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Analysis of shirley jacksons the lottery
Similarities in today's society and the lottery
Analysis of shirley jacksons the lottery
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In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, tradition is seen as very high and something to be respected not to be messed with. Although, the lottery has been removed from other towns, the village where the story is set in still continues to participate in the lottery. It is almost as if the other towns realized the lack of humanity in the tradition. However, the village still continues with the lottery even though the majority of the ritual has been lost or changed. The oldest man in the village complains about how the lottery is not what it used to be. There are hidden messages in “The Lottery” that reflects today’s society that the author wants to make apparent and change, such as, the danger of blindly following without any knowledge, the randomness …show more content…
When breaking news is being told the majority of the population just accepts what they hear and do not bother to research facts or more information about the issue or subject. In the village, the same type of cycle happens. Although the towns folk question the lottery, none of them bother to speak out since everyone is fixed on tradition, leading them to blindly follow in this cruel act every year. Jackson shows that the townsfolk don’t really have a strong knowledge as to how the lottery came to be, but they try to preserve the tradition anyway. This is the same way humans tend to listen and are naïve to new things they hear. Old man Warner in the village looks down upon the other towns that have removed the lottery calling them a “pack of crazy fools” (Jackson). His opinion is that without the lottery, the villagers will return back to their primitive ancestral behaviors. Since no one has spoken out against the lottery, this allowed stoning or murder has become normal to the people of the village. They feel as if they cannot change or even try to change any parts of the tradition, however, no one is forcing them to keep doing the lottery. These villagers are so …show more content…
They villagers were so kind to each other in the beginning, “they stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.” They seem like normal villagers, however, the minute that Tessie gets “marked” they turn become strangers to her and stone her, "come on, come on, everyone" (Jackson). Jackson portrays the unapologetic image of humanity for what it really is. The truth of the matter is that we could all see ourselves in the villagers. All of us have faced situations at one point where we choose to be quiet and hold on onto to tradition in the presence of injustice because we favor our protection over others without hesitation. If it comes down to the big picture, the humanity of the village is the humanity of our society today. As humans, we are naturally selfish, looking out for ourselves without a care for others. Jackson seems to want the cruelness of humanity to change into one of love and caring. We humans are the only ones of our kind in the whole universe, we should stick together rather than fight each
“The Lottery” is a short story about an event that takes place every year in a small village of New England. When the author speaks of “the lottery” he is referencing the lottery of death; this is when the stoning of a village member must give up his or her life. The villagers gather at a designated area and perform a customary ritual which has been practiced for many years. The Lottery is a short story about a tradition that the villagers are fully loyal to and represents a behavior or idea that has been passed down from generation to generation, accepting and following a rule no matter how cruel or illogical it is. Friends and family become insignificant the moment it is time to stone the unlucky victim.
Today tradition is a strong part of out lives. We do not have any traditions that are as extreme as the lottery, however “The Lottery” symbolizes that relevance can be lost over time. Take the Bible for example, it has been written and rewritten several times over thousands of years, translated from one language to another and then to another. Even over the relatively short period of time in “The Lottery” many thing had been lost from there tradition. “At one time, some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; some people believed that the official of the ...
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Americans day after day live much of their lives following time-honored traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. From simple everyday cooking and raising children, to holidays and other family rituals, tradition plays a significant role in how they go about their everyday lives. In Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," the citizens of a small farming town follow one such tradition. A point is made regarding human nature in relation to tradition. The story begins on a beautiful summer afternoon.
When people think of a lottery, they draw an image with a big amount of money in head. However in the story “The Lottery”, the price is death. It starts in the morning of a bright, peaceful day, people are gathering in the square, children picking stones and piles them; also the black box uses for drawing, “the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born.” (Jackson 205). Author put us to believe that the villagers are devotional, and take this event...
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.
Shirley Jackson?s insights and observations about society are reflected in her shocking and disturbing short story The Lottery. Jackson reveals two general attitudes in this story: first is the shocking tendency for societies to select a scapegoat and second is the idea that communities are victims of social tradition and rituals.
Tradition is an evil dictator. Tradition can be simple or complex. Tradition has the power to force someone to do something or not do something. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the reader gets an uneasy feeling that tradition dictates everything. Jackson makes it obvious that this village is run completely on tradition and that everyone fears change.
Traditions and Norms “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, is a short story about villagers that gather in the square to participate in a lottery. The lottery is run by Mr.Summers, the village patriarch who decides all the big events. Children go and start collecting stones until the children’s parents tell them to come back. Mrs.Hutchinson (Tessie) arrives late, and starts to chat with her friend Mrs.Delacroix. Tessie draws a slip of paper, with a black dot on it, the one that Mr.Summers had put on it the night before.
What if once a year we all got together to throw rocks at someone and then return to everyday life like nothing happened and call it a tradition. It certainly sounds like a ridiculous tradition, but that's exactly what happens in Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery. "Tradition vary from person to person and culture to culture and while some might have more vigorous tradition most of them are laid back and practical. The People in the ¨The Lottery¨ have a tradition that they blindly follow, and while not all traditions seem right many of them can be detrimental to society. The three main characters all provide important details about how this tradition seems right to them.
Tradition is huge in small towns and families and allows for unity through shared values, stories, and goals from one generation to the next. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” carries that theme of tradition. The story follows a small town that performs the tradition of holding an annual lottery in which the winner gets stoned to death. It (tradition) is valued amongst human societies around the world, but the refusal of the villagers in “The Lottery” to let go of a terrifying long-lasting tradition suggests the negative consequences of blindly following these traditions such as violence and hypocrisy.
The short story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, starts out on a peaceful, clear and sunny day at the end of June, in 1948. People gathered in the village for the annual Lottery. The square was soon filled with an anxious energy. People gathered in small groups to talk and exchange gossip. Soon Mr. Summers, the events coordinator, brought out The Black Box and the villagers went back to join their families.
Even the children were partaking in the ritual by “selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (51) and preparing a pile so that people would have rocks to choose from when it came time for the stoning. Even though the tradition is violent and unnecessary, no one seems to protest against how wrong and useless this violent sacrifice is. Instead, Shirley Jackson sets up the story to where the mood of the story is very mellow and there is even some jokes and laughter exchanged between people even though everyone is aware that someone is about to be sacrificed. Nevertheless, the ritual continues to happen every year because society is scared to get rid of it even though so much of the customs have been changed or taken out completely. Shirley Jackson states that, “I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story’s readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives”.
In "The Lottery" author Shirley Jackson takes us to a place in which a tradition is passed down generation after generation. However, over the years, the "lottery" has lost any significant meaning and the villagers follow tradition without even knowing why the tradition exists. In this short story, a lottery is held every June 26th of each year. The lottery consists of every man of each household to pick a piece of paper out of a box. One family will be the "chosen" family, which means that each member of the family will then choose another piece of paper from the box. In the end, only one person will be the ultimate "winner." They will be the one who is stoned to death, and the townspeople will be the one's to perform this ritual, even though no one is sure why they actually do this each and every year. This blind following of the past traditions leads the reader to discover a universal truth, "Tradition is the guide of the ignorant."
At the beginning of the story it starts out seeming like an ordinary civilized community where everyone gets along. In the first sentence of the story “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.”(Jackson). Even though the towns people knew what day it was and what happens on July 27th they had no problem with gathering in the town center to get the lottery under way. The kids would start gathering first, then the men, and then the women and they all would present themselves wearing nice cloths as if attending a special event. This became such a tradition that people even forgot about it and this is made evident when Mrs. Hutchinson said “and then I looked out the window and the kids was gone, and then I remembered it was the twenty-seventh and came a-running" (Jackson). Mrs. Hutchinson had put a target on her back from then on because she was seen as an outsider or not normal because she had joined the group late. “The villagers’ blind acceptance of the lottery has allowed ritual murder to become part of their town fabric.” (Sparknote
The unfair tradition of the Lottery by Shirley Jackson symbolizes a loss of humanity and an unstable society, afraid of facing the reality of the practices they partake in, so they continue to do so with no hesitation and mercy of their actions. Shirley provides an insight on what society is like today, following a trend or hype because of the publicity and the majority of people engaging themselves in it. These “followers” get so caught up in these habits that it makes them so immoral things without thought or question. As Mark Twain said “The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” (Mark Twain). This tradition has become a security for the villagers, leaving their mind at decay, lost in the effort