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Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is viewed as a groundbreaking short story that shocks its readers with a surprisingly violent ending. The story of a quaint town with a dark tradition is difficult to comprehend the first time you read it, however after further analysis its true meaning begins to reveal itself. “The Lottery” was written shortly after World War II, a period of history that is often viewed as a sheltered time in America. Women weren’t meant to question their husbands, children respected their parents, and going against the grain wasn’t as encouraged as it is today. Jackson alludes to events and attitudes during and after the war throughout the story. These allusions speak volumes about present day society just as they did when …show more content…
Does Tessie represent someone who stands out in a society that praises conformity? Or is it her role as a mother that impacted Jackson’s choice? Regardless of how she made her choice, Jackson instills qualities in Tessie that we find within ourselves, opening up the range of interpretation so that Tessie doesn’t symbolize one emotion or person, but rather symbolizes something different to every reader.
Every one of the characters that the reader is introduced to seems to fit into the picturesque perfect town, until Tessie. “The Lottery” begins with a small description of the weather, the town, and the citizens of the town. The way that Jackson describes the town allows the reader to really interpret it personally. Everything is very plain, nothing unique or different, which is very representative of the population as well, except for one. From the beginning Tessie stands out as someone who doesn’t fit in. While everyone else in the town arrived early, “Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her sweater thrown over her shoulders, and slid into place in the back of the crowd.”(859) Tessie completely forgets a tradition that is extremely important to her small town, and that is where she first begins to
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When one thinks of the word mother, they often think about love, acceptance, maybe even a good home cooked meal. Mother's are the ones who teach us to always share, never to hit, and to play nice with the other children on the playground. "A mother's love" is viewed as one of the most everlasting and strongest emotions one can possibly feel. Tessie was a mother to three children, and a part of what seems to be a loving marriage. At the beginning of the story she even yells sarcastically, "Get up there, Bill." Never in the story is she concerned over the process, until her family is the one that is selected. The irony lies in the fact that mother's are supposed to be the ones that teach us right from wrong, and Tessie simply just jokes about the process as if it's nothing. The one person who is supposed to be the moral compass of the story doesn’t find anything wrong with it, so to her children the lottery is viewed as an acceptable tradition in their society. Now one could argue that they would find it acceptable regardless because of the mob mentality of the town, however I argue that if Tessie would’ve had sound morals they wouldn’t be living in that town anymore. By killing the mother in the story Jackson is literally killing the moral compass within the lives of Tessie's three children. But then one must ask
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 town's citizens are eager, gathering in the town square in order to take part in the yearly lottery. With the story focused around one particular family, the Hutchinsons, who are so anxious to get it all over with until they find that one of their members is to participate in the lottery's closing festivities, Tessie. Of course, unlike your typical lotteries, this is not one that you would want to win. The one chosen from the lottery is to undertake a cruel and unusual death by stoning at the hands of their fellow townsmen for the sake that it may bring a fruitful crop for the coming harvest season. Ironically, many of the towns people have suggested that the lottery be put to an end, but most find the idea unheard of being that they have lived in it's practice for most of their lives.
At the beginning of the story, we see her desiring going to the lottery. She was laughing, joking, and encouraging her husband to go up and get a drawing when he didn’t move right away. She never would have suspected her family would be chosen, and furthermore, herself. Jackson creates a great contrast between Tessie’s nonchalance and the crowd’s nervousness (Yarmove). When her family is chosen, her character changes around knowing that there’s the possibility of her own death. Tessie’s character change is shocking, but falls into place with the holocaust. She symbolizes the human instinct of survival, and tries to offer up her own children and their families to lower her chances of death. In Yarmove’s analysis of Jackson’s work, he writes “It is the peevish last complaint of a hypocrite who has been hoisted by her own petard” to drive this thought home. The Nazis involved in the roundup of the ‘lesser’ people, alongside with whoever aided, did so because either they were naïve enough to believe they wouldn’t be killed themselves, or because they believed in the cause. Tessie symbolizes those who did so because they thought they wouldn’t be
...ces of becoming the victim even children are at risk.Each year they chose any body with that black draw slip telling to die,where as no human being is safe . What makes “The Lottery” so thrilling is the swiftness which makes the villagers turn against the victim(Tessie).
Answer : He means that the names in the story are different and the ways that come characters which to see someone die and others do not believe the lottery. Tessie is singled out because she was being suspicious and shouts at Mr. Summers that he did not give enough time to Bill to choose. So she thinks it isn't fair.
“The Lottery” is a satire that is meant to shock and provoke readers with the prospect that societal contentment and tradition can evoke the emersion of illogical and harmful actions. The author, Shirley Jackson, understands that the proper use of symbolism and character archetypes is followed by a more impactful story. “The Lottery” opens with children who are out of school for summer break “[on a clear and sunny… day.” (Jackson, 1948, p. 221). Such an innocuous, familiar scene, might elicit from the reader nostalgic, whimsical memories of childhood play. Appropriately, the children in this story represent the innocent, susceptible future generation of the town. They do not seem to fully fathom the severity of the lottery or the abhorrent nature of the violence associated with the town’s traditions. For this reason, the reader most likely develops an expectation that this story will be a pleasant and optimistic one that takes place on a beautiful sunny day and involves the laughter and tomfoolery of young happy kids.
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...
When asked if there was anyone else in the household, Tessie claims, “There’s Don and Eva... Make them take their chance” (Jackson 5). By volunteering her daughters, that are married and thus draw with their one families, Tessie shows that she would rather have a family member be stoned to death than herself. She is also set out as a hypocrite because she does not complain when any other family is picking slips (if another family had picked the slip she would have stoned someone else to death), she only questions the lottery when her family is the one that has to choose. She cried out multiple times, “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (Jackson 8), questioning the fairness of the tradition after she is the one chosen to be stoned to death. Tessie finally sees outside of the bubble that everyone in the village is in. It is here that we see that violence is acceptable until it becomes
Shirley Jackson describes the characters in “The Lottery” in a way that readers can relate to each of them in some way, yet she makes one character stand out from the start of the story. Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson arrives late, having “clean forgot what day it was” (411). While the town does not make a fuss over Tessie’s tardiness, several people make remarks, “in voices loud enough to be heard across the crowd” (411). Jackson makes the choice to have Tessie stand out from the crowd initially. This choice first shows Tessie’s motivation. Tessie was so
In “The Lottery”, Jackson wrote about a special tradition of a small village. June 27th was warm and sunny, and it gave the impression like nothing could possibly go wrong. Everyone knows the lottery as an exciting thing, and everybody wants to win, but this lottery is unlike any other. This lottery was actually the tradition of stoning of an innocent villager; that year it was Tessie Hutchinson. Though the horrific ending was not expected, throughout the story Jackson gave subtle hints that this was not an average lottery. Jackson foreshadowed the death of Tessie Hutchinson with stones, the black box, and the three legged stool; she showed that unquestioning support of tradition can be fatal.
To follow through I will discuss the importance Jackson placed on the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson. She was seen as someone who is consumed by hypocrisy and weakness. Mrs. Hutchinson is aware that the lottery is wrong but does nothing to eradicate it or stand on her own. To her demise the lottery’s lesson is that the more artificial you are, the more of a target you become. Sadly the lottery became the death of Mrs. Hutchinson, when she was chosen as the winner of the annual event.
In Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," what appears to be an ordinary day in a small town takes an evil turn when a woman is stoned to death after "winning" the town lottery. The lottery in this story reflects an old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order to encourage the growth of crops. But this story is not about the past, for through the actions of the town, Jackson shows us many of the social ills that exist in our own lives.
Tessie Hutchinson was angry that her husband had gotten the lottery, so the family drew again. In the final draw, the crowd saw that Tessie had gotten the paper with the black dot. The instant the crowd knew who got the lottery, they began grabbing the stones the boys had piled up earlier. Formerly, Mr. Summers joined the crowd and said “let’s finish quickly” to be in time for noon dinner(Jackson, 7). At this instant, Mrs. Delacroix had “selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands” for the ritual(Jackson, 7). This sentence shows how terrible the lottery is and how extreme it can get. Without delay, Tessie is standing in the middle of the crowd when “a stone hit her on the side of the head” and that was the signal to begin the ritual(Jackson, 7). The lottery is just a cruel thing to the victim and their family who have to watch and be a part
This practice is common almost everywhere but Jackson provided the audience lens to what a hypocrite looks to the sane eye. From the beginning of the story the people in the town seem to be ok with the practice of the lottery. The character of Tessie Hutchinson is the biggest example of hypocrisy in the story. As she is introduced, her attitude demonstrated an indifference to the ritual. She arrived late claiming she did not remember what day it was and later jokes with her husband about being late. Her attitude makes the reader feel as if this dreadful ritual was just a common event that no one minds. Later in the story the reader finds out that her family has “won”. At this point her attitude change completely. She began to complain by saying: "You didn 't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn 't fair!" As this happens other characters in the story who had humorlessly engaged her before the lottery, began to act indifferent towards Tessie argument by saying, “Be a good sport, Tessie” and “All of us took the same chance” This characters also make it clear that everyone is very hypocrite to the friendship they appear to have towards the character of Tessie. While the story progresses, the readers find out that Tessie was chose the piece of paper with the mark that indicated she was the one to be sacrificed. By now, the character of Tessie had realized all of the years she participated she was participating in a very immoral act. Before the stone her to death she tries one more time to convince his friends, neighbors, and family members that the ritual being practice is a mistake by yelling “It isn 't fair, it isn 't right." Tessie Hutchinson realized the danger of living a hypocrite life when it was too
But in all honesty, Tessie’s actions were relatable in a sense. If anyone was placed in the same predicament, it is highly likely that that person would try their best to get out of that situation as well. Every individual probably would react in a different manner but the overall outcome of saving themselves would be a common ground. But with Tessie being a demanding individual put in this situation, she became hypocritical and self centered. Tessie’s reaction to becoming the unfortunate winner and her personality