The world is currently affected by the foulest illness of all: conformity. Many people are nervous to stray away from tradition in fear of being an outcast, even if that means following customs like racism and sexism, which causes chaos among the country. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” displays this morbid reality when a town of villagers gathers to obey their annual tradition. Although this event appears at first to be pleasant and festive, it soon becomes clear that the prize is not something of value. The “winner”, it turns out, will be stoned to death.
¨The Lottery¨ Writing Prompts In the short story ¨The Lottery¨ by Shirley Jackson, the author shows the theme of a duality of human nature. In the story Ms Delacroix, Mrs Hutchinson's friend, acts friendly for most of the story, but towards the end, she is the one leading the charge to kill her friend. This is the biggest example of duality of human nature, it very clear switch in personalities. Her own friend is the first to throw a big, heavy rock at Jessie(Mrs Hutchinsons).
Title “Tradition is the illusion of permanence.” by Woody Allen. The purpose of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is blindly following tradition. People have always done the lottery, but they don’t remember anything about the lottery. And their perspective changed about the lottery. The lottery shows that to know what you are doing.
This quotation meaning if the people in The Lottery noticed how unfair the lottery truly was then maybe they could change the society. Thusly, leading them to stop conforming to their old barbaric ideas. However, the people will not stop and see the unfairness of the lottery. They may drop parts of the tradition, but it will always be there in the shabby black box. Furthermore, the people enjoyed the tradition of stoning the chosen one.
One can see that by examining the symbolism of the setting and the irony of a welcoming setting Shirley Jackson's The Lottery is not an archetypal horror story. Firstly one could argue against the statement that, The Lottery is not and an archetypal horror story’ but without the knowledge of The Lottery being a horror story one could most certainly fall victim to Shirley Jackson's alluring descriptions. Upon examining the quote “The morning of July 27th was clear and sunny with a fresh warmth of a full summer day” one could infer this more as a adventuring and coming of age story than a horror, it comes off as endearing more than horror, although it may have been intended that way. Further investigation of the story may push one to believe
This story represents the dark side of Humanity. According to the title, you would think it was a convivial function that would benefit the people in the community, but the true purport of the lottery turns out to be a starkly sinister and unthinkable act in today's society with the triumpher getting stoned. This ritual had been observed for virtually a century if not longer. Evidence of this fact is conspicuous according to old man Admonitor who had managed to be fortuitous enough to survive through seventy-seven lotteries, a fact that he was proud of and rightly so.
In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson demonstrates through the impatient citizens at the lottery that people quickly complete a required event they participate in reluctantly to avoid thinking about the mandatory activities. At the mandatory lottery, the residents of a small village come together and randomly choose someone to be stoned to death. During the lottery selection process, one villager, Mrs. Dunbar, tells her son, “I wish they’d hurry” (4). The stressful lottery seems to be moving slowly; therefore, Mrs. Dunbar wants it to move quicker. She is waiting for the result of the lottery and wants the process to move faster, so she will not have to worry if she or a family member will be murdered.
“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.
It can be said that “The Lottery,” is, in many ways, an anthropological fiction that is based on the criticism of some of the baser aspects of human societies also discussed the evil inherent in human nature. That is why "the lottery" is impressive and famous in the history of American literature. And also, Shirley Jackson with its "beyond the times" and has a "contemporary resonance" theme, as a very important writer in history of America. The success of this novel is that the author did not use the major social themes, but in peacetime with universal significance of the incident, opened a ruthless fact: all the source of evil is not in a system or form, but in human nature. As long as, there is selfishness and greed in human nature, human atrocities cannot be stopped. "
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
“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.
Winning a lottery in general the first feeling one will have will be delighted and full of joy. However, in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson the general feeling is quite different and not to be expected. The townspeople in a small village participates in an annual tradition known as “The Lottery”. In other towns, this tradition has been stopped. The lottery consists of every local person to pick a slip from an old black box.
The Lottery In the past, many societies have had bad leaders and others with profounding leadership like George Washington. In this story, this may represent some kind of tyranny. Where they may enforce cruel laws and unfairness towards everyone. This short story is about a tradition in a village with a population of about 300 people, gather around and participate in a “lottery” represented by a black box.
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.
Human morality. It is a very complex and complicated thing. No one quite knows how to define it or what it is. We all just assume it exists and that it is a thing. The common explanation of what morality is basically says that morality is the spectrum that defines whether humans are good, or bad/evil.
