..."The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson illustrates a suspicious event taking place in a small town. Situational irony and foreshadowing are utilized to create a shocking plot. These aspects enact the reader to suspense and surprise and “shock [them] with a graphic demonstration of the point-less violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (236), as stated by Jackson. The pursuit of situational irony shocks the reader as the plot does not go as expected. Situational irony is "the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite (Oxford Dictionaries). Jackson begins the story with description of the setting; "the morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day" (236). Right...
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...can be a terrible thing at the same time, taking primitive thoughts and ideas, and turning them into harmful actions. When does tradition go too far? Is it when the people are killing off their loved ones based on the ideas of a leader whose only true power is arbitrary? Shirley Jackson showcases the danger of blindly following tradition through her book The Lottery, showing that danger is never perceived by those who follow it unconditionally. The Lottery at the beginning of the story appears as if nothing is wrong, children play, wives are gossiping and men are playfully joking on an average day...
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...Imagine a world where one person is annually chosen to die. That is the world that Shirley Jackson pictured as she wrote the story “The Lottery”. Despite the plot of “The Lottery” being on the morbid side of literature, Jackson had a deeper meaning to the horrid events. In the story, Jackson shows that large change is a steady process, by looking back on how life used to be. First Jackson looks back on what had been lost, the character’s reluctance to give up the past, and the insight from two characters. The event known as The Lottery has been going on for many years. In this event, every male head of the house hold, or a representative, takes a piece of paper from a black box. Then, whichever man had a black dot on his paper, must have each of his family members choose a new bit of paper. Finally, the family member that would have the black dot must be stoned to death by the townsfolk. Of course, to the characters in the story, it was not horrendous since it was...
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...“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones” (132). Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a tale that showcases a strange yearly tradition within a small town where neither the children nor the elderly are exempt from participating. Throughout the story, Jackson lures readers into a false sense of serenity with her title where she then proceeds to illustrate a peculiar and perhaps merciless gathering of the townspeople participating in their annual lottery event. The most brutal and barbaric part of the short story written by Jackson is the manner of death that is used on the “winner” of the lottery. While no specific time period is given, one can still see from...
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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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...protagonist of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” reveals when she is chosen to be stoned to death. The lottery, a long tradition in the town...
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...First, in Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” there are many occurrences of irony. The first example is that The wife Tessie Hutchinson's was the last to get to the drawing but was the first to die. The second example of irony is that when tessi gets to the drawing she makes the comment "Wouldn't have me leave m'dishes in the sink, now, would you. Joe?," when she doesn't know that she won't be going back to her house. The third and final example of irony is when an old lady gives the little boy Davey a rock to throw at his own mother and the little boy doesn't even understand what is going on, they are teaching him about what to do before he is old enough to fully understand what is happening. There was a lot of irony in the story, but the irony is what gave the story it’s meaning. Second, in Ray Bradbury's “All Summer in a Day” many occurrences of irony are in this story. The first example of irony is that the person who wanted to see the sun the most did not get to see it and the kids who didn't believe that the sun would come out did get to see it. The second example of...
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...Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” takes place in a modern day village, but every year a ritual known as the lottery takes place. A randomly person is stoned to death when that person chooses a specifically marked piece of paper in a black box filled with blank pieces of paper. Many objects in “The Lottery” represent things we are more familiar with. For example, the black box represents death. Jackson uses this symbolism to help communicate the story’s meaning. The black box from which the people pick the pieces of paper represents the lottery’s history. It is first introduced just before the lottery begins. It is said to have existed there before the oldest man, Old Man Warner, was born. This shows that the lottery has been around for a long...
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...An objective third-person narrator states the facts of Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery." The narrator is just a spectator in the sidelines and does not give readers access to the thoughts and feelings of the villagers. The characters express themselves just by using action and dialogue. Once the true natures of the lottery is revealed, the text can be viewed in a new light once you know the ending. Jackson has used foreshadowing to hint at the dismal ending, foreshadowing the story's twist in the opening paragraphs. While the children collect stones at the beginning of the story appears to be a game, it is in fact setting the stage for a communal murder. The first time Tessie protests, Mrs. Delacroix and Mrs. Graves tell her to...
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...The story starts out with seemingly innocent everyday people who live in a bucolic countryside, but is later revealed that they participate their long tradition of “the lottery” in which the winner is stoned to death for good harvest. The monstrous power of conformity is evident in the story in that there are many instances where people resist change and are intolerant to any acts of change. For example, Old Man Warner, who has been a long inhabitant of the town and has participated in the lottery for a long time, stands as an authoritative person whom people follow due to his elderliness. When the Adams, one of the town families, told Old Man Warner about other towns nearby giving up on lottery, he responded, “‘Pack of crazy fools…Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them’”(104), reprimanding their actions. He then went on to say an old saying: Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon, to remind the Adams how important “the lottery” had been for their harvest. But hypocritically, Mr.Adams, who told Old Man Warner about the news about other towns giving up the lottery, acting as a small voice of reason, but is then later found being in front of the crowd to stone Tessie Hutchinson, the winner. Though the people showed uneasy motions and gestures, they are quickly lost, failing to resist the dangerous tradition of “the...
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...Shirley 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...
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...interpretation of the world. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” expresses her thoughts about humans and their atmosphere. For a fact, Shirley Jackson didn’t care about the level of psychology she wrote in her short story. Her main opinion is based on the thought of humans being barbaric when they are uncontrolled. She starts off describing the rural setting of a village right from start. Then she describes what everyone was doing in the village, which was gathering together for the lottery. Everyone starts off being in a festive mood. Its as if the lottery is just another typical errand. It’s not! The lottery only happens once a year. Adults and ladies go around making joking gestures while boys start stuffing their pockets with stones. Who knows what the boys are going to do with these stones. As the ceremony starts, the anxiety in all of the villager’s minds takes over them. This anxiety deepens when Jackson mentions that the original rituals were lost. The villagers change the ceremony for a darker reason. The words and description in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” weren’t the only...
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...Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” was published in a 1948 issue of The New Yorker and this horror story, written about a annual tradition of heinously stoning someone to death, quickly lead to a mass controversy to all who read it. The simple text was quickly and easily written in one afternoon, after Jackson got home from pushing her daughter up the hill in a stroller (Coulthard 227). The normalcy in which “The Lottery was written created a mixed menagerie of reactions from confusion to the extremity of outrage and even hatred. “The Lottery” single handedly turned the entire subscription base against her, which happen to include her own mother. Perhaps because there is no known origin of this ritual in “The Lottery”, there is no character to...
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...Excitement lingers through the air when the lottery rolls around in the U.S. Millions of dollars are won and almost no one wants to miss out on the lottery. In most people's minds, the lottery is associated with pride, wealth, and fame, but what if the lottery was associated with execution? In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the lottery takes place in the middle of town in every year. One by one, families step up when their names are called and pull a single slip of paper from the infamous black box- in which the slips of paper lay. As each slip of paper is pulled, people cross their fingers, hoping that they will not be the winner. The lottery may seem like a positive game in which the winner receives riches, but dark secrets await in the black box. In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses the black box, stones, and the character's names to symbolize a dark somber mood....
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...In ‘The Lottery’, Jackson presents a tradition in 1948 the same habit happens nowadays in which some of which they are used for entertainment and in others as a way of execution. For instance, in Spain, there is such a pointless tradition what they refer to as the “Bull run.” In this festival, the citizens will wear red to attract bulls then take them to the arena for a chase run which leaves a few deaths and injuries. This seems to be a stupid tradition. Another habit is that of the tradition of Egyptians in which they will sacrifice to the Nile when it breaks its banks and goes crazy. They throw the most beautiful girl in Egypt to the river to calm it down, which is a very stupid and pointless tradition which ought to be stopped. In the story of Omelas, it depicts the contemporary society we are living in which many have chosen to use the suffering of others for their happiness. In simple terms, this is the ideology of capitalism that is evident in the society in which the poor and middle class are exploited in terms of labor. This happens to ensure ends meet for the rich business owners and investors yet the poor are used as a means for them to obtain wealth (Cooper & Laura, 72)....
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