...Everyone follows tradition, whether it's good or bad. Shirley Jacksons short story " The Lottery" shows how a village participates in a horrendous tradition that nobody can't seem to forget. The lottery is an old tradition in where each member of every family must draw a paper to determine who will be stoned to death that year. Jackson is sure to use literary devices throughout the short story to describe the village, the people, and the tradition itself which ends with taking someone's life. One of the literary devices that Jackson uses is foreshadowing. The first example takes place in the second paragraph where it reads, "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting...
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...Being turned on by people who you thought were your friends is a very tough feeling. In the short stories The Lottery, and The Possibility of Evil, Shirley Jackson writes about two female protagonists that get betrayed by their fellow townspeople. Shirley Jackson wrote about these events by using various literary terms such as imagery, irony, and tone. Shirley Jackson uses these literary terms in her story to make her readers understand how these two women felt after being turned on. In The Lottery and The possibility of evil both have different types of irony that occurs throughout these stories. In The Lottery Shirley Jackson used situational irony. When people hear the title The Lottery most people would assume that it would be a positive thing but in this story it is the exact opposite. In this lottery you are being picked to be stoned to death in hopes of a good season for your crops. In The possibility of evil Jackson used dramatic irony. The readers knew that Miss.Strangeworth was the one behind all of the anonymous letters, but known of the other characters were aware.For example when Miss.Strangeworth wrote “DIDN’T YOU EVER SEE AN IDIOT CHILD BEFORE? SOME PEOPLE SHOULDN’T HAVE...
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...presented is through hypocritical statements like this quote. This is true for the short story, “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson in 1948 which can easily be compared to the modern film, The Hunger Games, originally a book authored by Suzanne Collins. Both of these pieces encase many different literary devices; irony was the most evident. “The great thing about irony is that it splits things apart, gets up above them so we can see the flaws and hypocrisies and duplicates” (“Irony Quotes”). These literary and commercial works feature the literary device irony to showcase a woman protagonist who happened to experience an unlucky moment which lead to their own death and near death experiences. The Hunger Games features irony chronologically placed throughout the...
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...Persecution is the hostility and ill treatment, especially because of race, political, or religious beliefs. In the story "The Lottery" the author Shirley Jackson created a Gothic Ficttion story to represent randomness of persecution. In "The Lottery" every townsmen in the village gathered together to pull random names out of an old black box. The random names were the names of people who lived in the small town. If their names happened to be drawed, it was mandatory that they were killed by whoever pulled their name. This story shows the randomness of persecution through the literary devices of characterization, symbolism, irony, and startle factor. In the small village of townsmen, including children, their names went inside the chipped...
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...In the short story “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson shows us how some people blindly follow tradition just simply because it's tradition. Shirley expresses how extreme people can go to practice tradition or how blindly they can be followed and uses characterization and symbolism to prove it. Shirley uses characterization in her short story to convey her theme of blindly followed tradition. One character she uses for this is old man warner, which is the oldest man in the town and therefore has dealt with most lotteries. While everyone is gathering together he says . “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery”(Warner 33). When old man warner says...
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...The most intriguing aspect of “The Lottery,” is the ability of the story to topple the reader’s expectations of what is going to happen as people blindly follow ancient rituals. Judging from the title of the work and the first few paragraphs, the reader probably assumes that the story instills a sense of hope and fortune. Based on societal norms, the winner of a lottery is generally rewarded a prize. As the story progresses however, the reader begins to realize that this story isn’t about a normal lottery as we know it. It is an annual gathering to uphold a village tradition in which one person is chosen to be stoned to death. This realization is not what was expected based on the hopeful title and peaceful opening paragraphs of the story....
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...blindly. Many do not know any better because traditions go on for many years. In the gothic short story “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson creates a town like no other. The literary devices utilized in “The Lottery” helped to manifest and develop the story are setting, characterization, symbolism and irony. “The Lottery” opens up with a calm setting of a sunny summer June 27th. From the outside, the town seems normal and quiet. Then the town starts to have a creepy, secret feeling, as if everyone has something to hide. The setting of “The Lottery” helps the reader understand the mood of the town and helps you understand the truth behind the tradition. Each character is different, but they all have one thing in common, they all follow tradition. The lottery is run by Mr. Summers. Mr.Summers is the leader of the town who is friendly to everyone and everyone respects him....
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...In Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner” there is tension present in both stories — displayed through literary devices. Ironically, “The lottery” is about an unfortunate tradition that occurs within a placid town, causing everyone to be on edge. “The Rocking-Horse Winner” shows how the luck of the draw can make a person, such as the main character Paul, go completely insane — causing tension and chaos in the situation. Devices including irony, repetition, mood, and setting, have connected to bring an uneasy feeling into both stories. The literary devices in the short stories generate tension amongst the characters; as a result, the moods of both stories do not adjust towards the end. Ultimately, Jackson described the town as “clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were...
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...Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” both use their stories to represent how doing the right thing can be harmful by neglect, psychological and physical harm. The two stories are both written about the way people inside a community live and their rituals and routines ruin and affect peoples’ lives by doing what they believe is the right thing to do, but in other peoples eyes it is not the right thing to do. Both stories use many literary devices in their stories to show their true meanings. The literary devices known as character and setting explain important meaning on how the stories are structured and organized to make the organization feel as if they believe it is the right thing to do but is harmful to others. In Shirley Jacksons “The Lottery” shows a great amount of physical and psychological harm. A setting like many towns, there are banks, schools, Town Square, and homes of the villagers. Every year the small town gathers in the square for the lottery day. Groups of children run around gathering pockets and small mounds of stones for their families and village members. A traditional black box filled with white slips of paper, only to be the ceremonial white slip with a black dot. The black dot is a symbol of death. For generations a townsperson picks a white slip at random to be isolated and stoned to death. Although many concerned members of the society suggest doing away with the traditional lottery day...
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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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...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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...The Great Gatsby Critical Lens L.M. Montgomery once said, “We pay a price for all we get or receive in this world." In other words, there are consequences that we receive for all we receive in this society. This quote is true because for, example, something such as winning the lottery is something we get but, we pay a price for this with people feeling entitled to a piece of the winnings, as well as false sense of friendship never knowing if there using you for the materialist purpose. This quote is especially true and best formatted for The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The use of literary elements such as setting and symbolism further illustrate the validity of the quote. The author shows this with the use of setting. Fitzgerald’s description of setting incorporates and reflects the crime and corruption of the time, the loose morality of the roaring twenties, and the ever growing social divisions between the haves and the have-nots. This is an illustration of setting because it shows the divide between four major settings in the novel East Egg, West Egg, the Valley of Ashes, and New York City. (Including, fully developing the characters Fitzgerald spent many a pages concerned with detail). These descriptions developed the mood and pace, the tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses of the characters are directly linked to their location. The author shows this when he says the main characters is represented in this city as described in this quote. “The City seen from the...
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...I participated in the discussion and said a great number of opinions related to the topic while also backing it up with evidence in the text. Like everyone, I read the short story ahead of time so I knew the summary and basic layout of the text and the descriptions of the literary devices like the setting, plot, 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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...Velma Johnson English 200-E81 July 5, 2014 “The Lottery” foreshadows and settings Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery”, this story filled with symbolism. The author uses symbolism to help her represent human nature as tainted, no matter how pure one thinks of himself or herself, or how pure their environment may seem to be. The story is very real in raising many questions about the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. “The Lottery” clearly couriers Jackson's feelings concerning mankind’s evil nature hiding behind traditions and rituals. She shows how coldness and lack of compassion in people can exhibit in situations regarding tradition and values. Jackson presents the theme of this short story with a major use of symbolism. Symbolism shows throughout the setting of “The Lottery”, the objects, the people’s actions, and even in the time and the names of the lucky contestants. The setting of the story helps to magnify its impact on the reader because it is set in a small town similar to the one many of us may know of, and that is symbolic of everything that we consider to be right in America. The story begins on a magnificent summer day in a small town. The author describes the day as very joyful but strikes a contrast between the surroundings of the town and the atmosphere of the people gathered in the square. The atmosphere is sober, where the adults, stood together, away from the stones in the corner, and their “jokes were quiet and they smiled rather...
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...Universal Storytelling Elements Movies, such as The Maze Runner, follow an extremely similar chain of events in comparison to other stories of the same genre. The Maze Runner takes the prototype storytelling strategy of dystopian societies, and creates a feel similar to the recognized short story called “The Lottery”. The story begins with a teenage boy arriving at an open field surrounded by walls far too high to reach. This boy instantly found himself at the center of many other boys of the same age who seem to be completely used to people showing up there. While this may seem like a simple story, the detail added to The Maze Running that gives the unique feel is that everybody in the field were also somehow forced into this...
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