Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson, a writer of horror and humour, was born on December 14th, 1916 and passed away during the summer of 1965. Her first novel, “The Road Through the Wall” (1948) was set in the same suburb she spent her early years; Burlingame, San Francisco, California. In 1934 her family moved to Rochester, New York. She dropped out of the University of Rochester and three years later, Jackson enrolled into Syracuse, University where she met husband Stanley Edgar Hyman. As an editorial assistant for The New Republic he helped her publish “My Life with R.H Macy” (1941) as her first nationally published story. Jackson is most famous for writing “The Lottery”, a short story of communal savagery, and “The Haunting of Hill House”, a highly acclaimed horror novel.
Author Unknown “Jackson, Shirley” Literary Encyclopedia 2005/11/15 Literary Reference Center. Seneca Libraries. November 18, 2007
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Shirley Jackson was born to father Leslie H. Jackson and mother Geraldine Bugee in San Francisco in 1919. She studied in Rochester New York and Syracuse University before she began her career as a writer. Her first short stories “My Life wit R.H Macy” and “After you, My Dear Alphonse” were published before she had her children Joanne, Sarah, and Barry with her husband Stanley Edgar Hyman. 1948 was a big year for Jackson as she published five separate pieces including the famous novel The Road Through the Wall and the short story “The Lottery”. Other more recognized works by Jackson include Hangsaman, The Bird’s Nest, The Sundial, The Haunting of Hill House, House, and We Have Always Lived in a Castle, all of which deal with Jackson’s interest in the paranormal. Her two-part autobiographical series entitled Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons is an anthology humourous tales based on her experiences as a housewife and mother.
Author Unknown “Shirley Jackson” Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition November 18, 2007 http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=5&sid=1d7500b2-61a0-44b5-b393-9dc83c183b83%40sessionmgr102
Bibliography
Novels
The Bird’s Nest. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1954.
The Hangsaman. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1950.
The Haunting of Hill House. New York: Viking,1959.
The Road Through the Wall. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1948.
The Sundial. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1958.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle. New York: Viking, 1962.
Collected Works
Come Along With Me: Part of a Novel, Sixteen Stories, and Three Lectures. Ed. by Stanely Edgar Hyman. New York: Viking, 1968.
Just an Ordinary Day, Ed. by Laurence Jackson Hyman and Sarah Hyman Stewart.
Set against the backdrop of the contemporary American societies, “Charles” and “The lottery” are arguably two of the finest short stories written by Shirley Jackson; one of the most popular and talked about writer of horror/mystery genre in the mid-nineteenth century. The lottery is a descriptive story about a horrific ritual that take place in a small town ,and Charles is a narrative story about the lies of a bad child. Like her other notable works, these two stories effectively showcase her mastery in dramatic irony and candidly uncover the contemporary social reality while still having the several similarities and differences shared in between them based upon the writing style, main theme of the story , and the way how each story concludes.
An author’s contributions to the world of literature are many times welcomed as a brilliant piece of work or a genius accomplishment. However, during the life of Shirley Jackson, her stories were many times received poorly due to their dark nature or their pedestrian humor. Even her most famous work, “The Lottery”, was met with outrage and criticism by Americans and literary critics. During her time, horror and humor were seen as minor writings that no one took much notice of. In Janet M. Ball’s analysis of Shirley Jackson, she states that, “Because Jackson chose to handle unusual topics, such as psychosis and ghostly apparitions, some literary critics relegated her to minor status.” (1). Even though she was disregarded during her own time,
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print.
Murphy, B. & Shirley J. The Literary Encyclopedia. [nl], August 31, 2004. Available at: http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2326. Access on: 22 Aug 2010.
James, Johson Weldon. Comp. Henry Louis. Gates and Nellie Y. McKay. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. 832. Print.
Jackson wrote about the horrors that the human being is capable of. Furthermore, Jackson’s mental state only strengthened her work, giving her the advantage of a new perspective; one that most individuals in society lack. Shirley Jackson grew up in a home like any other normal middle-class family. She lived with both of her parents in Burlington, California. Growing up, Shirley had a lot of tense relationships with her parents, but mostly with her mother.
Why would a civilized and peaceful town would ever suggest the horrifying acts of violence can take place anywhere at anytime and the most ordinary people can commit them. Jackson's fiction is noted for exploring incongruities in everyday life, and “The Lottery”, perhaps her most exemplary work in this respect, examines humanity's capacity for evil within a contemporary, familiar, American setting. Noting that the story’s characters, physical environment, and even its climactic action lacks significant individuating detail, most critics view “The Lottery.” As a modern-day parable or fable, which obliquely addresses a variety of themes, including the dark side of human nature, the danger of ritualized behavior, and the potential for cruelty when the individual submits to the mass will. Shirley Jackson also addresses cruelty by the citizen’s refusal to stand up and oppose “The Lottery.” Violence and cruelty is a major theme in “The Lottery.”
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...
Perkins, Geroge, and Barbara Perkins. The American Tradition in Literature. 12th ed. Vol. 2. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print
“The third day- it was Wednesday of the first week- Charles bounced a see-saw on to the head of a little girl and made her bleed,” (1). In the short story “Charles” written by Shirley Jackson, Laurie, the main character of the story, is a young kindergartener who is able to run around causing trouble at school and at the same time, pretend that it is only another boy in his class that is making the trouble. “Charles” teaches you that parents do not know everything about their child even though the child lives in the same house as them. Laurie’s parents do not know what he is like at school. Laurie is flamboyant, and arrogant yet creative and those characteristics make him the perfect troublemaker.
...ontains characters that highlight the message of the story and relate to readers. Additionally, the characters have traits that confirm Jackson’s success in writing Horror stories. She creates Old Man Warner, Tess, and the women to fulfill these roles. Short stories come alive based on character choice, and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is no different. “The Lottery” will haunt all readers based off character influences and true to life traits.
The works of Shirley Jackson tend to the macabre because she typically unveils the hidden side of human nature in her short stories and novels. She typically explores the darker side of human nature. Her themes are wide-ranging and border on the surreal though they usually portray everyday, ordinary people. Her endings are often not a resolution but rather a question pertaining to society and individuality that the reader must ask himself or herself. Jackson's normal characters often are in possession of an abnormal psyche. Children are portrayed as blank slates ready to learn the ways of the world from society. However, adults have a hidden side already formed and lurking beneath the perceived normality of the established social order. We see this best in Jackson's most famous short story, The Lottery. Jackson's uses many elements of fiction to demonstrate how human nature can become desensitized to the point of mob murder of a member of their own community. One of the ways she does this is through character. While the shocking reason behind the lottery and the gruesome prize for its winner are not received until the ending, the characters come back to haunt us for their desensitized behavior earlier in the story. For example, the children in the beginning of the story innocently gather stones as normal children might, yet their relish in doing so becomes macabre once we find out the purpose for which that are collecting them "Bobby Martin hard already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroy...eventually made a great pile of stones in one ...
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996.
Murphy, Bernice M. Shirley Jackson: Essays on the Literary Legacy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &, 2005. Print.