The Unexpected Surprise of Violence

No being on this planet will know exactly what will happen tomorrow. Every action they make today can alter an event in two weeks without awareness. But, life is valued poorly in the twenty-first century as another ordinary day of constant repetition. “You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen” (Coelho). Life becomes valued once risks are taken, but the outcome is never expected. Shirley Jackson, reader of witchcraft books, horrifies people with her perspective on the understanding of merciless rituals that kept communities at ease. Shirley Jackson develops her theme of unexpected violence in her short story “The Lottery” through the use of irony, symbolism, and denouement.

On a summer day in a small town in the short story, “The Lottery”, Jackson takes advantage of the peaceful environment and adds a convoluted twist through a misleading title and Old Man Warner and his traditions. The title, “The Lottery”, is viewed as a fortunate phenomenon at first, but once the reader apprehends the story line their viewpoint will never be the same. In the sentence of the short story, "Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her" (Jackson). This is the turning point where the reader realizes that they have directed towards the town's violent truth. This alteration on a typical storyline introduced new points of view such as early reviewers praising the emotional impact of the story's ending, suggesting Jackson took liberties with the plot by interjecting into a seemingly ordinary environment the horrifying reality of the lottery (Wilson). This perspective on the short s...

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...s Caesar expounds, “Which death is preferably to every other? The unexpected.” casually references unexpected violence to be the lesser of two evils.

Works Cited

Du Bose, Thomas. “The Lottery.” Masterplots, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

Hall, Joan Wylie. “Shirley Jackson (1916-1965).” Literary Reference Center. New York City: Columbia UP, 2005. Literary Reference Center. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.

Hicks, Jennifer. “Overview of ‘The Lottery.’” Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” 1950. Modern Short Stories: A Critical Anthology. N.p.: Harcourt, Brace ed, 1986. 384-90. Print.

“The Lottery.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 139-154. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.