The Complicity of Premeditated Sacrifice
analytical Essay
747 words
The Lottery and The Rocking Horse Winner both share a common link. In the Lottery Tessie Hutchinson is sacrificed according to an ancient tradition to ensure an abundant harvest. In The Rocking Horse Winner, young Paul sacrificed his energy to secure capital gain for his family, a pursuit which eventually results in his death. Both Tessie Hutchinson and Paul were sacrificed; one was an unwilling subject while the other was acting as a martyr for his family’s financial security. In exploring these stories we can detect the similarities in addition to viable metaphoric, historical, and plausible explanations that are reflected in modern society. In June of 1948 Shirley Jackson had an epiphany while thinking about the book her husband showed her on ancient ritual human sacrifice and in two hours her psychological horror story The Lottery was born (Oppenheimer, 1989). In The Lottery the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson is flustered because she subconsciously forgot what day it was thus delaying the inevitable by finishing her household task. Her deliberate procrastination sets her apart as an outcast. The fact that the Hutchinson family was planning to relocate to another village, which Tessie referred to as more civilized, demonstrated her abhorrence with this ancient blind ritual of violence. Such a tradition of ancient human sacrifice would with certainty create terror in the hearts of those who feel it a violation of humanity, yet unhealthy self-sacrifice can be the culprit to an untimely death as well. In The Rocking Horse Winner young Paul felt sympathy for his beautiful mother Hester who was frustrated regarding the family’s financial state and status quo. Being a good son, Paul made a conscious choice and ... ... middle of paper ... ...onents of godliness and human decency for a fairy tale existence. A Spiritual Worldview creates a balance in this world of physicality bringing us into harmony with God’s purpose. Works Cited Jackson, Shirley. (1948 June 26). The Lottery. The New Yorker, Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1948/06/26/1948_06_26_025_TNY_CARDS_000214921 Kennedy, X. J. and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 7th ed. (Custom). Boston: Pearson, 2013. pp. 234-245, 250-259. Lawrence, D.H. (2014). A & E: The Biography Channel Website. New York, New York. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/dh-lawrence-17175776 Lawrence, D.H. (1966). The Rocking Horse Winner. Woodstock, IL: Dramatic Publishing. Oppenheimer, Judy. Private Demons: The Life of Shirley Jackson. Random House: Ballantine Books, 1989 May 27. p. 12. .
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the lottery and the rocking horse winner share a common link. tessie hutchinson is sacrificed according to an ancient tradition to ensure an abundant harvest and paul sacrifices his energy to secure capital gain for his family.
- Analyzes how shirley jackson had an epiphany while thinking about the book her husband showed her on ancient ritual human sacrifice and in two hours her psychological horror story the lottery was born.
- Analyzes how paul felt sympathy for his mother hester in the rocking horse winner. being a good son, he took advantage of an opportunity to acquire lucrative income for the household despite the toll on his health.
- Analyzes how paul sacrificed his life to secure his mother's love. the rocking horse winner demonstrates the relentless pursuit of riches can have a devastating toll.
- Analyzes how tessie hutchinson's murder and the lives of those before her demonstrate society’s blind acceptance to traditions without any plausible explanation.
- Explains that sacrifice is not limited to the community or individual households, but organizations, businesses, and religious institutes whose statutes require sacrifice on behalf of their members.
- Compares the treatment of humanity in the 21st century and the worldly influences of the liberal media. a spiritual worldview creates a balance in this world of physicality bringing us into harmony with god’s purpose.
- Cites jackson, shirley, and dana gioia. literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama and writing.
Related
- analytical
- explanatory
- Death For the Sake of a Ritualanalytical essayIn Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson’s death is a prime example of the accepted expected traditional ritualistic demise. Tessie‘s life is randomly sacrificed for the greater good of her community and their belief that it will bring a prosperous harvest (Jackson 334). Tessie’s life is the price paid for a year of good luck and fortune for her whole community. To her family and friends it is irrelevant that Tessie is the victim. What becomes relevant is that for the greater good someone in the town must die by the vicious hand of the other townsfolk. As brutal as it seems the annual murdering of an innocent being has long been practiced in many cultures. Look at the ancient Mayans and who they used ritual sacrifice to appease their gods. Whether the sacrifice is to please ones god or to manipulate the fate of the future for some traditional belief it is not that uncommon in fiction or fact. We may not agree with this way of thinking and acting, but nonetheless, Tessie’s personally unwanted but presumably self-foreseeing gamble towards demise is a gift seen by her peers as necessary, fair, and just. It is a gift of death enveloped be a visco...
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the greatest gift one can give is the utter extinction of a person's existence. death for the sake of ritual and tradition is an act that has been practiced throughout history.
- Analyzes how mrs. tessie hutchinson's death is a prime example of the accepted expected traditional ritualistic demise.
- Analyzes how fortunato's death is a psychotically rewarding gift of revenge in edgar allen poe’s gruesome tale, “the cask of amontillado.”
- Analyzes how paul wilmott's death is filled with sadness and irony but it is still a gift.
- Explains that death is still death, no matter how many bows and ribbons or ornate the parchment used is. deaths can be construed as gifts from someone's point of view.
- Cites jackson, shirley, poe, edger allen, and lawrence, d h.
1173 wordsRead More - The Lottery Modernismanalytical essay“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson reveals the danger of blindly following tradition. “The Lottery” presents the story of an annual tradition practiced by the community of a small town. The tradition itself involves stoning the winner of the lottery to ensure a good harvest. This tradition appears to be extremely vital to the community, considering its apparent lack of history.
In this essay, the author
- Describes postmodernism as an extensive movement that developed in the later half of the 20th century.
- Analyzes how shirley jackson's "the lottery" reveals the danger of blindly following tradition. the tradition involves stoning the winner to ensure a good harvest.
- Analyzes how margaret atwood's "happy endings" is an example of metafiction. metafiction poses questions about the relationship between fiction and reality.
- Analyzes how joyce carol oates' "where are you going, where have you been?" describes connie's search for independence as she approaches adulthood.
- Explains that postmodernism is different from the previous literature movements and expresses the feelings and concerns of society at the time and continues to influence society today.
523 wordsRead More - The fundamental principles of “utilitarianism” is that the moral is worthy of an action that benefits the majority of the population and minimizes the negative consequence of the action, thus the “greatest happiness rationale” rules. This further implies that the welfare of the entire population is more important than the welfare of a sole individual. Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, and the United States military draft lottery demonstrate two different examples of lottery practices – the stoning in “the Lottery” and the raising of military manpower through the draft lottery. Both of these examples claim the major aim is allegedly for the welfare of the majority, however otherwise. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” epitomizes communities, America, the world, and the orthodox society in its entirety through utilizing setting and most significantly various representations with her imaginative, enigmatic literary style. The Lottery was written in 1948 and this was approximately three years following the release of a World War II concentration camp Auschwitz. Shirley Jackson illustrates through the setting of the story, a humble, close-knit community, that despite the population’s ignorance to evil, it is still prevailing in the lottery. Lottery in the story pertains to the villagers’ yearly ritual of sacrificing and stoning a member of the community in exchange for a plentiful harvest. The façade of the lottery may appear beneficial for the majority of the villagers because, according to their belief, doing the lottery will provide them with an abundant harvest (Jackson). The sacrifice of one community member may appear justifiable because that one person’s sacrifice is for the good of the entire community. However, if we are going to...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how shirley jackson's "the lottery" epitomizes communities, america, the world, and the orthodox society in its entirety.
- Explains that the lottery is yearly done for the benefit of the entire community, but there is no moral worth in such ritual.
- Argues that the military draft lottery was unconstitutional in terms of violating the right of people to personal liberty and freedom through forcing them to become soldiers in combat.
903 wordsRead More - Religion in The Lottery by Shirley Jacksonanalytical essayThe Lottery, and Christianity Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, if left at face value, is a perverse tale of a small village sacrificial ceremony, which leaves a lasting impression upon the reader. However to take the story at face value would nearly be an exercise in futility, for then the reader would be missing the deeper meanings found in the delicate symbolism that Jackson places throughout the tale.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how shirley jackson's "the lottery", if left at face value, is a perverse tale of small village sacrificial ceremony, which leaves lasting impression upon the reader.
- Analyzes the symbolic meanings of people and things placed throughout the narrative depict certain attitudes and beliefs about christianity and its religious system.
- Analyzes how the box, being a symbol of the bible, is held up by the stool, just as in christian beliefs god and the bible are all but inseparable, much to the chagrin of others.
- Opines that the symbolism here is trying to show us that only certain people can be lucky enough to fit within the criteria that christianity places on a person in order to be holy.
- Analyzes how the characters embody christian, biblical, and church-like things. mr. adams is the first man to receive his judgment, while old man warner denotes many things within the story.
- Analyzes how "the lottery" is a graphic depiction of the way tradition affects christianity, and shows some of its more negative aspects.
966 wordsRead More - The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Analysisanalytical essayIn both Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Ursula LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” the idea of sacrifice is described in order to show how suffering and sacrifice is necessary for the happiness of others and to enlighten readers to the reality of the world. In the descriptions of the society, the extent and purpose of the sacrifice, and the deeper result of the sacrifice, the two societies have similarities, yet they have differences that enlighten the reader to a deeper understanding of the concept of sacrifice as it relates to happiness and society in general.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how shirley jackson's "the lottery" and ursula leguin’s “the ones who walk away from omelas” describe the concept of sacrifice.
- Analyzes how similarities and differences in the descriptions of the societies help to emphasize the significance of sacrifice, which shows the reader that to have a good society, sacrifice is necessary.
- Analyzes how the descriptions of children and life and happiness are associated with the pleasures of childhood and youthfulness because it is guilt-free and unburdened.
- Analyzes how the variances in the extent and purposes of the sacrifices show how happiness depends on suffering, no matter how minor a degree said happiness is.
- Analyzes how wealthy modern day countries depend on the long-term suffering of poorer countries and people who work in sweatshops to maintain their luxurious lifestyle.
- Analyzes how the sacrifices that societies depend on to eliminate the bad in the world lead to bad things, such as the loss of innocence and purity.
- Analyzes how jackson and leguin illustrated the dependence on sacrifice to reveal the harsh reality of the world.
1753 wordsRead More - Dehumanity In The Lottery, By Shirley Jacksonanalytical essaySet in 1948 and published in The New Yorker, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson describes a village ritual of sacrifice. Contrary to the positive feeling associated with the word “lottery,” the story strikes fear into the readers’ hearts as the winner is stoned to death. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” uses symbolism and genre conventions of a classic dystopian story to show the different ways in which human cruelty can occur.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how shirley jackson's "the lottery" uses symbolism and genre conventions of a classic dystopian story to show the different ways human cruelty can occur.
- Analyzes how shirley jackson uses the symbolism of a stone to show the cruelty of human nature in "the lottery."
- Analyzes how "the lottery" uses the dehumanization of the villagers to depict immorality.
- Analyzes how shirley jackson uses "the lottery" to point out the cruelty of dictatorship.
- Analyzes how shirley jackson's "the lottery" shows how human cruelty can exist in many forms through symbolism and genre conventions of dystopian fiction.
1081 wordsRead More - Following Blindly In Shirley Jackson's The Lotteryexplanatory essayThe people in the village where Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” takes place keep the lottery going because it is a tradition, without any thought of why they do this, or whether they should continue. It is just an ordinary day for Tess until she shows up late to the lottery drawing, through which she is later chosen to be stoned to death:
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the village where shirley jackson's short story "the lottery" takes place keeps the lottery going because it is a tradition, without any thought about why they do this, or whether they should continue.
- Explains that people do this all the time—follow something without a thought because it is something they were raised doing.
- Explains that valentine's day was originally created as a ritual with the pretense of fertilizing women. romans sacrificed goats and dogs, using their hides to whip women while drunk and naked.
- Explains that valentine's day was christianized during the emergence of the european catholic church. the name came from saint valentine, a priest forbidden by emperor claudius ii to marry off young soldiers
- Explains that valentine's day was never about declaring love for someone by purchasing gifts or chocolates, but was idiocy created somewhere along the way.
- Opines that people should know why they celebrate valentine's day and not just follow tradition because it has been around longer than they.
730 wordsRead More - The Lotery by Shirley Jacksonanalytical essayNot every lottery has a favored prize. Sometimes, as in the short story examined here, it is best to lose. Author Shirley Jackson, a 1940 graduate of Syracuse University, lived in Vermont in 1948 when she wrote her most famous work, “The Lottery.” She liked to entertain readers with psychological thrillers and suspense-filled stories and wrote with a “peculiar talent for the bizarre” (Ragland). Her writing is described as “unemotional narrative style.” She “reveals men and women to be timid, conformist, callous, and cruel” and gives a depressing view of human nature since she believed that people possess more evil than good and tend to resist change (Ragland). Jackson shows how the reluctance of the village people to question tradition has a disastrous conclusion when the reader is shocked to learn that the winner of the lottery will be stoned to death. Her short story begins on June 27th as the villagers gather in the town square to take part in the annual tradition of the lottery. Each member draws a slip of paper and the one marked with a black dot represents the winner. The outcome and unexpected tragedy is that this winner is immediately stoned to death. The men and women of the town seem to follow, without question, this ritual that has been performed annually for much longer than the oldest villager has lived. In her shocking story “The Lottery,” author Shirley Jackson reveals that to follow tradition without question can have horrific consequences through her characterization of the villagers and Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson and her clever use of foreshadowing and symbolism.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how shirley jackson, a 1940 graduate of syracuse university, entertains readers with psychological thrillers and suspense-filled stories.
- Analyzes how the village's lottery was a ritual that required little or no preparation. old man warner convinces everyone to participate in the tradition, even though they don't fully understand its purpose.
- Analyzes how the ritual of throwing stones at the lottery winner, tessie, has become so accepted as a way of life that villagers participate without question.
- Analyzes how shirley jackson uses tessie hutchinson's character to make the reader feel sympathy and shock over her unexpected death.
- Analyzes how shirley jackson uses literary devices to convey the horror of the lottery tradition. foreshadowing suggests that a special event is unfolding in the town square.
- Analyzes how shirley jackson uses symbolism to illustrate the theme of the story.
- Analyzes the symbolism used in "the lottery" to explain the horrific murders that have occurred annually to support a tradition that none of the villagers seem to understand
- Analyzes how shirley jackson uses foreshadowing, symbolism, and characterization to explain why following tradition without question is dangerous in her story "the lottery."
- Explains that jackson's use of symbols in "the lottery" is described in the dictionary of literary biography.
1669 wordsRead More - Reflection About The Lotteryanalytical essayThe lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson. The author lived from 1916 to when she died in 1965. The story was published in June of 1948 in an issue of “The New Yorkers”. When I first read this story I thought it was talking about the kind of lottery we have today. I quickly realized that was not the case, but that it was about system where someone is sacrifice for the sake of the crops. The lottery was actually not necessary but was a tradition that they kept following. The crops would have grew even if they had not sacrifice someone.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the lottery is a short story written by shirley jackson. the story was published in 1948 in an issue of "the new yorkers".
- Analyzes how the village holds a lottery every year, where the leader of the household receives the paper with the dot, and each individual member must receive it. the people in the town would pick up rocks and stone the sacrifice.
- Explains that many of the traditions we celebrate now, aren't sure why they're celebrated and how they came to be. they celebrate them because they believe it's the only way to have a plentiful harvest
- Analyzes how the story is organized in how it flows and the order of the events.
- Analyzes how the story is effective in capturing the audience, with describing the day.
- Analyzes how treated the topic very well in how she explained it. she explained the reason the lotter was set up, but it was never clear why they still do the lottery to this day.
- Explains that the story appeals mostly to teenagers, but can also be appealing to any generation.
- Opines that the story made them feel like they were in real life. they also realized how much in life i take for grant, when there could be a small town that has this kind of ritual.
1010 wordsRead More - Human Nature at its Worstanalytical essayOppenheimer, Judy. Private Demons: The Life of Shirley Jackson. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1988. Print.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how shirley jackson's "the lottery" struck a nerve with readers in mid-twentieth-century america. students who had not previously read the story reacted strongly to the ending.
- Explains that man's propensity for violence has been around since cain killed abel. the ancient romans were known for their bloodlust.
- Explains that the story was written in the immediate aftermath of world war ii and the holocaust, and raised important questions regarding ‘the power of mass psychology, the possibility that blind adherence to tradition will forestall judgment.
- Analyzes how critics have carefully discussed shirley jackson's 'the lottery', pointing out its obvious comment on the innate savagery of man lurking beneath his civilized trappings.
- Analyzes how jackson shows that the townspeople feel no individual responsibility in committing what can only be termed murder. the lottery was treated as just another social event.
- Analyzes how some villagers are uncomfortable with the lottery, but no one overtly criticizes or speaks out against it.
- Opines that readers don't want to believe that an otherwise normal human being could commit a reprehensible and violent act like what is depicted in "the lottery." burger says that our culture socializes individuals to obey certain authority figures.
- Analyzes how mrs. adams commented on the villages that have stopped the lottery, but no one else spoke in support of ending it. it is possible that some townspeople, while present, did not participate in the stoning.
- Explains that unlike most modern movies, there are no discernable good guys or bad guys in the story. when the characters commit a horrifying, heinous act, readers struggle to comprehend their actions.
- Analyzes how jackson's story upsets readers' complacency after the nazis sank in their eagerness to destroy other, ‘lesser’ peoples.
- Analyzes how they hoped the story would shock readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives.
- Analyzes the effects of crowds, or mobs on individuals, and concludes that it is highly probable that an individual in a group will experience deindividuation and that this leads to diminished responsibility.
- Explains that the situational factors that affected obedience in milgram's participants still operate today.
- Opines that the disturbing nature of "the lottery" causes readers to look more closely at themselves, and perhaps there will be a time when individuals will do what they know is right.
- Cites allan, tony, and baker, alan. the gladiator: the secret history of rome’s warrior slaves.
2555 wordsRead More