ipl-logo

The Prodigal Son In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

781 Words4 Pages

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson wrote immediately after World War II describes the story of a small village that is still stuck to the tradition of employing the "lottery" (Oates, 2016). The lottery that came around periodically involved the coming together of the whole community where they would be grouped into families and would play a game if I may call it that involved the family heads choosing a piece of paper. A blank paper would mean that one has escaped the fate of the opposite kind of writing that had a black spot, with the spot one was supposed to be stoned to death. During this time, Tessie Hutchinson, wife to Bill Hutchinson was unlucky after the repeat of the process found her with the piece of paper with a black spot. In the story …show more content…

The prodigal son is conflicted by being around his home even though there are no clear reasons as to his quest for his share of the estates. His lack of prudence sees him spend all of his wealth and plunge into deeper levels of poverty that probably makes him lose self-worth working and dining in pigs food (Pierce, & Brian, 2016). His father is probably conflicted by his decision to leave as it seems immature the youngest leaves before the eldest. His elder brother, however, is skeptical about his return; it makes him angry to realize how his welcoming seems exaggerated than his loyalty and stay as depicted by him questioning his father about at least offering him a young goat to feast with friends. In reconciling the various conflicts, however, the youngest son introspected deeply within himself and decided to go back to his father and apologize asking for a bargain of being a servant. The father an optimistic fellow-a symbol of the Almighty – is benevolent enough to accept him back and carefully approaches the eldest son on how to receive back his younger brother (Pierce, & Brian, 2016). The tone by St. Luke is that of excitement and fun initially but trickles to nostalgic when the prodigal son starts to think of his home and shifts again to fun upon the arrival back

Show More
Related
526 Words | 3 Pages

The Lottery (1948) by Shirley Jackson is shown to be about a small town gathering to draw slips of paper, and if you unfortunately get the slip of paper with the black dot you'll be stoned. After the drawing in the short story Tessie is stoned to death. Shirley Jackson used some foreshadowing that lead to the downfall. Everyone is aware of what happens at the end but their is no way to avoid it, because it was a tradition and the townspeople refused to make changes. All though some tradition where forgotten or let go of over time.

Read More
1704 Words | 7 Pages

The parable closes with the father insisting that his oldest son joins in the celebration because his younger brother “was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:32). The message of this parable is quite clear: God, who Is represented by the father, offers His unconditional love and redemption to all of his children despite the severity of the offense as long as they are truly sorry and express a great desire to return to him. Similar to the parable of the Sower of the Seeds, this parable of the Prodigal Son as portrayed on the stage does not undergo any significant changes in its overall meaning. The episode during which the parable was depicted was in fact dramatized. The final part of the scene during which

Read More
1544 Words | 7 Pages

Both sons are taken through the Awakening of Moral

Read More
1225 Words | 5 Pages

When most people hear the word “lottery” they think of fame, fortune, and an instantly better life. However, in some cases, a lottery may not always be as great as it seems. In a short story by Shirley Jackson, winning the lottery didn’t mean all your problems were over, rather, it meant they were just beginning. The story centers around a town that holds a lottery on June 27th of every year. Each family must draw a slip of paper, the family with a dot on their paper remains in the drawing.

Read More
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
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
1474 Words | 6 Pages

“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).

Read More
1031 Words | 5 Pages

The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story of horror and realism. On June 27th on a late summer morning, the villagers of a small New England village gatherd together in the town square to conduct their annual lottery. There is a black box on a stool and in the box there is pieces of paper in the box. Each person from a family get one paper from the black box even the children get a piece of paper and every stayed quiet and nervouse. Then Bill Hutchinson looked at the paper and notice that he got the black dot.

Read More
1573 Words | 7 Pages

Those that he loved the most had abandoned him. The author demonstrates the beginning of this abandonment when he writes, “On Wednesday after Gloria left with the kids and a U-Haul trailer, I was sitting on the front steps, it was summer, and I was watching cars go by on the road” (Dubus 17). I believe this quote gives an active insight into the background as to why he makes the decisions that he does. He upholds Catholic doctrines and values in which he builds his faith and relationship with God. The main conflict in “A Father’s Story”, is a personal conflict.

Read More
492 Words | 2 Pages

On the contrary, the son symbolizes the new world, or new identity, and opposes his father for being stuck in the previous world that he used to live in. His father’s memories are of little significance to him because he is more concerned with the current world that they are struggling to survive in. Along the journey, the father comes across several objects that he was familiar with in the old world and was very hesitant to cut ties of his connection to them. For example, when the father visits his old home, “he [pushes] open the closet door half expecting to find his childhood

Read More
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
1675 Words | 7 Pages

Research Paper The famous short story by Shirley Jackson "The Lottery'" was published on June 26th, 1948. The short story has been drawn into discussion for many years for its short, but intricate and complex story. A summary story in its simplest form could be put as a tradition that was followed by a small town called the lottery, but there is so much more contained in between the lines of that statement. The story has a very dark premise regarding the tradition that the town must follow is for the safety of the town itself.

Read More
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
926 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
1259 Words | 6 Pages

His painful circumstances help him to see his father in a new light and bring him hope. (Gobelet, 2016. P 215.) This led us to the surrender of the son. The young son was more than willing to give up his rights as his father’s son and take upon the position of one of his servants.

Read More

More about The Prodigal Son In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Related Topics

Open Document