Literary Analysis Of “The Lottery”
Introduction
In the short story “The Lottery,” author Shirley Jackson introduces the universal theme that senseless violence is wrong. “The Lottery” is considered to be one of her most “iconic” pieces of writing. (Shirley Jackson's Bio (2009)). In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson introduces several claims that support the universal theme. The first claim that readers notice is, Jackson revealed the brutal actions that led up to the stoning in order to raise stakes. The next claim is, Jackson created characters with multiple points of view to show the characters motivation.
The last claim is Jackson created a peaceful and safe description of the town, despite the chilling reality of the horror that actually happened
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In fact, they support the universal theme in the claim that brutal actions lead up to the horrifying stoning. Jackson describes, a small town community that participates in a yearly tradition involving a black ballot box and is called “The Lottery.” If you choose a blank piece of paper, then your safe and ironically “Win.” If not, we notice the brutal actions. For example, after one character draws the wrong ballot, her friend turns on her saying, “Be a good sport, Tessie." Mrs. Delacroix called, and Mrs.Graves said, "All of us took the same chance” (Jackson, Shirley n.p, 1948).This illustrates the action of the town doing something brutal and immoral because stoning people is horrific. It is especially significant that Mrs.Delacroix was Tessie’s best friend and casually tells her to “be a good sport.” Later, Jackson describes, “The pile of stones the boys made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs.Dunbar. "Come on," she said. "Hurry up” This shows that the stoning and brutal actions are
In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, she begins setting up conflict from the very first sentence. Jackson starts off by setting a beautiful scene of a clear and sunny day with green grass and blooming flowers as the backdrop for a horrific process, the lottery. The lottery is a long-standing tradition in the town and causes the members of the community to choose the love of family and friends or to conform to society expectations. The tradition is so entrenched that the community blindly accepts the lottery and allows a ritual murder to occur year after year. Through this tradition, Jackson sets up conflict in many different ways throughout the story.
“The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, is a provoking piece of literature about a town that continues a tradition of stoning, despite not know why the ritual started in the first place. As Jackson sets the scene, the villagers seem ordinary; but seeing that winning the lottery is fatal, the villagers are then viewed as murders by the reader. Disagreeing with the results of the lottery, Tessie Hutchinson is exposed to an external conflict between herself and the town. Annually on June 27th, the villagers gather to participate in the lottery. Every head of household, archetypally male, draws for the fate of their family, but Tessie protests as she receives her prize of a stoning after winning the lottery. Jackson uses different symbols – symbolic characters, symbolic acts, and allegories – to develop a central theme: the
...this situation to be a truth in any city in the world. So in this Jackson shows how setting is used to magnify the darkness in all of human hearts.
Shirley Jackson wrote many books in her life, but she was well known by people for her story “The Lottery” (Hicks). “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948, in the New Yorker magazine (Schilb). The story sets in the morning of June 27th in a small town. The townspeople gather in the square to conduct their annual tradition, the Lottery. The winner of the lottery will stoned to death by the society. Although there is no main character in the story, the story develops within other important elements. There are some important elements of the story that develop the theme of the story: narrator and its point of view, symbolism, and main conflict. The story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, argues practicing a tradition without understanding the meaning of the practice is meaningless and dangerous.
In “The Lottery” the author uses many different types of themes to inspire the reader to feel certain emotions. Themes such as the perils of blindly sticking to outdated traditions. Traditions such as sacrificial murder in which some ancient societies believed that “Life brings death, and death recycles life” (Griffin); this shows how some readers could accept the actions depicted in this story. Yet another way of looking at it and finding a way to accept it is that it’s been said that capital punishment today is a form of ritualistic killing. But other readers may just see it as cold blooded murder in which they may be appalled that some societies could still do this in 1948 when this story was written.
Why would a civilized and peaceful town would ever suggest the horrifying acts of violence can take place anywhere at anytime and the most ordinary people can commit them. Jackson's fiction is noted for exploring incongruities in everyday life, and “The Lottery”, perhaps her most exemplary work in this respect, examines humanity's capacity for evil within a contemporary, familiar, American setting. Noting that the story’s characters, physical environment, and even its climactic action lacks significant individuating detail, most critics view “The Lottery.” As a modern-day parable or fable, which obliquely addresses a variety of themes, including the dark side of human nature, the danger of ritualized behavior, and the potential for cruelty when the individual submits to the mass will. Shirley Jackson also addresses cruelty by the citizen’s refusal to stand up and oppose “The Lottery.” Violence and cruelty is a major theme in “The Lottery.”
I believe that Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" is written as just a story about a particular time and place. It does not correlate with any cultural or historical events during that time period. Jackson is certainly trying to say something about human nature and that something is definitely not positive. In the story, the public goes against human nature and acts disloyal to each other. The community gathers together in an open area to stone one individual to death. This tragic event occurs every year on the morning of June 27. There is a lottery that determines the person who gets stoned. The person who has a black dot on his/her paper has to be stoned and killed.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the theme of the story is dramatically illustrated by Jackson’s unique tone. Once a year the villagers gather together in the central square for the lottery. The villagers await the arrival of Mr. Summers and the black box. Within the black box are folded slips of paper, one piece having a black dot on it. All the villagers then draw a piece of paper out of the box. Whoever gets the paper with the black dot wins. Tessie Hutchinson wins the lottery! Everyone then closes in on her and stones her to death. Tessie Hutchinson believes it is not fair because she was picked. The villagers do not know why the lottery continues to exist. All they know is that it is a tradition they are not willing to abandon. In “The Lottery,” Jackson portrays three main themes including tradition, treason, and violence.
In “The Lottery”, Jackson wrote about a special tradition of a small village. June 27th was warm and sunny, and it gave the impression like nothing could possibly go wrong. Everyone knows the lottery as an exciting thing, and everybody wants to win, but this lottery is unlike any other. This lottery was actually the tradition of stoning of an innocent villager; that year it was Tessie Hutchinson. Though the horrific ending was not expected, throughout the story Jackson gave subtle hints that this was not an average lottery. Jackson foreshadowed the death of Tessie Hutchinson with stones, the black box, and the three legged stool; she showed that unquestioning support of tradition can be fatal.
Shields, Patrick J. "Arbitrary Condimnation And Sanctioned Violence In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"." Contemporary Justice Review 7.4 (2004): 411-419.
The article Arbitrary Condemnation and Sanctioned Violence in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” by Patrick J. Shields does well to tie Jackson’s story of fiction to our own reality. His main goal within this article is to guide readers to see the connections that Jackson’s short story has with our culture and society today and throughout history. Bringing in suggestions about issues we are presented today in the sense of capital punishment, scapegoating, ritual cleansing, arbitrary condemnation, sanctioned violence, and variables such as gender, region, and class structure.
Immediately, the women of “The Lottery” seem to be a friendly group who stick by one another’s sides. However, as the plot uncovers, the reader discovers that each woman would easily choose tradition over friendship. The traits of the women include endorsement of the “dominant culture” (Hattenhauer, 45), value of tradition, and belief in fairness. As the lottery transpires, the women advise Tess to “be a good sport” (Jackson, 140) because they all “took the same chance” (Jackson, 140). This simple encounter provides evidence that the women of “The Lottery” would undoubtedly lose a friendship to preserve the morals of tradition. When Tess finally reveals the paper with the mark on it, Mr. Summers is quick to begin the final step in the Lottery. The women oblige, and are even quicker to grab a stone from the children’s pile. One woman even orders another to “hurry up” (Jackson, 141) before picking up a “stone so large” (Jackson, 141) it required the use of both hands. “The Lottery” ends with the town’s people stoning Tess to death. Among the killers are the women that Tess once called friends.
Could winning the lottery really be breathe taking? In the story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, breathe taking would be a perfect description of the final events. On June 27th in a small town village, warm from the summer’s sun. There were men, women, boys, and girls who were heading to the town center for this year’s Lottery. During the introduction many characters were introduced however, two characters in particular stood out the most throughout the story, and there names are Mr. Summers and Mrs. Hutchinson.
The townspeople seem to have mixed emotions about the lottery; they fear it yet on a very barbaric level they enjoy it. By standing "away from the pile of stones," and keeping their distance from the black box, the villagers show their fear of the lottery (Jackson 863). However, once they find out who is going to be stoned, Tessie Hutchinson, they seem to actually enjoy the stoning. One villager picks up a stone so big she can barely carry it; someone even gives Tessie’s youngest son a few pebbles to throw at his mother. Their overall attitude about the stoning is summed up by the phrase "and then they were...
Out of all the short stories that were assigned, it can be seen that they have all one thing in common. They all show the realms of violence each of them different. The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a story where violence is shown in the most barbarous way possible. But with it, the author wants us to understand that violence is abhorrent and “The Lottery” shows that violent behavior can even corrupt the most innocent minds.