The Women of Shirley Jackson
Throughout her life, Shirley Jackson refused to fit into society's limited concept of a woman's role. Her works feature female protagonists who are punished for seeking a more substantial existence than that of the traditional wife or mother. In most cases, these characters are condemned as witches, ostracized by society, and even killed for their refusal to conform.
From her youth, Jackson was an outsider. Always self-conscious about her obesity and plain appearance, she preferred spending time alone in her room writing poetry to socializing with other children (Oppenheimer 16). As an adult, she struggled to fulfill her role as a mother without sacrificing her career as a writer. Kathleen Warnock writes:
[Jackson] served as chauffeur for her children and hostess for her husband's university colleagues at Bennington College [where he was a professor]. . . . But she also set aside time each day for her writing. "There was always the sound of typing," her children wrote, "pounding away into the night (10)."
Jackson's husband, writer and literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman, felt threatened by her talent and tried to discourage her by preoccupying her with housework. This, however, only made Jackson more determined. Her writing became a form of rebellion against her husband (who was allegedly unfaithful) and, ultimately, against a male-dominated society.
This element of rebellion in Jackson's works led to its poor reception by contemporary critics and readers alike. According to mythologian Barbara G. Walker, "Any unusual ability in a woman instantly raise[s] a charge of witchcraft" (1078). In the flood of mail that followed the publication of "The Lottery," Jackson was labeled "un-American, perverted, and modern" (Sullivan 71).
Rumors of supernatural events concerning Jackson began to circulate. According to David Gates, Jackson was "widely believed to have broken the leg of publisher Alfred Knopf by sticking pins into a voodoo doll" (67). Bennington College student Elizabeth Frank recalls "a rumor that. . . [Jackson] had turned a certain male faculty member into a pumpkin" (6). Jackson's extensive library of witchcraft as well as the mystique that arose from her agoraphobic tendencies added to this characterization. Her house became a cave, her small social circle a coven, and her many cats "familiars."
In the words of Jack Sullivan, "Jackson's real witchcraft is her fiction" (71).
named after him. As readers we begin to learn the type of man that Jackson indeed
She first started writing, when she came back home after the death of her father. She wrote about the Jackson social scene for the Memphis, Tennessee newspaper. She also was a publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration in rural Mississ...
In conclusion, most of the female character are often isolated, victimized and ultimately killed by the male characters. Furthermore, it is rather ironic how Mary Shelly, the daughter Mary Wollestonecraft who wrote the Vindication of the Right of Women chooses to portray women. In this novel, the female characters are the exact opposite of the male characters; they are passive, weak and extremely limited. Mary Shelly repeatedly shows women in a victimized position exhibiting to the audience how things should not be. In conclusion, Mary Shelly’s novel is a reflection of how women were treated in the 1800’s.
Ms. Angelou left her birth place as a young child after her parents had broken up. Ms. Angelou and her brother were sent to live with her fathers’ Mother in Stamps, Arkansas. Some may call Ms. Angelou’s 1969 autobiography ”I Know Why the Caged Bird Sing” her claim to fame, some may call her poetry her occupation, and more over there are still some that would like to call her Freelance writings Maya Angelou’s life’s work. Ms. Angelou was so much more. Ms. Angelou has been known for being a Civil Rights activist, a poet, a philosopher, a teacher, an Award-winning Author, an actress, a screenwriter and the
Growing up on the Mississippi River among six siblings, Mahalia Jackson knew what it was like to be racially secluded. She was reared by her father who was a minister and was singing in his choir at the age of five. In her early teen years she worked as a launderer and also as a housekeeper, but she dreamed of one day becoming a nurse ("New" 1). Mahalia began traveling throughout the Midwest to sing at different Baptist Churches. Her popularity began to soar, and she signed a record deal to become "the only Negro whom Negroes have made famous," as the African American press described her ("New" 2). She was inspired by Bessie Smith. When she worked as a servant, she said "when the old people weren’t home and I’d be scrubbin’ the floor, I’d turn on a Bessie Smith record to make the work go faster" ("New" 1). Mahalia would not stop at just being a famous gospel singer. She had her own radio program and television show that aired on CBS. She went on to manage several businesses and become involved in real estate. She preceded Dr. Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement before he gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech.
Her children greatly shaped her life; she gave birth to eight children and loved them deeply. In, "In Reference to My Children", she writes about neutering her children: “great was my pain when I you bread, great was my care when you I feed" (Bradstreet 55). She recorded her struggles about being a mother in troubling times. In her poem, "Before the Birth of One of Her Children" she records the last moments before giving birth: "and when thy loss shall be with gains, look to my little babes, my dear remains."(Bradstreet 21), she writes this thinking it would be her last thinking that childbirth would kill her, proving that her love for her children is greater than any other love she has, and that she would die for them. Her husband also is a theme in her poems, she writes about her bond with him and that "if ever two were one, then surely we" (Bradstreet 1) in "To My Dear Loving Husband". Bradstreet Is constantly writing about her husband and her love for him when he is far telling the reader that she is close with her husband and that she loves him deeply. Not only does her poems reflect her husband but also the roll that women had in the 1600's. In "A Love Letter to Her Husband" she tells him to "post with double speed, mark what I say, by all our loves contour him not to stray" (Bradstreet 39). One of her most prominent themes would be her devotion to her religion and God. She
In 1934 at the age of seventeen the Jackson family moved east and settled in the community of Rochester, NY. Moving from the West Coast to the East Coast brought its challenges for Ms. Jackson including a drastic change in societal views from a more free spirit liberal view in California to a more traditional conservative view in Western New York. After a year of attending the University of Rochester and spreading her wings a bit, Shirley decided to spend a year at home in a more conservative environment with her parents practicing her writing skills and perfecting her style. During this time the world was moving in a dangerous direction with Adolf Hitler being appointed as Chancellor of Germany and the Nazi Party beginning to expand its power and persecution of the Jews in Europe.
Many of Jackson’s stories were influenced by the continuous refusal to agree with her mother’s beliefs about how women should portray themselves. Jackson’s mother always wanted her to be the typical woman, a beautiful house wife. Her mother, from the day Jackson was born, wished that her daughter could be “a fool, a beautiful fool, the best thing a girl could be in this life” (Oppenheimer 11). Despite her mother’s wishes, Jackson was anything but a beautiful fool. The constant struggle against her mother’s negative feedback towards the person she wanted Jackson to be, influenced the view she had about women being capable to do more with their lives.
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Carole King’s early experiences as a product of an unhealthy relationship and in her own relationship with Gerry were difficult, and as she began a songwriting career, she started to find it challenging to balance conforming with society’s ideals for women and having to work hard to be considered a strong talent in the business. Women had not been a large part of the songwriting scene before Carole’s time, so in addition to struggling within her marriage, she had to blaze her own trail as a working mother. For example, “Carole went back to writing songs with Gerry almost immediately after giving birth” (Weller 48). Her ability to flourish in an environment that was not welcoming or accommodating to women, much less mothers, proved that women
At the age of 7, Maya Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. The boyfriend turned up dead later by hand of her uncle. Traumatized by what had happened, she thought her words had killed her rapist so she became mute so her words couldn’t harm anyone else. "Angelou maintained nearly complete silence for five years,"(Author Study: M. Angelou). She moved to Arkansas where she continued to stay mute. “During these years, she retreated to a sheltered world of writing in which her creative being spawned and flourished” (Gaines 1). She started to dig her head into the books and that is known to be the beginning of her writing. “She read black authors like Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar, as well as canonical works by William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Edgar Allan Poe”(Maya Angelou).
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.
Though it ended abruptly, it was full of symbolism, irony and plot twists. I am sure many people of her time found the story inappropriate. Shirley Jackson showed many people how cruel humans can be and how blind we are when it comes to traditions. In this short story, you see fear, lack of free will, conformity, and the will to
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.
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