Shirley Jackson uses various literary elements such as extended metaphors, vivid imagery, and ironic scenes to provide essential insights as to why traditional values are held on the highest pedestal in the village. In “The Lottery,” Jackson demonstrates traditional beliefs, that are held solely because of tradition itself, are destructive to society, as illustrated through the stoning of Mrs. Hutchinson, the winner of the lottery. Directly in the beginning, Jackson paints a descriptive, utopia-like village, where “the flowers were blossoming profusely, and the grass was richly green.” This powerful use of imagery provides the starting point for the fabrication of an ideal village with perfect, traditional families. Next, as people gather and converse in the …show more content…
As described, the box from which the lottery is played has been used so heavily, repairs were frequent. Moreover, “the black box had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born,” extensively illustrating how ancient and important this ritual is. The lottery itself consists of the men of the family stepping forward and randomly selecting a slip of paper from the black box. Continuing, the man who draws the slip with a black dot then has his entire family at stake. The whole family must reselect from the black box at random, and whoever selects the slip with the black dot again is stoned to death. Because this process is completely random, it symbolizes the random persecution in society due to tradition. After the Hutchinson family is chose, Mrs. Hutchinson is ultimately chosen to be stoned. She then insists that “this is not fair! This is not right!” because she was randomly selected. Therefore, the lottery is a metaphor for the random persecution in society that is inevitably unfair, which directly relates to the theme by having the village people stick to tradition, with no regard to the violence it
box. We do not always enjoy change, even if it might prove beneficial to us.
...this situation to be a truth in any city in the world. So in this Jackson shows how setting is used to magnify the darkness in all of human hearts.
The variables in, “The Lottery,” are learned behaviors passed down through years of participation in traditional ritual. The towns’ people are convinced this way of living is necessary, even though many details of the original lottery has, “changed with time” and “most of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded” (Jackson 79). The black box, symbolizing the true nature of the lottery, had become, “shabbier”, “splintered,” “faded,” and “stained” (Jackson, 134). Although, it’s not the original box, its secondary nature was constructed from antique, wooden shards of the first group of families that created the lottery. A blood-stained oracle from past generation; their lives sent to an unholy demise, their faiths cast aside originally on, “splinters of wood” (Jackson 79). Gambling all their lives, young and old, by a simplistic, foolish method; a method sustained over the years by superstition. The townspeople are conforming to a mysterious, ritual based solely on a systematic pattern they were born into; many of them unsure why the event continues and what exactly is the purpose of such event. However, despite forgetting certain aspects of the ritual, “they remembered to use
...d the setting. “The Lottery” remains applicable in our culture today. The story in of itself epitomizes tradition, the undisputed traditions that survive not just in the culture of “The Lottery.” “The Lottery” strongly demonstrates the collective mindset of Mr. Hutchinson and the rest of the villagers who contributed in the stoning of his own wife. Oftentimes people lose their distinctiveness, and are often peer-pressured into doing something that they do not want to do. When analyzing the text, Mr. Hutchinson went from clowning with his wife to slaughtering her in a short period of time exemplifies how recklessly individuals can have a change of heart. In the end, the tradition needed to be changed by the victim, Mrs. Hutchinson, but then it was too late and the tradition lives on even though it is not the best of traditions by stoning another individual to death.
The lottery consists of a black box full of blanks pieces of paper and one marked piece of paper. The person who draws the marked piece of paper is the one who endures the horrible fate of being stoned. This black box is very significant because it an s symbol of tradition. Just like tradition, it has been used for many years. Because it symbol in this story is the black box, which is used in the lottery process. . The box is a symbol of tradition and just like tradition; it has been used for many years. “ There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village.” It is old and needs to be replaced with a new one but none ...
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 Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson, shows the corruption in a village whose people treat life with insignificance. Through the use of literary devices, Jackson portrays how practices in traditions can be barbaric;ultimately, resulting in persecution.
By further description of the author, the items involved in the ritual and the villagers’ specific reactions to changing them further downplay the conventional nature of the lottery. Even though the “original paraphernalia for the lottery has been lost long ago” (Jackson 134), the townspeople still use the worn down, old black box for drawing out the slips of paper. The box is older than the oldest man in town, Old Man Warner, but no one dares to discuss the replacement of the black box. Conjuring up a brand new box is discouraged as “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box” (Jackson 134). Brief lighting is shown on what the box represents which is motivated by the suggestion that the current box contains pieces of the original box used by the founders of the village. The black box is almost a symbol of tradition in a way that “it is based on a story, is passed down from generation to generation, changes very slowly over time, but nevertheless is believed to serve an important function within the community” (Michelson).
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery", is a story that is very colorful with symbolism and underlying themes. Centrally, there is a heavy emphasis on following blind traditions no matter what the consequences are, and Utopia and perfect society seem to be the goal of the community where the story is set. Harold Bloom argues that Jackson Hit a universal nerve and suggests that the shock effect achieved by Jason "depends upon tapping into the universal fear of arbitrary condemnation and of sanctioned violence (Bloom, 9). In response to readers being upset, Jackson responded that "she wanted to graphically dramatize the 'pointless violence' in people's lives to reveal the general inhumanity to man (Friedman, 64). "The Lottery", is about blind obedience
Throughout the story, Jackson shows, with the use of symbolism and foreshadowing, that blindly following a tradition can have horrific consequences. All the objects connect with the ending. Since the villagers unquestionably accepted the tradition, they have allowed murder to become embedded in their town.
(Jackson, 1). Jackson wants the readers to believe that the town was ordinary and innocent, but ends with a shocking ending of a terrible stoning.
Shirley Jackson’s famous short story, “The Lottery,” was published in 1948 and remains to this day one of the most enduring and affecting American works in the literary canon. “The Lottery” tells the story of a farming community that holds a ritualistic lottery among its citizens each year. Although the text initially presents audiences with a close-knit community participating in a social event together on a special day, the shocking twist at the work’s end—with the death of the lottery’s “winner” by public stoning—has led to its widespread popularity, public outcry and discussion, and continued examination in modern times (Jackson). One potential critical theory that can be applied to Jackson’s “The Lottery” is the reader-response approach. This analytical lens is a “theory ... that bases the critical perspective of a text on ‘the reader’ and his or her personal interpretation” of that text (Parker 314). Reader-response criticism was coined by literary critic Louise Rosenblatt in the mid-20th century. It soon served as a cornerstone of literary movement in the 1960s and 1970s that later became intrinsic to the study of other schools of literary thought today. In using reader-response theory to examine “The Lottery” in a contemporary context, one might perform reading surveys and metacognitive questionnaires to determine whether the short story still proves resonant and thought-provoking. Therefore, just as “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson evoked an explicit and even fierce reaction in the past, so too does the use of reader-response criticism today help reveal that the short story may still hold the ability to sustain both its rising tension and surprising turn at the end.
for summer break, letting the reader infer that the time of year is early summer.
In conclusion, Shirley Jackson used many literary devices throughout the entire story. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson, uses symbolism, irony, and imagery to appeal to readers that read this story. Other literary devices such as characterization were identified in this story but the three that were elaborated on were the ones that stood out. The emphasis on religious traditions and symbols make “The Lottery” one the darkest and most mysterious
The village has its own unique lottery. The winner of the game will receive a card with a black dot. This means the surrounding villager will stone them to death! Shirley Jackson develops her theme of the danger of blindly following tradition in her short story, "The Lottery" through the use of symbolism, mood, and irony. The black dot represents the winner of the lottery.