Many people use literature as an outlet from their personal life, from the struggles and hardships they face day to day. They enjoy the unknown of mystery and the unrealistic; it gives them something to ponder and offers a way to discover an unknown world of imagination. Many authors take the different avenues in their writing. Some stir hope and optimism while others explore a morbid and daunting way of writing. A common form is that of suspense and mystery. Shirley Jackson takes mystery to a distinctive level. She depicts an era that has not yet been revealed. By looking at the background of this author, analyzing her writing and responding personally you will better enhance your learning experience and connection with this type of dark literature.
Author Biography
Shirley Jackson was an extremely well liked American author during the 1900s. However, in recent years literary critics, as well as the education system have increasingly begun to admire her. Many of her works are being read and analyzed by high school students all over the country. Jackson’s life led her to become the accomplished, prized writer, she grew to be.
Shirley Jackson was born on December 14th, 1916 in San Francisco, California. Born to her middle class parents, Leslie and Geraldine Jackson, Shirley had an interesting childhood. As a teenager, her family decided to move to Rochester, New York. This is where Shirley pursued her interest in literature and writing. Even at a young age, she began writing poetry and short stories. She then established her compulsive writing techniques (Grade Saver, 1999). Shirley was notorious for keeping journals, charts, and logs that retained information on the progress she made in her writing every day (Liter...
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...t comprehension, it is important to analyze and view all aspects of the text, this will ensure the education you’re receiving, as well as the personal ties you make while reading.
Works Cited
Allen, L. (2009). Shirley Jackson's Bio. Retrieved April 18, 2014, from http://shirleyjackson.org/index.html
Charters, A., & Charters, S. B. (2007). Stories and Storytellers: The Lottery. In Literature and its writers: A compact introduction to fiction, poetry, and drama (4th ed., pp. 222-229). Boston, U.S.A: Bedford/St. Martins.
Grade Saver (1999). Biography of Shirley Jackson | List of Works, Study Guides & Essays | GradeSaver. Retrieved April 18, 2014, from http://www.gradesaver.com/author/shirley-jackson/
Literal Media (2008). Shirley Jackson Biography. Retrieved April 18, 2014, from http://www.literalmedia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=75
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Gioia, Dana and R.S. Gwynn. The Art of the Short Story. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2006. 390-396.
American classic authors have always had a significant impact on literature throughout the world. Many of these authors in all different genres have left a lasting impression on literature today. A novel like The Haunting of Hill House and a story like “The Lottery” has raised the standard in literature, particularly in the gothic horror fiction genre. Shirley Jackson has influenced American Literature through her creation of American gothic fiction and her ability to not only portray the truth of society through her work but to also shape the idea of how readers view abnormality in humankind.
American Literature. 6th Edition. Vol. A. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003. 783-791
Shirley Temple Black was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in her films and they ultimately bought millions of dollars worth of products that had her likeness on them. Dolls, phonograph records, mugs, hats, dresses, whatever it was, if it had her picture on there they bought it. Shirley was box-office champion for the consecutive years 1935 to 1938, beating out such great grown-up stars as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor, and many more. By 1939, her popularity declined. Although she starred in some
Shirley Jackson grew up in a home like any other normal middle-class family. She lived with both of her parents in Burlington, California. Growing up, Shirley had a lot of tense relations with her parents, but mostly with her mother. Leslie Jackson, Shirley’s mother, set high standards for Shirley by the ways she was perceived by society and social norms. Shirley always seemed to disappoint her mother. The emotionally tearing and psychologically damaging relationship with her mother escalated to the point where her mother even told her she wished she had aborted Shirley. Roberta Rubenstein makes a great point in her work: House Mothers and Haunted Daughters: Shirley Jackson and Female Gothic, of the mental stress her mother put on her as a child that carried on throughout her life. Rubenstein says, “Throughout her life, Shirley was distressed by her mother’s profound insensitivity to her actual personality, combined with persistent attempts to control her unconven...
There were many concepts that I learned during this course and there are a few of them that I have integrated into my study habits each time I read a passage. The first one is authorial intent, and according to Duvall & Hays (2012), it is when the author stresses the determination of the meaning of the text (p. 193). The reader must research for what the author is saying a remove their own interpretation. This compels me to forget what I have learned in the past and read with a fresh open mind
Murphy, Bernice M. Shirley Jackson: Essays on the Literary Legacy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &, 2005. Print.
Pascal, Richard. “Shirley Jackson.” Short Story Criticism . Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. 248-273. Rpt. of “’Farther than Samarkand’ The Escape theme in Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Tooth.’” Studies in Short Fiction 2 Nov. 1982: 133-39. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 22 Feb. 2010.
Magill, Frank N. "Shirley Jackson." Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Salem Press, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 1981. 1668-1674.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Literature: A Portable Anthology. Gardner, Janet E.; Lawn, Beverly; Ridl, Jack; Schakel, Pepter. 3rd Edition. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012. 242-249. Print.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. Literature an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. 4th Compact ed. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Longman, 2005. 211-218.
Reading comprehension refers to the ability to decipher the meaning of written text. There are three required elements needed for adequate understand of written material: a knowledge of word...
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" uses the third-person dramatic point of view to tell a story about an un-named village that celebrates a wicked, annual event. The narrator in the story gives many small details of the lottery taking place, but leaves the most crucial and chilling detail until the end: the winner of the lottery is stoned to death by the other villagers. The use of the third-person point of view, with just a few cases of third-person omniscient thrown in, is an effective way of telling this ironic tale, both because the narrator's reporter-like blandness parallels the villagers' apparent apathy to the lottery, and because it helps build to the surprise ending by giving away bits of information to the reader through the actions and discussions of the villagers without giving away the final twist.
Thesis: Shirley Jackson’s usage of irony, characters, and plot portray the stories theme of the dangers of unconsciously following tradition.
Taking a close look at a text takes much more than looking at words or fining word and phrases to answer questions. Close reading is define as the mindful, disciplined reading of an object with a view to deeper understanding of its meaning (Cummins, 2013). According to Fisher & Frey (2012), the practice of close reading is not a new one, and in fact has existed for many decades as the practice of reading a text for a level of detail not used in everyday reading. Therefore, teachers need to foster this skill on students in early stages of literacy skill to become proficient in comprehension. In order for students to examine complex text, teachers need to model and guide them through various strategies that would support their understanding