Shirley Jackson Satire

Shirley Jackson was one of the most brilliant and influential authors of the twentieth century, she is much-admired for her stories and novels that were often wired and bizarre to other readers, including the well-known short story and the subject of this paper, “The Lottery” and also contributing with another novel “The Haunting of Hill House.” Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco on December 14, 1916, and spent her childhood in nearby Burlingame, California, where she began writing poetry and short stories as a young teenager. After a year of college, she decided to withdrawal and spent a year at home practicing writing, producing a minimum of a thousand words a day. An interesting fact about “The Lottery” is that she has reported

She constantly hints at violence, as in the second paragraph “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones;” (Jackson page 1). The reader does realize the reward of winning until the very end of the story when the winner, who is was drawn randomly, Tessie Hutchinson, is pushed out into the middle all alone with villagers surrounding her with stones. Very ironic because when you usually win the lottery you win something very beneficial as in this case it is not so

The names Mr. Graves, Mr. Summers, and Mrs. Delacroix and other names have interesting meanings and the author, Shirley Jackson, uses them to foreshadow the story and tell what "The Lottery" really is. “Mr. Graves is the one who carries the three-legged stool, which can mean two things: The Blessed Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, or it could also mean the past, the present and the future, saying that "the Lottery" will always be among us.” (Smith 2nd Paragraph). Of course, there's his name, Mr. Graves, which is signaling tombstones, death and a cemetery. He is also the owner of the post office. As the Postmaster, he delivers the news, as well as with the lottery, he delivers the news of who will get stoned to