ipl-logo

The Role Of Manipulation In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

686 Words3 Pages

"The Lottery": Essay
Humans possess tendencies that gage them to conform with one another, depending on social and political manipulation given by higher power. This is commonly seen in regards to history repeating itself as shown in the short story "The Lottery" written by Shirley Jackson. This story is a representation of how citizens of a society can be forced to abide by directions given by higher power resulting in a dystopian. Comparisons can be drawn from both the short story and in today's world. As shown in society people confide in one another following directions from as simply cleaning their room, and doing their dishes. Ironically, the short story was published around 1948 after world war two. This is a clear representation …show more content…

Hitler was in power for over a decade establishing a mass amount of followers ensuring to get his prominent ideas across by electrifying his audience with his great "tongue". by doing so, his triumphs were lead by the collapse of others. Consequently, the holocaust was a detrimental time for Jewish people, this resulted in gas showers that brought deaths to millions of people. In comparison to the short story deaths were a minimum, but the act itself was still barbaric pertaining to the stoning of citizens. Old Man Warner believed that nothing good would come out of the discontinuance of the lottery: "… used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon …". The idea of stopping the killing for mortality was suppressed into the back of hitlers and the people of the short story. Essentially, they believed regardless of killing one or oppose to millions, it was beneficial for society for their crops. Young men in the world during this time were drafted into the military, some showing an exemplifying amount of courage, others by default, an ultimatum was given. The ultimatum given was either death or banishment. This Is shown when Tess Hutchinson is picked for the Lottery. "… it wasn't fair …".

Show More
Related
543 Words | 3 Pages

Explication of “The Lottery” In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” in the final paragraphs the character Tessie is the winner of the lottery which ironically means she will be getting stoned. The author uses theme of the story to display how traditions are blindly followed for centuries even if they lack any meaning to them at all. She uses several metaphors and allusions throughout the story to convey this message. The significance of the paragraph is even though they do not remember the originally ritual of the lottery yet they do not forget to follow and participate in it every year.

Read More
1089 Words | 5 Pages

In the story “All Quiet on the Western Front,” WW1 is narrated by a German soldier, Paul. The war is explained as having mainly negative effects on the soldiers: “...men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.” (1) In the beginning of the novel, Paul and his friends dreams about what their life would be like if there was peace. Their view on the war’s brutality is not deep, but many feel it has ruined any chance at a normal life.

Read More
474 Words | 2 Pages

In the short story, "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, the central idea is that sometimes, even though things may not be fair, we still have to do whatever that is. In the text the author writes, "'It isn't fair, it isn't right,' Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her"(Jackson 34, lines 328-329). It appears they Mrs. Hutchinson doesn't think what about to happen to her is fair, but it happens anyway, against her beliefs. In the short story, Jackson sets a certain mood, by using irony and pacing the text, helping to develop the central idea.

Read More
605 Words | 3 Pages

The Danger of Tradition Traditionally many ancient societies would kill their people to sacrifice to God in order to obtain rain or a good harvest. These mindlessly, followed traditions were never critically thought about and therefore citizens died year after year. A similar tragedy occurs in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. This story features a civilization much like our own but with one small difference, the town’s people hold a lottery every year and the town stones who ever loses to death.

Read More
593 Words | 3 Pages

Imagine a society where killing somebody for the sake of a tradition is acceptable. In the short story “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson describes an ordinary village with normal people, but as the story progress the details of their yearly practice known as “the lottery” unravels to be more disturbing. The author subverts the readers’ expiations by persuading the reader into assuming “the lottery” is a ordinary tradition until unusual details and the behavior of the characters come into place. In her short story “The Lottery,” Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear so, it is inherently barbaric.

Read More
785 Words | 4 Pages

‘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.

Read More
480 Words | 2 Pages

“The lottery” (1948) Analysis The short story, “The lottery” by Shirley Jackson takes place in a small village. Was conducted the lottery story in 1948. In this story, the lottery is a yearly tradition that takes place in a small American Town.

Read More
1060 Words | 5 Pages

Conformity is a powerful and influential behavior that can drastically affect a society’s circumstances. The morality and wellbeing of the individuals’ in a society are shaped by the everyday traditions and customs of that culture. Shirley Jackson, an award-winning author for her works in horror and mystery, unveils the perturbing effect of conformity on a society and its people in her short story “The Lottery.” In her thought-provoking story, a village situated in a warm area of England prepares to partake in a traditional crop fertility ritual that involves a paper drawing to elect a ‘winner’ who will be stoned to death. The societal conformity to continue this brutal tradition causes the life of a person to be insensitively taken away each

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
1386 Words | 6 Pages

The struggle for truth has arguably inspired and produced the greatest achievements in human history. Truth is only attainable through change, and to change is to be open to truth. History's overwhelming presence of biases and dogmatism has contributed to stifled progress and deprived men from pursuing the truth. To oppose a viewpoint contrary to one that is strongly believed in, is characteristic of humans; however, few are open to change, even when confronted by the status quo. If observed, further, it is found that views which substitute the consensus for an objective standard have certain consequences which few would accept.

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
1220 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More
605 Words | 3 Pages

Shirley Jackson’s “The lottery” is a story based on tradition. When hearing the word tradition, most people think of team rituals before games, or something families do together annually. However, Jackson is obviously not like most people. She builds up a fair amount of tension around this ritual that is taking place to make readers wonder what is going on. She uses many different techniques to show that sometimes, traditions are not always meant to go on forever.

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is an account of a tradition gone awry. In this short story the villagers of this town have a tradition where they have a “lottery” to see who gets stoned to death. The characterization and symbolism used in the story makes the reader feel as if society has crumbled with the inhumane tradition that ultimately lost its meaning. Throughout the story, Jackson uses characterization and symbolism to imply a message to society about the meaning of tradition. Through the use of characterization and symbolism Jackson establishes that blindly following traditions can be hazardous

Read More
978 Words | 4 Pages

Everyone has a different set of criteria when they decide whether a piece of writing is good or not. I have my own criteria as well. Although there are so many elements that influence an impression of a piece of writing, I narrowed it down to three; Is it open to various interpretations? Is it easy to understand? Is it realistic?

Read More

More about The Role Of Manipulation In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Related Topics

Open Document