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The Lottery is a short fiction written by Shirley Jackson. It is a story about a shocking tradition practiced by the people in certain town. Shirley ironically gives the lottery a bad meaning in her use of the word in this short story. In the story, the lottery is used for public stoning, contrary to what it originally means; winning a lot of money. The story focuses around a village during a ceremony they call the lottery which ensures there is enough rain for their crops. In the story, a number of literary devices are used by the author for example, irony, symbolism, foreshadowing, only to mention but a few. In the Lottery, there is a hidden message behind the twisted story and the hidden message is how great the horrors of man’s evil could be. In the short story, Shirley uses irony as a function to build the unexpected and shocking ending of her story. In the process of the irony building the shocking and expected twist of the story, it also sets the tone of the people in the story. The people are very reluctant to reject an outdated tradition but the irony used by the author helps to show how this is very normal for the people. The author uses irony from the beginning of the story. Shirley uses foreshadowing and irony at the beginning of the story by creating a normal and calm town. The author gives a picture of a typical normal town on a summer day which gives the reader no idea of what will happen in the story. She makes sure that the reader gets comfortable about the setting of the story as if there was nothing wrong that was to happen on that day. When one reads the first lines of the story, where it says, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets with stones” (237). This line is just immediately after the intro... ... middle of paper ... ...r, the author uses foreshadowing to warn the readers that something bad was bound to happen at the end of the story. In conclusion, the Lottery is a short story about a town that practices an out dated tradition which they call the lottery. It is a shocking story whereby during the ceremony, a woman is stoned to death with the belief that it will ensure a bountiful harvest. The village depends on tradition until they fail to respect the human life because they stone the woman to death without any mercy. Works Cited Jackson, Shirley.The Lottery and Other Stories. New York:Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992. Print. Gioia, Dana and Kennedy, X.J. Literature: An Introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. New York: Pearson Longman Publishing, 2011. Print. SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Lottery.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Shirley Jackson takes great care in creating a setting for the story, The Lottery. She gives the reader a sense of comfort and stability from the very beginning. It begins, "clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green." The setting throughout The Lottery creates a sense of peacefulness and tranquility, while portraying a typical town on a normal summer day.
The Lottery was published in 1949, it is one of Shirley Jackson’s most successful stories and is particularly her most analyzed story. The secret to its success is embedded in the literature arising from Jackson 's use of many literary technic to evoke dramatic irony to its readers. This is an absurd story about the strange tradition. The story revolves around an annual lottery was held in the village and the winner will die because villagers will throw stones to him/her. This piece of story through a grim lottery to show the ruthless and indifference between people. They fill with folly for blindfold follow the traditional custom that cause the tremendous impact. It marks a significant signal that the old tradition will has a negative influence
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a story littered with warnings and subtext about the dangers a submissive society can pose. While the opening is deceptively cheery and light Jackson uses an array of symbols and ominous syntax to help create the apprehensive and grim tone the story ends with. Her portrayal of the town folk as blindly following tradition represents the world during World War II when people’s failure to not mindlessly accept and heed authority lead to disastrous consequences. . Shirley Jackson uses a large array of techniques to help convey the idea that recklessly following and accepting traditions and orders can lead to disastrous consequences.
Have you ever read the story of a princess kissing a frog, having it turn into a prince? Well, what if it didn’t become a prince, but she turned into a frog herself! This is called irony, something we would not expect to happen. In the story of the princess we would not expect that to happen. In the story “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, we see this situation in another form. She uses irony to bring out the point in her story. “The Lottery,” offers an “ironic twist of fate” that causes wonder and makes one sympathize with the characters.
An understanding, of Jackson’s life and times may serve to illuminate motive and meaning, thus yielding further appreciation of this work. Shirley Jackson was born 1919, in the time of the “Lost Generation”. While attending Syracuse University, she met Stanley Edgar Hyman, a classmate, Jewish intellectual numismatist and literary critic whom she married in 1940. With the War’s end in 1946, publication of “the Lottery” in 1948, and her marriage to a Jewish intellectual it seems likely that news of the Holocaust would have influenced her writing. In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson describes a situation that aside from time and location mirrors Europe under Nazi authority.
Written by Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery” is a short story about a town that hosts an annual lottery that decides which person is stoned by the rest of the town. Jackson slowly and subtly builds the suspense throughout the story, only resolving the mystery surrounding the lottery at the very last moment, as the townspeople surround Tessie with their stones. The symbolism utilized helps demonstrate the overall significance of the story, such as the lottery itself. The lottery shows the way people desperately cling to old traditions, regardless of how damaging they may be. In addition, it can show how callous many will act while staring at a gruesome situation, until they become the victims.
When you think of a lottery, you usually think of tickets and winning big. However the short story, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson takes a spin on the traditional meaning. The story starts out describing the morning of June 27th; this town participates in an annual lottery to choose someone to sacrifice in order to have a successful harvesting season. Jackson uses dramatic irony and symbolism to emphasize the points of violence and cruelty humans can bestow upon each other.
In conclusion, the use of symbolism, irony and setting in the Lottery is very evident, the author indirectly implicates the true darkness within the human heart. The Lottery remains relevant in society today because the overall vagueness of the city allows this story to be true to all people around the world. The short story shows us that humans are evil enough to follow traditions blindly, even if they cause pain and death in loved ones we know. Jackson also centers a lot of symbols and irony on religion and how they affect our culture and decisions. In this the reader can learn that sometimes it’s better for a person to follow his moral compass, and not just blindly follow his evil heart, and the evilness of others.
"The Lottery" is a short story that shows just how disturbing the human mind can be at times. As the story proceeds it builds the reader up till the end where what you thought was going to happen did not turn out that way. But is that not how our lives are portrayed? Do we not build ourselves up to society believing what they say and do until the matter is put into our hands? Mrs. Hutchinson was a follower of society just like we are. Everyday was the same routine and every year she played the lottery just like all of the other town people. But this year would be a very different year for Mrs. Hutchinson because her chance at the lottery was about to happen. Now as a reader in this day, we would think of the lottery to be a great prize to receive but not during the days of these town people.
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is an amazing fiction short story. This story is highly focused on symbolism, imagery, and allegory. These three literary devices are what make this story as successful as it is and what keeps readers interested throughout the story. In fact, this story relies heavily on these three elements
Author Shirley Jackson obviously does not take symbolism lightly in her short story, “The Lottery”. The story “The Lottery” is a story that never seems to give the full truth and meaning of the objects, characters, and concepts without reading the full story. The theme and symbols in the story “The Lottery” are twisted and not as the reader may think. Three main symbols that are the main plot are the names, the paper, and the little black box.
“The Lottery” was quite disturbing to read. It is an very unusual story that has an ending that will have you baffled. You will want to reread certain parts to see if there is anything thing that you could have missed. The title of the short story is also misleading. In most cases the lottery is a good thing. People don’t win punishment and lotteries don’t hurt them. But in this story it does just that. The author did a great job of telling how anyone and everyone can follow tradition blindly. It is dangerous not to have a mind of your own and to just follow the crowd even if you don’t understand on agree on why something is happening.
In "The Lottery" Shirley Jackson fills her story with many literary elements to mask the evil. The story demonstrates how it is in human nature to blindly follow traditions. Even if the people have no idea why they follow.
The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, revolves around a series of traditions that no one seems to follow anymore. This story begins by explaining how the lottery process works. It takes place on June 27 of every year. All the people of the village gather in the town's square- husbands, wives, and children. Each head of household pulls a small piece of paper out of a black box. All but one piece of paper will be blank. The piece with the black-penciled spot is the piece that will send someone in that family to death. After that piece of paper is pulled from the box the members of that family must draw. The member that pulls the spotted paper out gets stoned to ...
The story of “The Lottery” is a dark tale that gives the reader a window into a community blighted by an tradition propagated by ignorance; sending a message that reverberates with many events, ideas, and observations throughout the annals of time. Written by the great Shirley Jackson, this fable exemplifies how delusion and illogical thinking led to the terrifying and morose ending of Tessie Hutchinson's existence. Shirley Jackson was well known in her lifetime, but not necessarily as the literary master she is hailed as today. Jackson had great interest in the culture of witchcraft, and deeply incorporated this knowledge into one of her first short stories: “The Lottery.” While this influence greatly improved the haunted tone of the story, it also spawned various rumors regarding Shirley Jackson herself, being a reclusive bookish woman interested in the dark arts. However, just as the “witches” of Salem were mercilessly murdered for ambiguous reasons, so too was Tessie Hutchinson. Shirley Jackson saw the reflection of these poor souls within our very lives, and channeled their sorrowful essence into a meticulous story that is as moving as it is disturbing.