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Summary and analysis of the Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Perspective of the lottery by shirley jackson
Symbolism in the story of the lottery
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Not every lottery has a favored prize. Sometimes, as in the short story examined here, it is best to lose. Author Shirley Jackson, a 1940 graduate of Syracuse University, lived in Vermont in 1948 when she wrote her most famous work, “The Lottery.” She liked to entertain readers with psychological thrillers and suspense-filled stories and wrote with a “peculiar talent for the bizarre” (Ragland). Her writing is described as “unemotional narrative style.” She “reveals men and women to be timid, conformist, callous, and cruel” and gives a depressing view of human nature since she believed that people possess more evil than good and tend to resist change (Ragland). Jackson shows how the reluctance of the village people to question tradition has a disastrous conclusion when the reader is shocked to learn that the winner of the lottery will be stoned to death. Her short story begins on June 27th as the villagers gather in the town square to take part in the annual tradition of the lottery. Each member draws a slip of paper and the one marked with a black dot represents the winner. The outcome and unexpected tragedy is that this winner is immediately stoned to death. The men and women of the town seem to follow, without question, this ritual that has been performed annually for much longer than the oldest villager has lived. In her shocking story “The Lottery,” author Shirley Jackson reveals that to follow tradition without question can have horrific consequences through her characterization of the villagers and Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson and her clever use of foreshadowing and symbolism.
For as long as they can remember, the people of the village have been expected to participate in the lottery. This long standing tradition h...
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Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” The Lottery and Other Stories. Ed. A. M. Homes. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. 291-302. Print.
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In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, Jackson illustrates an average agricultural town that usually wouldn’t be given a second thought, but in this case the innocent appearance is holding a dark secret. Every year in the summer an annual tradition is held known as the lottery. The lottery is held in the small town in order to have a bountiful harvest. All the towns’ people gather and each head of the families must reach into an old black box to grab a white slip of paper. The lottery is then narrowed down to one family once all the white slips of paper are opened. The individual who is possession of a white slip of paper with a black dot has their family each reach into the box and grab a slip of paper of their own. Unfortunately the family member who has the slip of paper with the black dot is sacrificed in order to receive a good season of crops.
“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
Hicks, Jennifer. "Overview of 'The Lottery'." Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
What thoughts come to mind when you think of "The Lottery?" Positive thoughts including money, a new home, excitement, and happiness are all associated with the lottery in most cases. However, this is not the case in Shirley Jackson’s short story, "The Lottery." Here, the characters in the story are not gambling for money, instead they are gambling for their life. A shock that surprises the reader as she unveils this horrifying tradition in the village on this beautiful summer day. This gamble for their life is a result of tradition, a tradition that is cruel and inhumane, yet upheld in this town. Shirley Jackson provides the reader’s with a graphic description of violence, cruelty, and inhumane treatment which leads to the unexpected meaning of "The Lottery." Born in San Francisco, Jackson began writing early in her life. She won a poetry prize at age twelve and continued writing through high school. In 1937 she entered Syracuse University, where she published stories in the student literary magazine. After marriage to Stanley Edgar Hyman, a notable literary critic, she continued to write. Her first national publication “My Life with R.H. Macy” was published in The New Republic in 1941but her best-known work is “The Lottery.”(Lit Links or Reagan). Jackson uses characterization and symbolism to portray a story with rising action that surprises the reader with the unexpected odd ritual in the village. While one would expect “The Lottery” to be a positive event, the reader’s are surprised with a ritual that has been around for seventy-seven years , demonstrating how unwilling people are to make changes in their everyday life despite the unjust and cruel treatment that is associated with this tradi...
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