Literary Greatness For starters, what is literary greatness? Simply it is why people believe that something is a great piece of work. The author must meet their goal by moving the reader throughout the piece and invoke thought. Therefore, Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” is a perfect example of literary greatness. When people read the title of Jackson’s story, they all think of the same thing, and that is someone must have won a lot of money. However, in this particular story Jackson did the complete opposite of what anyone would have expected. Basically, “The Lottery” is about a small town that gets together once a year for a mandatory drawing ran by a guy named, Mr. Summers. During the drawing each person comes up and grabs …show more content…
Jackson wanted people to know how dumb they can be, by not even attempting to stop such meaningless traditions. The only history in the story as to why they tradition started is because of an old wise tale. The townspeople from way back when believed that by having a lottery it lead to a bountiful harvest of corn. Believe it or not, there are even traditions that are still going on today and are completely uncalled for. Thankfully there are some people out there who agree, like Jim Breslin. In Breslin’s article, “The Lottery by Shirley Jackson: My Review,” he describes how chilling her story makes him feel. He states this tradition was started because of an old superstition that townspeople long before believed, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon…This superstition held by the townsfolk is what makes this piece so ominous. The town becomes a pack of wolves based on their superstition” (Breslin). This whole tradition was started because of one stupid person. Actually, that individual is not the only one who is an idiot because everyone in the town during that time agreed that it would be a good idea to kill someone for good year harvesting. Hopefully, everyone now a days knows that by having a ‘lottery’ has nothing to do with the results in the field. This tradition that was created, is just absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, not a single person of the town have ever attempted to stop …show more content…
It is interesting because majority of the people who do not like this story do not give a good explanation as to why. A few of the comments these people have said were things like, “I frankly confess to being completely baffled by Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery.’ Will you please send us a brief explanation before my husband and I scratch right through our scalps trying to fathom it?” (Franklin). This quote by Miriam Friend was only stating how she just did not like the story. Like a lot of these people who complain that this story is so ‘horrific’ must have not taken enough time to try and understand Jackson’s point. Friend had given no reasoning to her point besides the fact she obviously did not like it. Jackson did an excellent job trying to describe how traditions can easily consume a town, no matter how pointless they are. Another reader who had written to Shirley Jackson, was Camilla Ballou, “I read it while soaking in the tub… and was tempted to put my head underwater and end it all” (Franklin). Once again, nothing Ballou said was about anything specific in the story, she just stated how it made her feel. This story is not supposed to be all sunshine and roses, because it falls under the genre of horror. A lot of readers are still stuck in the ‘tradition’ that stories are supposed to be enlightening: not horrific. Therefore, a lot of people
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Eds. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012. 867-74. Print.
The Lottery is an amazing work of fiction not only because of its extraordinary twist on the concept of tradition, but for its classic irony and impeccable use of symbolism. The Lottery questions whether or not tradition should be respected for what it is or evolve to suit new generations. When asked the purpose of writing The Lottery, Shirley Jackson responded that the story was "to shock the story's readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives." (237) Jackson was a true visionary as a female author who created a thought provoking and alarming story to readers in a time when tradition was still heavily weighted in society.
Jackson uses the lottery itself to function as an ironic symbol of tradition in the story. In today’s society, a lottery is an event that has positive connotations related to it. A lottery a game that is associated with fun, chance, fun, and expectation. Good things usually result from lotteries especially for those who win. Furthermore, those who don’t win have nothing to lose. Lotteries bring forth a feeling of great expectation of a wonderful outcome. Through out the story, the lottery is projected as a harmless and affable pastime, which is how it is used in today’s society; however, by the end of the story it ends with disaster.
Shirley Jackson wrote many books in her life, but she was well known by people for her story “The Lottery” (Hicks). “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948, in the New Yorker magazine (Schilb). The story sets in the morning of June 27th in a small town. The townspeople gather in the square to conduct their annual tradition, the Lottery. The winner of the lottery will stoned to death by the society. Although there is no main character in the story, the story develops within other important elements. There are some important elements of the story that develop the theme of the story: narrator and its point of view, symbolism, and main conflict. The story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, argues practicing a tradition without understanding the meaning of the practice is meaningless and dangerous.
What makes a piece of literature dystopian? A piece of literature becomes dystopian when the world is ruled by dictatorship; when it seems like a Utopian in the beginning but turned to be dystopian after all; when murder no longer a crime. These are determined by the person who creates this dystopian world. There are many articles that relate to dystopian worlds, and we would always find some similarities between those articles. For example, these kinds of stories usually take place either in some villages where are far away from the society, or in a new society that emerges after the old world was destroyed by the war. These kinds of articles normally carry cautionary tones in order to warn the people what kind of consequences they would
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.
Typically, when someone thinks of a lottery they think of something positive and exciting but contrary to this idea in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the connotation has an entirely different meaning. As the story begins, readers lean towards the belief that the town in which Jackson depicts is filled with happiness and joy. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson 247) We soon realize that this notion is far from the truth. As the townspeople gather in the square for the annual lottery, which sole purpose is to stone someone to death by randomly pulling a paper out of a black box with a black dot on it, it is learned
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 5th ed. Ed. Laurence Perrine. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Publishers 1998.
Shirley Jackson was a criticized female writer that wrote about US’s scramble for conformity and finding comfort in the past or old traditions. When Jackson published this specific short story, she got very negative feedback and even death threats. In the fictionial short story, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, a drawing takes place during the summer annually in a small town in New England. In this particular work, the lottery has been a tradition for over seventy years and has been celebrated by the townspeople every year. In detail, Richard H. Williams explains in his “A Critique of the Sampling Plan Used in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery””, he explains the process of how the lottery works. “The sampling plan consists of two
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. Literature an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. 4th Compact ed. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Longman, 2005. 211-218.
The title of the story plays a role in how Shirley Jackson used some literary elements to help mask the evils and develop the story. The title “The Lottery” serves as an allegory. When people think of the lottery majority of people associate it with something good like the New York State Lottery where you can win some money. In the story it is used as a way to pick someone to be killed. In the story everyone gathers in the town square and the town’s people draw family names until a black dot is one the slip of paper. Which
“The Lottery” is a story written by Shirley Jackson. By looking at the title you may think about money prize. In this story takes the readers expectation to another level. By the two words of the title there is no way the reader did not get hook to reading this story. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson, uses symbolism, irony, and imagery.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Robert Zweig. 5th Compact ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2012. 136-41. Print.
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...
In conclusion, the use of symbolism, irony and setting in the Lottery is very evident, the author indirectly implicates the true darkness within the human heart. The Lottery remains relevant in society today because the overall vagueness of the city allows this story to be true to all people around the world. The short story shows us that humans are evil enough to follow traditions blindly, even if they cause pain and death in loved ones we know. Jackson also centers a lot of symbols and irony on religion and how they affect our culture and decisions. In this the reader can learn that sometimes it’s better for a person to follow his moral compass, and not just blindly follow his evil heart, and the evilness of others.