In the story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, the author uses certain details, that in the end, add to the horror. One detail Jackson includes is the actions of the kids in the beginning. “Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix… eventually made a great pile of stones in the corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys.” depicts Jackson (1). This can be seen as adding to the terror of the end of the story because the kids seem to be treating the events to come as a game, even though the “game” may consist of them stoning their own parents or friends. Another detail in the story that leads to an even more frightening ending can be found within this quote, “Alright folks” Mr. Summers says “Let’s finish quickly”
This story made me frustrated at the way people get forced into a rut that they can’t escape. Jackson Jackson isn’t completely innocent, no one is, but most of his problems were a result from the wrong that others had inflicted upon him. The frustrating part was that He was incapable of getting himself out. He did things like spend money on alcohol and cheese burgers, only to end up throwing it all up and even less money. To me, this story is about redemption. Jackson received grace from people like the good cop, and the pawnbroker. None of his own efforts changed his situation, only the kindness of others changed him. These kind deeds helped reconcile the reality of Jackson’ life and his situation. In a story like this, I always hope for a
In “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, tone and symbolism are equally important elements in comprehending this eerie short story. This dark tale takes place in a small town of about 300 people during the summer. The writer begins by painting a picture of children playing, women gossiping, and men making small-talk of home and finances, putting the reader at ease with a tone of normality. The people of the town coalesce before the lottery conductor, named Mr. Summers, appears to begin the annual town ritual of drawing from a box which will result in the killing of one townsperson by stone throwing. It isn’t until the fateful conclusion when the reader comes to realize there is nothing normal about the
A gathering of neighbors on a bright sunny day may seem like a fun, summer picnic; however, Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” proves this setting to be something more malevolent. Jackson builds suspense in the short story by withholding any explanations and does not reveal the true tradition of the lottery until the first stone hits Tessie’s head. She disguises small but certain indicators that something more ominous will happen in the story. It is only after the fact readers understand them as clues of doom. By excluding information until the last possible moment, she builds suspense and creates a shocking, powerful conclusion.
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 meaning of good and evil and the difference between them could be very confusing and hard to differ. The difference between good and evil can be deteriorated in someone's character and choices. If you continuously chose violent, evil things your character might be considered evil or bad. The Lottery by Shirey Jackson is a story that you figure out the good and evil in the characters.
"The Lottery" is a short story that shows just how disturbing the human mind can be at times. As the story proceeds it builds the reader up till the end where what you thought was going to happen did not turn out that way. But is that not how our lives are portrayed? Do we not build ourselves up to society believing what they say and do until the matter is put into our hands? Mrs. Hutchinson was a follower of society just like we are. Everyday was the same routine and every year she played the lottery just like all of the other town people. But this year would be a very different year for Mrs. Hutchinson because her chance at the lottery was about to happen. Now as a reader in this day, we would think of the lottery to be a great prize to receive but not during the days of these town people.
Analyzing history and the current state of society and its members has always been a popular topic for authors and artists. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is a comparison that can be applied to various phases of our current culture's development. Jackson uses her characters to compare old traditions and the new ideas. She accomplishes this with the development of characters such as Old Man Warner, Tessie Hutchinson, and the town children. Jackson uses these characters to reflect ideas that are often conflicted over the past, present and future. These conflicts can be seen in her use of the old man, modern mother, and the children. Morality, progress and change are all questioned, and still nothing is resolved. Ironically, the society's conscience is ignored in order to preserve tradition.
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.”
The 1940s in America sparked a new era in history concerning violence and warfare. The end of World War II brought the most horrific event in all of modern history to be witnessed by the world; the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, and further, the Holocaust. Born at the end of the Great War and living through this second World War, graphic imagery of the violence existing throughout her world filled the life of Shirley Jackson. Jackson’s husband Stanley Edgar Hyman wrote, “[Shirley’s] fierce visions of dissociations and madness, of alienation and withdrawal, of cruelty and terror, have been taken to be personal, even neurotic fantasies. After two rounds of drawing, one to choose the family, and one to choose the member of that family, Tessie Hutchinson “wins” the lottery. She is then stoned to death by the rest of the people of the town, including her own family. Because of the abrupt horror in the twist of the story, many people thought Jackson had mental problems and were quick to criticize “The Lottery.” The publishers were considering not publishing the story because of the graphic content (Friedman 32). Jackson’s mailbox was flooded with letters of criticism of the story and some even thought the village was real and wished to go view the annual ritual. “The Lottery” really hit home and upset others (Hicks 146). In an attempt to portray the graphic realities of life during this time period, Shirley Jackson cleverly expresses the grim facts with her use of literary techniques. Though greatly criticized for its inhumane pictorial of callous brutality, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” illustrates through the characterization of Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson, the use of atmosphere, and allegorical writing that violence exists in all ...
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.
Change. The first step of evolution in a society. Without change, history is bound to repeat itself. But (however?) with it we can grow to view things with a new perspective. One might wonder why humans are not more accepting of change. The answer is the fear of the unknown. In literature there are many symbols that represent how fear of change negatively impacts a society and its people. Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery introduces us to such a society. Every year on June 27th the lottery is held. The villagers come together, in the town square, to select one individual as the winner of the lottery. Unbeknownst to the reader, until the end of the short story, the prize the winner receives is death by stoning. The time has come again
When the story first opens up, the introductory scene that opens the story up includes children gathering stones and running to the destination where the lottery takes place. According to Linda Wagner-Martin’s journal, “The Lottery by Shirley Jackson”, she explains that the children running around provides a calm and peaceful vibe to the story. She also explains that bringing the children into the description creates a poignancy not only for the death of Tessie, the mother, but for the sympathy the crowd gives to her youngest son, Dave. She explains that it’s family members, women and children, and fellow residents that are being murdered through this ritual. The author additionally attempts to throw the reader off at first by creating a beautiful image of a town where the “flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” which gives an innocent feel to the town; but, the story actually ends with an egregious ending. One of the children, Martin, “stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the younger boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones.” The reason behind the younger children picking up the smoothest stones was because it would allow the person that’s being stoned a slow death due to their soft edges. With this, Jackson indicates that the children define this murderous and unethical event as ethical because they help their elders murder someone
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 ...
Winning vast amounts of money can make anyone slaphappy, but unfortunately this type of wager won’t be discussed in Shirley Jacksons “The Lottery.” Jackson catches the reader’s attention by describing a typical day by using words such as “blossoming, clear and sunny skies” to attract the reader into believing a calm and hopeful setting which eventually turns dark. In this short story Jackson tells a tale of a sinister and malevolent town in America that conforms to the treacherous acts of murder in order to keep their annual harvest tradition alive. Jackson exposes the monstrosity of people within this society in this chilling tale. She allows the reader’s to ponder and lead them to believe that the lottery is actually a good thing; till she implements foreshadowing, to hint at the dreadfulness behind the lottery and its meaning. My goal in this paper is to discuss why Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a portrayed as a horror story, and the importance the townspeople used to glorify ritualistic killings, to appease to an unseeable force in return of good harvest for the upcoming year.
The story of “The Lottery” is a dark tale that gives the reader a window into a community blighted by an tradition propagated by ignorance; sending a message that reverberates with many events, ideas, and observations throughout the annals of time. Written by the great Shirley Jackson, this fable exemplifies how delusion and illogical thinking led to the terrifying and morose ending of Tessie Hutchinson's existence. Shirley Jackson was well known in her lifetime, but not necessarily as the literary master she is hailed as today. Jackson had great interest in the culture of witchcraft, and deeply incorporated this knowledge into one of her first short stories: “The Lottery.” While this influence greatly improved the haunted tone of the story, it also spawned various rumors regarding Shirley Jackson herself, being a reclusive bookish woman interested in the dark arts. However, just as the “witches” of Salem were mercilessly murdered for ambiguous reasons, so too was Tessie Hutchinson. Shirley Jackson saw the reflection of these poor souls within our very lives, and channeled their sorrowful essence into a meticulous story that is as moving as it is disturbing.