...Violence is defined as the behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. Shirley Jackson conveys violence to the reader in “The Lottery” with the tradition of the “black wooden box”. Everyone knows that this box is just a death sentence, if they draw the wrong paper...they get stoned by the people that they thought you once knew. Violence can be expressed physically and mentally. One example of a mental violence was when Bill Hutchinson drew the paper out of the cursed-black wooden box. Tessie Hutchinson “shouted to Mr. Summers. You didn't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair!” she exclaimed this because she was so distraught over the foolish paper-picking of...
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...Violence isn't just a thing that makes someone feel physical pain, violence can also harm a person mentally. Shirley Jackson set many examples of violence both physically and mentally in her short story, The Lottery. One of the first forms of violence is when Tessie and her family were challenged mentally. In order for the lottery to choose a person to stone, it must first choose a family. When Tessie found out that her husband had been chosen, she was not very happy. Bill had been chosen, and that meant that one person from their family will be slaughtered. “You didn’t give him time enough to take any paper you wanted.” Tessie exclaimed with great anger and annoyance (Jackson 5). Tessie continued to say “It wasn’t fair” and was told she was...
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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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...Oppression After reading Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Emily Dickinson's "My Life Had Stood, a Loaded Gun," one major theme stands out. In my opinion, both show structures of control and oppression. Control is the influence of others' behavior and oppression is unjust treatment. Both literary works are an accurate display of both control and oppression. "The Lottery" shows control through its leadership and tradition. "My Life Had Stood, A Loaded Gun" shows control and oppression through the fusing of identities and death. Both passages also share many similarities. Some of the similarities include the relationship between the ruler, the titles of the controllers, and the use of violence to portray their messages. Jackson's "The Lottery" shows control through the village's leaders and headship. "Mr. Graves, Mr. Summers, and Mr. Martin are characters Jackson has chosen to represent the power and authority within the community. Peter Kosenko (1985) suggests that the village exhibits the same socio-economic stratification that most people take for granted in a modern capitalist society" (Shields 415). The lottery is an annual event in the village. It is usually a two day process, but since this village is so small it can be completed within two hours. A representative from each family, typically the head of the household, draws a slip of paper from the old black box. It is mandatory for each family to participate in the lottery even though they are all terrified of what the...
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...people’s hands while at the same time getting pushed and shoved by crazy amounts of people on the same hunt. We call a tradition; a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance that has origin from the past. Black Friday is the one tradition that I thought was the worst until reading “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson. Jackson uses irony to suggest an underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind. Jackson shows many important lessons about human nature in this short story including barbaric traditions in a supposedly civilized village, the community’s hypocrisy, and how violence and cruelty take place. "The Lottery" tells the story of an annual tradition in a small village, where the people are close and tradition is paramount. The Lottery is a yearly event in which one person in the town is randomly chosen, by a drawing, to be violently stoned by friends and family. The villagers don’t really know much about the lottery’s origin but try to preserve the tradition nevertheless; they believed that someone had to be sacrificed to insure a good crop. "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon," said Old Man Warner. The villagers allow an outdated tradition to run...
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...a world that is full of self-centered people that are only looking out for themselves and what benefits them. Besides that, they have no true value of other humans life as long as it is not effecting their own. Of course it is wrong, but it seems that as time continues it just gets worse and worse. Will it ever stop? Probably not and that is what’s scary. The two stories “The Lottery” and “The Most Dangerous Game” both exemplify characteristics of selfishness, violence and cruelty throughout different scenarios. Both stories are ones which could happen in today’s world, they may not be the most common situations, but they are very much possible. Comparing and contrasting these two stories, it becomes quite interesting how these are things that could very easily be real life because people like these characters do exist. The news is a reminder everyday and even in the Bible, there are so many instances where these acts are frowned upon. To not kill is even one of the Ten Commandments. Life is by far the most precious gift that we have been given from God, when he asks for so little in return. “The Lottery” and “The Most Dangerous Game” show how low and deceiving humans can truly be. They show us that people are capable of very hateful things and you never know when they may turn their back on you. That is why a good relationship with God...
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...Compare the murder of innocent people A. The Lottery, Tessie dies for picking the marked paper. 1. Killed by a stoning of her peers B. The Most Dangerous Game, Zaroff dies playing a game. 1. Zaroff was the hunter ended up dying as the hunted. II. Contrast why they were murdered. A. The Lottery, Tessie was murdered so town can reap a reward. 1. The instinct of survival makes people very violence. B. The Most Dangerous Game, Zaroff died because he wanted to have fun. 1. Rainsford has turned into the same person as Zaroff. “The Lottery," written by Shirley Jackson and “The Most Dangerous Game," written by Richard Connell, share a common theme of violence and cruelty. In “The Most Dangerous Game” humans are hunted, as if they were animals, to satisfy an unquenchable desire for a challenge. In “The Lottery” the people of a little town is forced to participate in a ritual that will unexpectedly take the life of an unwilling participant to comply with a story that if they sacrifice of one of their own, then the residents of that little town will be guaranteed a bountiful harvest. By comparison, these two stories show us just how selfish we as people can be. Both of these stories contain violence, and murder and show that humans are selfish. “The Lottery," takes place in a small town where the traditions of sacrificing a person for their fruitful harvests are kept. Tessie is a woman who selects the marked lottery paper, and she dies by being stoned at the...
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...The Lottery vs the Destructors Thesis In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, and Graham Greene’s “The Destructors”, the author creates a story filled with symbolism, irony, grim reality, and a ritualized tradition that masks evil, which ultimately showcases how people blindly follow tradition. Outline I. Introduction II. Setting B. Time Period III. Plot A. What messages are seen in both stories IV. Characters A. Main Characters B. Traits of Characters V. Tone of Stories VI. Conclusion Comparison and Contrast of The Lottery and The Destructors W. Goode English102 Liberty University Comparison and Contrast of The Lottery and The Destructors The Lottery and The Destructors are two remarkable representatives of the world literature. The authors of these two literary pieces are Shirley Jackson, and Graham Greene, in accordance, who hide the true meaning of their stories behind ironic depictions and comic pictures. Although The Lottery, as well as The Destructors transports the reader into a particularly different from each other fictional world, characters in these short stories equally undergo influence of their surroundings or society. Shirley Jackson and Graham Greene portrayed a clear picture as to how society might easily and sorely impacted the people that live in it. Thus, heroes of The Lottery and The Destructors remain under the influence of what has taken place around them, and their attitude towards everyday life is...
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...Purpose in Relation to Theme APA An Analysis of Author’s Purpose in Relation to Theme Thesis: “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence differ in author’s purpose in that Jackson satirizes a society that blindly follows tradition, while Lawrence realistically portrays life’s problems; however, both share the theme of family. I. Jackson’s purpose for writing “The Lottery” is to satirize a society that blindly follows tradition. A. Jackson uses the graphic story to show the audience the brutality in society. B. Jackson’s short story also shows how society victimizes those randomly. II. Lawrence uses “The Rocking-Horse Winner” to highlight life’s problems. A. Paul’s mother, Hester, neglects to give her children the attention that they need and deserve to become healthy adults. B. Lawrence grew up in town where coal-mining was the livelihood. Lawrence’s father worked as a coal miner his whole life and expected his sons to do the same. Lawrence knew from an early age that he would not be a miner. C. Lawrence did not do well in school and was often alone and considered different. III. Both Jackson and Lawrence use their purpose for writing to portray theme. A. The lottery is based on family. Each member of every family are listed and must be present during the lottery. B. In “The Lottery” the unlucky person will experience their family turn against him or her. C. Lawrence uses Paul...
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...“The Destructors” and “The Lottery” Fiction Essay Introduction Some may say that we are, as human beings, a violent people by nature. We see it in our own history of wars and genocide that the violence in us can grow to extreme proportions. These two stories, “The Destructors” by Graham Greene, and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, show us that some of the violence can be brought on by people simply following blindly. Whether we look at the past or the present, these two short stories, show us the mob mentality can be very dangerous. The long dead tradition of “The Lottery” tells of the town people forgetting most of the different parts of the tradition because it takes too long, or is not feasible. The one part they never forgot was the violent murder of one of their own people because of an old tradition that sacrifices a scapegoat each year. In “The Destructors”, a grand home still standing in a war-torn England would never have been torn down by a gang of teens if they weren’t following blindly, the one person leading the group, and succumbing to peer pressure. This shows that all it takes is a single person, or an old tradition that can convince a group to commit unnecessary violence. Greene’s book “The Destructors”, and Jacksons “The Lottery”, both show pointless acts of violence brought on by an individual that has people following them or a group of people following a long dead tradition. These acts of senseless violence could have been avoided if...
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...Introduction “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson and “The Most Dangerous Game” written by Richard Connell share a common theme of violence and cruelty. In “The Most Dangerous Game” humans are hunted, as mere animals, to serve as the perfect prey to satisfy a desire for challenge. In “The Lottery” the townspeople are forced to participate in a ritual that will result in the death of an unwilling participant to satisfy a belief that the sacrifice of one of their own will guarantee a bountiful harvest. By comparison, the elements of violence and cruelty demonstrate the self-centeredness that abounds in each story. The Taking of Life for Personal Satisfaction In “The Most Dangerous Game,” Connell depicts Rainsford, the protagonist of the story, as a seasoned hunter. Through a conversation with his friend Whitney, the reader learns of Rainsford’s lack of sympathy for his prey, despite Whitney’s assertion that the prey has a complete understanding of fear, “the fear of pain and the fear of death” (Connell, 2010). This information reveals to the reader Rainsford’s matter-of-fact attitude toward the emotions of the hunter and the hunted. Through a twist of fate, Rainsford is stranded on an island, which he is drawn to by gun fire after falling off a boat, where he encounters General Zaroff. Zaroff is initially portrayed as an accommodating host, offering Rainsford food, clothing, and a place to rest. The two men discuss their various hunting ventures and, through...
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...The two different stories Persepolis and “The Lottery” are similar and yet different in many ways, such as temporary violence, people blindly follow what they are told, and how one community stays the same while the other goes through a drastic change. Both of the pieces of written contain People growing up in an environment that is very hostile for a Temporary part of time “A stone hit her in the side of the head.”(Jackson 220). This is one of the ending lines of “The Lottery” where all of the people are gathered in the center of the town to “win” the lottery. How the lottery is conducted is by people taking pieces of paper out of a box and whoever takes the piece of paper that has the black circle drawn on it “wins” then the rest of the...
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...Fisher 1 Stacey Fisher Professor Bailey English 1302 10 FEB 2014 “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” is a compelling story about rituals, symbolism, scapegoats, and the use of unnecessary violence to portray the cruelty of human nature. The story takes place on a warm June 27th day at 10am, the weather is clear and sunny. The townspeople of a small village of more than 300 gather for a yearly ritual, the lottery. The townspeople talk and joke as the children run and play. A black box is introduced and the people start the process of choosing the scapegoat this year, the one to be stoned to death. The turn of events in this story just goes to show you the rituals, symbolism, and the unnecessary violence in human society. Every year the lottery serves as a ritual and the black box is introduced. The black box symbolizes death to one of the villagers who will be the scapegoat for all. Mr. Summers, the lottery official follows some of these rituals by asking questions they all know the answers to. He did so, in my opinion, to keep it official and fair or uniform to all. Another ritual Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves performed was to fill the box the night before with the slips of paper to be used the next morning. They performed this year after year. The ritual itself involved the heads of the households to draw from the box and the one who drew the black dot would return his dot to the black box. They would count his family members and that many...
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...Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” isn’t quite what it seems. The misleading title fills the reader with a sense of excitement and hope of winning something, much like the modern day lottery, yet this short story is far from that reality. As a decades old tradition, the lottery drawing is conducted once every year throughout the village to find one winner, or victim, who is singled out by the community. The person who draws the paper with a black dot on it faces being stoned to death by the villagers. In Jackson’s “The Lottery,” customs and traditions normalize unspeakable acts and inhumanity for the townspeople. Jackson offers a great deal of irony by having the setting be in a small village of “only about three hundred people” (539). By illustrating...
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...“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, caught my eye, as it shows that brutality is actually a form of entertainment in the human society. In the beginning of this short story you would never guess that it would turn out to be an very violent one, as it starts of by saying “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.” What seems like a beautiful start to a day, takes a very violent turn in the end. Names that were written on pieces of paper were placed into a box, and the unfortunate person whose name was drawn was stoned to death. In this short story it mentioned how little kids would stuff their pockets full of stones and even made great piles of stones to take part in this event. It was pretty sick how children would select the smoothest and roundest of the stones, of which they would use to stone to death an un-lucky person who‘s name would be drawn all for the sake of entertainment. In this short story many people seen this event as completely normal, a direct quote from one of the character by the name of Mr. Summer mentioned, “guess we better get started, get this over with, so’s we can go back to work.” This shows that their was no guilt or pain of what they were doing, which was hurting and killing an innocent person. Even more to this is that there were actually festivities associated with this “Lottery” or the killing of an individual. Events such as...
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