The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Essay

The view from which a story is told will give a story structure and has the ability to throw surprises at the reader as in the case of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. The author limits the readers’ view of the characters within the story; she didn’t show us how they were feeling about the event that was about to occur. Today, the lottery is something one looks forward to winning; it’s a chance to win a load of money. Little did the reader know that the lottery, in this case, referred to the stoning of a person within the town. The point of view in this story, third person, doesn’t allow the readers to know thoughts of characters, thereby surprising the reader at the end of the story when someone is to win the lottery.
If the lottery was to be written in a different point of view,

We would also be able to know how this lottery works. Writing this story in third person point of view, allows Jackson to surprise her readers. It also makes the reader wonder about the purpose of this story. If she was to tell the reader what was going to happen in this lottery, then there would be no climax, or purpose to this story. Jackson does not tell us how the characters feel about what is to come; therefore, the reader is unaware of how nervous and frightened they may be. This may cause the reader to feel distant from the characters. The reader is unable to get to know them, as they would in a story told in first person point of view. Jackson does not explain why characters are doing the things they do in the story, so that she does not give the readers any ideas. For example, Jackson writes, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example” (Jackson 2). Bobby Martin is a child who is out of school for the summer. The author does not explain why the children are gathering rocks, so one may just assume he is just a kid that is no longer in