Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is a story about a small town’s tradition. Every summer the town’s people gather in the square for a ritualistic drawing of names, however, the winner of the drawing will lose their life. No one in the village questions the sadistic ceremony, everyone simply complies. Jackson suggest that the tradition is as old as the town and thus many portions of the ceremony have long been forgotten yet the villagers are faithful to the portions that have been remembered without question. Jackson cleverly demonstrates how dangerous tradition can be when blindly followed. There are many reasons why people follow others, however, it can have devastating results (McMahan, Day, Funk & Coleman 133-138).
People were joking and making light conversation while children were choosing the weapons to be used, one person almost forgot what day it was. This showed that the villagers had not only accepted the ritual but they have welcomed it with open arms. The villagers continue to practice this tradition even though they don’t seem to know why. They simply knew that there had “always been a lottery” (McMahan, Day, Funk & Coleman, 136) The villagers feel that the lottery must be held and therefore no one argues with the tradition or the leaders of the village but instead they feel compelled to continue with this tradition and if they have concerns they do not voice them but simply conform and comply and so each year another life is lost (McMahan,
Day, Funk & Coleman, 133 - 138)
Jackson wrote The Lottery in 1948, which was not long after World War II had ended.
Before Hitler came along Germany was in trouble but he convinced his followers that he could make a better life for them if they were loyal. He taught his followers to b...
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...nes gained loyalty with the use of his knowledge of the Bible and also promised a world in paradise. David Koresh got may people to follow him out of because of their up bring. The people in the Lottery followed their tradition for all of these reasons and maybe even more, however, all situations had devastating results.
Sources Cited
Griffin, Amy. Jackson's “The Lottery”. Explicator, 58: n pag. print
Lanham, MD, Rowman & Littlefield, A Concise History of the Holocaust. 235 -236
McMahan, Day, Funk & Coleman, The Lottery. In Literature and the Writing Process. 133- 138
Myers David G. Social Psychology 6th Edition. 210 -248
Rainie, Harrison, Popkin, James. The final days of David Koresh. U.S. News & World Report,
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Sumpter R. David, Burroughs R., Dysfunctional and gifted Students and counseling, Jim Jones and David Koresh. Education, 94: n pag print
Jackson, Shirley. A. A. The "The Lottery" - "The Lottery" Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 5th ed. of the book.
“The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson,was published in 1948. The story centers around a social gathering holding every resident in attendance. It is an annual tradition to have this gathering and all of the town’s people have to participate in a lottery in the belief that it will help bring a prosperous harvest. A slip of paper is made for everyone who lives in the town and one special slip is marked with a black spot. The one who draws the marked paper is proclaimed the winner of the lottery and receives the honor of getting stoned to death by the rest of the participants. The slips of papers are drawn from the same rustic black blox used year after year. The town is symbolic of the box in the way of how the box is handled, the color of the box is painted and of how the box was made.
The story then progresses to the event, otherwise known as the lottery which evidently takes place at the center of the village. As the event starts, everyone convenes in the middle of the town and the only person who is not there is Clyde Dunbar whose wife is forced to take two sl...
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Americans day after day live much of their lives following time-honored traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. From simple everyday cooking and raising children, to holidays and other family rituals, tradition plays a significant role in how they go about their everyday lives. In Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," the citizens of a small farming town follow one such tradition. A point is made regarding human nature in relation to tradition. The story begins on a beautiful summer afternoon.
When people think of a lottery, they draw an image with a big amount of money in head. However in the story “The Lottery”, the price is death. It starts in the morning of a bright, peaceful day, people are gathering in the square, children picking stones and piles them; also the black box uses for drawing, “the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born.” (Jackson 205). Author put us to believe that the villagers are devotional, and take this event...
The title of this story is ironic and sets for a dramatic resolution. It is Jackson’s constant foreshadowing that put readers at an uneasy space after reading this story. Miriam Friend, a reader of the New York Times in 1948, when this story was published said “I frankly confess to being completely baffled by Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery,’ ” (qtd. in The New Yorker). She and
Tradition is huge in small towns and families and allows for unity through shared values, stories, and goals from one generation to the next. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” carries that theme of tradition. The story follows a small town that performs the tradition of holding an annual lottery in which the winner gets stoned to death. It (tradition) is valued amongst human societies around the world, but the refusal of the villagers in “The Lottery” to let go of a terrifying long-lasting tradition suggests the negative consequences of blindly following these traditions such as violence and hypocrisy.
When breaking news is being told the majority of the population just accepts what they hear and do not bother to research facts or more information about the issue or subject. In the village, the same type of cycle happens. Although the towns folk question the lottery, none of them bother to speak out since everyone is fixed on tradition, leading them to blindly follow in this cruel act every year. Jackson shows that the townsfolk don’t really have a strong knowledge as to how the lottery came to be, but they try to preserve the tradition anyway. This is the same way humans tend to listen and are naïve to new things they hear. Old man Warner in the village looks down upon the other towns that have removed the lottery calling them a “pack of crazy fools” (Jackson). His opinion is that without the lottery, the villagers will return back to their primitive ancestral behaviors. Since no one has spoken out against the lottery, this allowed stoning or murder has become normal to the people of the village. They feel as if they cannot change or even try to change any parts of the tradition, however, no one is forcing them to keep doing the lottery. These villagers are so
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, is a short story about an annual lottery draw in a small town. The story takes place in a small town in New England. Every year a lottery is held, in which one person is to be randomly chosen to be stoned to death by the people in the village. The lottery has been practiced for over seventy years by the townspeople. By using symbolism, Jackson uses names, objects, and the setting to conceal the true meaning and intention of the lottery.
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Gioia, Dana and R.S. Gwynn. The Art of the Short Story. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2006. 390-396.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” A Portable Anthology. Ed. Janet E. Gardner. Boston: New York: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2013. 242-249. Print.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Literature: A Portable Anthology. Gardner, Janet E.; Lawn, Beverly; Ridl, Jack; Schakel, Pepter. 3rd Edition. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012. 242-249. Print.
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 989.
"Chips of wood, Mr. Summer's had argued, had been all very well when the village was tiny..."
Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery. N.p.: n.p., 1948. The Lottery (1948). Web. 14 Jan. 2014. . Made on 1/23/2005 7:58:04 AM