...Passage analysis from The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (355 words) The opening paragraphs of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson establish a scene of peaceful normality in a small village where the inhabitants are gathering on a summer’s morning to complete a traditional ritual. The selected passage describes the preparations for the lottery that is held every year in the square, organized by two respected men from the village. The relaxed informal mood of the opening paragraphs is maintained, however a sense of foreboding continues to grow as the reader is confronted with some unsettling questions. Jackson creates a scene where the characters are familiar with each other and are ostensibly relaxed and peaceful people. The adjectives used to describe Mr Summers – even his name suggests a cheerful man – are “round-faced” and “jovial” and the informal, friendly tone developed through gesture and dialogue when he “waved and called “Little late today, folks” clearly convey that this is not a man to be feared. The activities with which he is associated, “the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program” characterize him as a man to be trusted, one who is interested in community affairs. The other villagers even feel sympathy for him because he has “no children and his wife (is) a scold”. Elements of disquiet, however, are subtly introduced into this seemingly calm and casual scene. A second character is introduced, Mr Graves – again, the name is telling – who brings forth a “black...
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...addressed in the short story, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. The author thinks that anyone would race to “jump off that bridge” if his or her community decided it was necessary. The "lottery" is an age-old tradition in the community presented in the story where the whole town must draw from a box and whoever gets the piece of paper with a mark on it gets stoned to death. The lottery is a barbaric custom but no one questions it because everybody goes along with it. The first time reading "The Lottery” heeds a surprise ending. When going back and reading the story a second or third time, all the foreshadowing the author puts into the story is blatant. Jackson uses foreshadowing in The Lottery to warn the reader of the disturbing ending of the story. To start, Jackson foreshadows the stoning of Mrs. Hutchinson by describing the village boys' preparatory actions before the lottery takes place. Jackson lets the reader know that the boys are collecting stones and putting them into piles, saying, "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones... [and] eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square." The boys putting the stones into piles foreshadows that the stones that will be used to throw at the lottery winner. At the end of the story, both the boys and the parents will pick from these piles and throw stones at the lottery winner. The boys’ collecting actions...
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...After reading several of required readings, I decided that my interest more into the reading about “The Lottery”. At first when I saw the title, I thought this would be great for me because everyone should know about lottery but after reading the text I gain a better understand of the writer was trying to present. Earlier in the passage it talked about the people gathering around in the town for an event and the children deciding to gather rocks and make a pile. I thought this could be fun and something very interesting about kids. When I began, it gave me a sense of how we acted as kids in trying to create games to play with what we could find outside to play with. The stanza in my opinion that made this short story complete was when...
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...A Literary Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ By Artavia J. Williams College Composition B ENG 1123 Sean Millligan 10/29/12 An Atmosphere of Irony Shirley Jackson uses irony and foreshadowing in the beginning of The Lottery delivers a mood of calm and normalcy. Jackson provides a picture of a typical town on a normal summer day. However, Jackson uses the setting in The Lottery to foreshadow an ironic ending. Jackson begins The Lottery by creating the setting, she is informing the reader to what time of day and what time of year the story takes place. Thereby, getting the reader to focus on what a normal day it is in this small town. She also describes that school has just recently let out for summer break, letting the reader infer that the time of year as early summer. She continues to describe the grass as "richly green" and that "the flowers were blooming profusely" (133). These descriptions of the surroundings make the reader feel comfortable about the setting as if there was nothing wrong in this quaint town. The town is first mentioned in the opening paragraph where the location is set in the town square. She puts in aspect the location of the square "between the post office and the bank" (133). This provides a visual of what a small town this is, by most things being centralized at or near the town square. Jackson continues to create a normal, everyday atmosphere while describing the residents of the town. First, she describes the children gathering...
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...American Finance Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Finance. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 220.225.108.170 on Thu, 27 Jun 2013 05:36:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE JOURNAL OF FINANCE . VOL LXIV NO 4 . AUGUST 2009 Who Gambles in the Stock Market? ALOR KUMAR* ABSTRACT This related study At shows the that aggregate are cor to gamble and investment decisions propensity individual investors stocks with fea lottery prefer increases for lottery-type the demand stocks demand, during socioeconomic In the cross-section, factors that induce greater the level, tures, and like lottery economic downturns expenditure Further, ronments mance stocks similar in lotteries in lottery-type are associated with greater investment stocks in regions with envi investment levels are higher favorable lottery lottery stocks underperform, Because lottery-type gambling-related underperfor is greater investors low-income who excessively among overweight...
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...Despite the unethicality of the lottery, the villagers’ unconscious fear of life without one prompts them to uphold the tradition of a yearly lottery. As the villagers began to stone her, Tessie Hutchinson screamed, “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right.” In addition to expressing her belief in a flawed lottery, Mrs. Hutchinson also reveals an opinion suppressed but unconsciously acknowledged by the other villagers: the immorality of the lottery. The unconscious desire to terminate the lottery is evident in a girl’s desire that one of Tessie’s children remain safe, nervousness and apprehension throughout the selection process, and the success of nearby villages in terminating it. However, the fear of life without a lottery, voiced by Old Man Warner...
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...For example, Old man warner is just as his name implies: the oldest man in the story; he has survived 77 lotteries (395). His name goes beyond the literal when we look at the denotation of his last name Warner, one who warns. His role in the story is to actually warn of the dangers of straying from the tradition of the lottery. Jackson doesn’t just stick with the obvious names. She uses christianity as symbolism for her names. One of the families in the lottery is the Adams family who is the first to pick the white slip and the first to openly complain about the lottery itself. This name is the first man in the Bible and he was “kicked out” of the Garden of Eden. Jackson’s use may indicate that there are dangers in straying from tradition of the lottery. The strongest example is the Delacroix name, which is French for “of the cross.” (Shmoop Editorial Team). The reader infers that this is an allusion to Jesus and his willing sacrifice on the cross. Jackson writes that “the villagers pronounced this name ‘Dellacroy’ (390) and an alert reader wonders why. Later in the story when Tessie is stoned to death, the deeper meanings come forth: the lottery is a perversion of what Jesus did on the cross; this town is twisted just like their pronunciation of the Delacroix name (Shmoop Editorial...
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...Not what it appears In life everyone comes across things that are not really what they seem. “ The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson is a great example of this. As the people get ready for the yearly lottery, it's a beautiful day, kids are playing around, and people gather as the lottery organizer comes. Everything is fine and dandy… or is it? In “ The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson misleads the reader into thinking this is a normal lottery, yet she uses comparison, descriptive details, and repetition to foreshadow that the lottery is not what it seems. First of all Shirley Jackson uses comparison in the first page, fifth paragraph, “ the present box had been made with the pieces of the box that had preceded it,” one effect from this craft move, is...
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...Foreshadowing is indicating something that is going to happen in the future. In the story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson there is a lot of foreshadowing to the horrific ending. She talks about stones and Mrs. Hutchinson “forgetting the day”. Foreshadowing is used by the author to add suspense to the story and to suggest that the villager will die. One example of foreshadowing is in the beginning of the story when the kids gather in the square and collect the stones. It stated “Bobby Martinson had already stuffed his pockets and the other boys soon followed”. In other words all the where preparing us for the horrible ending. They kill their own kind even their family. Foreshadowing is also seen when Mrs. Hutchinson didn't show up to the...
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...conflict, etc. Moreover, whenever I stated my idea, I displayed it with a loud and clear voice and kept my points short and concise when explaining it to the group. Lastly, my attitude towards the group was good without interrupting, talking over someone, actively listening, not distracting others, and giving the talker my full attention. The fields that I’m going to improve for the coming discussion is reading the passage and annotate carefully. I didn’t do a great job with precise comments on the side of my annotations, causing me to misinterpret the whole passage and occasionally going off topic. For example, I stated that Tessie (the mother) in The Lottery wasn’t aware of what was the lottery, which was why she was so excited. It turns out that everybody knew what The Lottery as they all got nervous when they were near the lottery box. Moreover, when giving my opinions, I should read off the real quotation from the passage. Instead, I summarized what the quote explained, which didn’t make my dialogue effective nor persuading, but...
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...Humanity Adopting Mindsets Mob mentality and hate can overcome one’s morals. One’s mentality and perception can change when in a group. People who are a part of these groups or join in can adopt the mentality of others in that group. Mobs tend to be aggressive when protesting and rioting. Aggression can overcome one’s mentality and cause them to do actions they typically wouldn't do. These actions can include hurting others and using vulgar language due to the influence of others performing these actions. In 2016 hundreds of people filled an arena at the University of Chicago to hear Donald Trump’s campaign. The villagers in “The Lottery” formed a mob targeting one person and had one motive. Both of these stories show similar actions and...
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...Do you know what a sacrifice is and how it happens, you do? Well let me ask you something, in “The Lottery” do you think or feel like everyone is enthusiastic about this sacrifice,I feel they were very enthusiastic. Also do you think it can be argued that members of the village are reluctant to participate in the lottery, i think yes it can very well be argued. Also do you think it can be argued that villager’s want the drawing to continue,yes it can also very well be argued. In the passage does the lottery strengthen familial bonds or act as a destructive force? I personally think it acts as a destructive force. Why you may ask, well theres plenty of reasons. For example how did you think little davy and his family felt when his mother...
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...People tend to follow tradition based on their upbringing and the environment they were raised in without considering the purpose behind the tradition. Since the tradition of picking a person to sacrifice among the townspeople has been around for decades, the townspeople have accepted this tradition as part of who they are rather than trying to understand the true meaning behind it. The author states that “the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago,” (Jackson 243) but the villagers continue to pointlessly follow the tradition. If the townspeople really cared about the purpose and reasoning behind the lottery, they would have made an attempt to carry on all of the procedures and the specifics of the ceremony. In addition to the townspeople not maintaining the events that came before picking the lottery, they also did not want to improve upon the tradition. Mr. Summers suggests “making a new box”, however, no one seemed interested in doing so, because “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box” (Jackson 243). The townspeople’s failure to understand the intension of the tradition shows that unevaluated tradition usually leads to double standards. Jackson demonstration of neglect of maintenance and loathing of tradition obviously shows that the townspeople fail to consider the...
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...“We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves” --Barbara Jordan. Each of us have a unique trait that differentiates us from another. However, the reactions to these differences differ from individual to individual. For instance, some might dislike the difference and go about eliminating it, while others accept it and move on, even when they do not agree with the concept. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson In “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, this concept is portrayed in the tradition of stoning a sacrifice to death. This tradition began because, the townspeople believed that sacrificing someone would bring a better harvest come autumn. For instance, this is enforced when Old Man Warner...
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...Jackson’s The Lottery Fiction Analysis Through common belief winning the lottery is a chance to easily enrich oneself with bountiful amounts of money and prosperity. Jackson’s “The Lottery” takes the connotation of the word ‘lottery’ and adds irony in all of its forms to it. Shirley Jackson toys with the reader's expectations and twists them to leave a surprise. Much of the reader's expectations of how a lottery should occur are being built up but the turn of this story makes it apparently obvious that this specific lottery will destroy you. The turn of events near the end of the story reveals the dramatic irony. The readers commonly view the lottery as an easy way to wealth and money but the characters in this story know the lottery to be a sacrificial ritual, supported by the angst and whimpering given by Tessie when she is stoned. This dramatic irony leaves the readers torn inside and add layers of depth where they are expecting a happy ending but rather receive an unpleasant surprise that leaves a certain “taste in their mouths” if you will. This can not only be seen as dramatic irony but as situational Irony because the readers expect the lottery to be enriching, but the exact opposite happens through the death of the lottery ‘winner’. The irony is also found in the story when Tessie Hutchinson is late to the lottery she “clean forgot which day it was” ( Jackson 411) This quotation shows irony because she is late to her soon demise. Tessie forgets the lottery as if it is...
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