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
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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
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The Lottery: Tradition and Cruelty Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" features a supposedly civilized village with barbaric traditions. At the beginning of the story, the townsfolk appear to be fairly civilized and seem to carry on modern lifestyles. This is assumed by the men at work and the children playing as if it were just an average day. The lottery was outdated to such a degree that some seen it as a cruel tradition no one could escape. On the other hand, some had believed that carrying on
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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
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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
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“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is an excellent example of a symbolic and allegorical short story. This short story is about an annual lottery drawing at a small town in New England. The title itself holds a deep symbolism in this story. A lottery has always provided a sense of hope and adventure to people, but the lottery takes on an entirely different significance in this story. “The Lottery” in this story has been a tradition at this small rural town for many years. This tradition leaves painful
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Nicholas Pampaloni, L2366120 MLA Outline THESIS: The themes of Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery” and D.H. Lawrence’s, “The Rocking-Horse Winner” demonstrate a very powerful and sinister aspect of fallen human nature. The characters in both of these stories are driven to what many would describe as insanity in the pursuit of a passion. Ultimately, these pursuits end in unimaginable tragedy and pain. I. The townspeople in “The Lottery” and the family members in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” are caught
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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
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Response #2: The Lottery “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson and published in 1948. The title of the story initially leads readers to believe the story is going to be about someone winning some kind of prize. Even the opening of the story seems to protest any foul play or cruel behavior. What the reader is introduced to is a seemingly friendly gathering of a small village community, members all gathered around anxiously awaiting their drawing for the lottery. The village members
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self-absorbed, narcissistic culture where ultimately, no one values human life or anything except themselves. Not only is it wrong but the question looms, will it ever changes? The two fictional short stories, “The Lottery” and “The Most Dangerous Game” both exhibit characteristics of selfishness, cruelty and violence toward ones fellowman. These writings hold great truths because they present what could be real life situations today. In comparing and contrasting the two we find how each of these fictional
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