyond providing a channel to release repressed cruelties, actually serves to generate a cruelty not rooted in man's inherent emotional needs at all. Man is not at the mercy of a murky, savage id; he is the victim of unexamined and unchanging traditions which he could easily change if he only realized their implications. Herein is horror"(Nebeker).

Read More

Thesis For The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

650 Words | 3 Pages

“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.

Read More

More about The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Essay

Related Topics

Open Document