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The lottery by shirley jackson an analysis
Elements of the story the lottery
The lottery by Shirley Jackson explained
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In Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," she uses the element of surprise. The way the story ends is unlike anything anyone could predict. There are however several alternative ways the story could have ended. The following is one possible alternative ending to "The Lottery".
Everyone was prepared. Thirty minutes prior to the drawing, the villagers started collecting the best and largest stones they possibly could. Mrs. Dunbar picked up a handful of pebbles and stuffed them in her pocket, she than chose a stone so huge she had to pick it up with both hands and it made it difficult for her to walk. Mrs. Delacroix collected some small pebbles and made it just in time.
Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal-company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up and there was a stir in the crowd.
"All right, folks," Mr. Summers said. "Let’s finish quickly."
Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground that the villagers had prepared earlier along with blowing scraps of paper that hod come out of the box. Mrs. Delacroix picked up the huge stone she selected earlier and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. "Come on," she said. "Hurry up."
Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. "It isn’t fair," she said. Just two seconds before everyone started hailing stones at her, Old Man
Warner yelled out "STOP!!" "Everybody STOP!" The villagers turned to him in shock and disappointment.
Conversation broke out among the crowd.
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.
People with power in society often have the ability to influence the practice of certain traditions. These traditions can affect what a citizen is entitled to do. In today's day and age, life without basic freedoms and rights sounds unthinkable. However, in Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” and Kurt Vonnegut's “Harrison Bergeron” this is the reality. Old Man Warner and the Handicapper General show that people in positions of authority encourage outdated traditions that ultimately lead to innocent people getting hurt.
A custom starts: Mr. Summers, a man who has participated in seventy-seven lotteries, brings a box with many pieces of paper inside. He starts joking in a friendly manner with the other residents while the names of all the relatives in the town are gathered in his box. Once they start, family members begin drawing sheets of paper from the box. Tessie’s, a woman who arrived late due to washing the dishes, husband, Mr. Hutchinson draws a sheet of paper with a black dot and Tessie worriedly shouts that he wasn’t given enough time. Any plea from her is ignored and the other people appear to be either annoyed or uncaring. The slips are recovered and the drawing proceeds, to which Tessie pulls a slip with a dark spot and is stoned to death by the other
Everyone can pant a pretty picture of how wonderful their life may be. In fact, doing so may come with a consequences. Reading these three short stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell and a short biography by Malcolm X called “My First Conk”, set off many different emotions. I felt as these author’s wanted to me to feel in such way. I believe there is a life lesion in every life story someone has to share, no matter how small or big.
Did you know that Merle and Patricia Butler from Red Bud, Illinois and three teachers from Baltimore Maryland won the biggest lottery in American history at $656 million dollars? That means every person acquired $218.6 million dollars each from the lottery (Carlyle). Unfortunately, the citizens of Shirley Jacksons’ fantasy short story “The Lottery” were not imbursed with money, but were stoned to death by their peers. “The Lottery” is a lottery of death in which the town uses to keep the population down (Voth). The story consist of many subjects to analyze which include: irony, imagery, and pathos.
One of the most controversial short stories in its history is “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson. The Lottery takes place in a sunny, beautiful day in an unnamed town. All of the villagers are gathering around to collect there slips of paper in order to see who won the Lottery. At the end it turns out that the prize for the winner is getting stoned to death. Shirley Jackson was known to make her stories have an unexpected turn of events. After all she was a very mysteries person whom many people believed that she fooled around with witchcraft. Other than that she was just another typical shy human being with amazing writing skills. For instance, she was able to come up with the idea of “The Lottery” as she was walking home pregnant,
The lottery is a ritual that has been around for years and years and it has developed into a way of life for the people of the town. When June comes rolling along everyone is anticipating the lottery. Kids fill their pockets full of rocks and plans are discussed about making a new box. They can not wait to attend and finally get it over with. This drawing seems to transform the people. Tension builds before the lottery occurs, but the townspeople are still able to joke with one another. Tension increases in the story when the author, Shirley Jackson, implies to the reader that Mr. Hutchinson has drawn the marked paper. We assume he does because he walks up on to the stage with his family and they are then made to draw again from the worn out black box. Mr. Hutchinson reaches his hand in and grabs out a piece with his children and his wife following in succession. The one that holds the winning ticket is Mrs. Hutchinson.
We see a very disturbing ending in the Shirley Jackson’s, The Lottery where the reader believes that the lottery in mention is solely a monetary game of chance, like in our lives presently. However,
On the morning of June 27 of a recent year, the 300 villagers of an American village prepare for the annual lottery in a mood of excitement. The horrible tradition of the lottery is so old that some of its ritual has been forgotten and some has been changed. Its basic purpose is entirely unremembered, but residents are present to take part in it. The children in the village created a “great pile of stones” in one corner of the stoning square. The civic-minded Mr. Summers has been sworn in and then he hands a piece of paper to the head of each family. When it is discovered the Hutchinson family has drawn the marked slip, each member of the family Bill, Tessie, and the children is given another slip. Silence prevails as suspense hovers over the proceedings. After helplessly protesting the unfairness of the first drawing, Tessie finds that she holds the marked slip.
The first thing that catches the eye while reading this is when the little boys start stuffing their pockets with stones when they arrive there. “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (264). This is a great example of the mere blindness in following ridiculous traditions. The young boys who started getting stones ready as soon as they got there could not have fully understood the tradition. They could have not understood the complete purpose of the stones. They have seen the adults pick stones in years before and have followed in their footsteps without question as if it were some sort of game.
The stones played of one the largest parts in foreshadowing and symbolism. The reader can overlook the significance of the stones because in the beginning they did not seem out of the ordinary. Children were playing and collecting stones prior to the lottery, but the reader has no idea that the stones are going to be used to kill Tessie Hutchinson. Jackson started foreshadowing with a subtle hint, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets with stones, and the other boys soon followed in his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (Jackson). Jackson explained that the children were picking up smooth stones, not jagged, spiky rocks, which could kill a person faster. Although picking up smooth rocks may seemed like a trivial detail, Jackson was actually foreshadowing the ending. Jackson showed the regularity of the stoning, “... eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys” (Jackson). The boys treated as if it was a game; the boys felt the need to gua...
of paper, enough for the entire town. On one slip of paper is a black
“The Lottery” is a story which shows the complexity and capability of human behavior. Something immoral, like stoning a person to death once a year, is a normal occurrence. The main character, Tessie Hutchinson, is the victim of the lottery. Tessie is a character with a number of seemingly good characteristics, yet her surrounding culture rejects these characteristics. The majority of the people in the village has opposite attitudes and beliefs in comparison to Tessie’s. These attitudes and beliefs reflect her personal desires which quickly struggle against the culture’s expectations. Tessie is unlike the other villagers; she is initially indifferent to the lottery indicating her desires are unrelated to the lottery. Upon winning the lottery, Tessie changes and her personal desires to survive and reject the lottery emerge in her selfishness and outspoken personality. These struggles against the village’s expectations are shown through the culture’s emphasis on tradition and small town ties.
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 Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a society in which it is a tradition for the population of a town to gather together in the middle of town for a random drawing with the prize of the individual being stoned. Mrs. Hutchinson was late to the raffle, protesting the whole time how it was unfair, and in the end was the individual that was chosen. This sequence of events and using literary element analysis leads the reader to believe that the so-called “random drawing” is actually controlled to target certain individuals that are threatening their tradition. Therefore, the central idea of “The Lottery” is that if one goes against tradition, society will be violent.