Preview

Analysis Of The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
215 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis Of The Lottery By Shirley Jackson
" The most violent element in society is ignorance" (Emma Goldman). In 1948 Shirley Jackson had her short story "The Lottery'' published. This was right when the world started to recover from the events of World War II. Jackson's short story has received much criticism due to the violence that it contains. Many readers believed that the brutal society that Jackson imagined does not exist. The purpose of the short story was to tell expose the society for being full of hypocrites and selfish people. Jackson wanted to point out how people will turn a blind eye on a situation until it involves them. An example of this would be how during World War II people would do nothing about the Holocaust or the concentrations camps that were responsible for the deaths of millions of people. People did not take matters into their own hands until they were the ones face with those struggles. Throughout the short story there are several themes developed. This important messages can be applied to the real world to fix flaws that society contains. …show more content…
In "The Lottery" Shirley Jackson wanted society to learn that some traditions are absolutely wrong and they should be abandoned, a male dominate society creates inequality for women, and hypocrisy is alive and well in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson was a dark short story that had a slight twist to it. It was based in a village were citizens had a certain tradition passed on from generation to generation that they obeyed. The symbol of the lottery was a black box filled with slips of paper, in which one of those slips contains a black spot that decides the fate of the person picked. The scapegoat of the story was a mother and wife named Tessie Hutchinson. A scapegoat can be an animal or person that is unjustly blamed for something or used to take on the sins of others. It was quite controversial because no one questions the ritual and just accepts what is to come. On the other hand it was quite remarkable that the whole time in the story she was standing…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1.The dark ending was not a typically lottery but throughout the story methods of foreshadowing was used by the author, Shirley Jackson. Characters throughout the story fear the lottery nervously but the dark suspicions are confirmed when “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!"”(Jackson 5). Tessie instead of being excited for winning the lottery is extremely against winning which confirms that the lottery is nothing to be excited about. Jackson begins the story picturing the town as a the children were playing around as if nothing horrible was about to happen.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Most Dangerous Game, by Richard Connell and The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson portray the common theme that people remain indifferent to cruelty until they are the recipients of it. Both stories show that when the darker side of human nature centers on itself, evil prevails showing how man is innately evil and that convictions and morals can be compromised by circumstance. Both authors show that through both societal standards and learned behavior, many injustices and cruelties can be accepted as normal behavior.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The horror that I felt when looking back upon this story, was only amplified by rereading it, knowing what the ceremony actually would entail. The unsuspecting reader begins the story thrown into a lovely summer seen in a quaint village. Details about children attending school, men and women chatting, lull the reader into contentment. Once the reveal is made, tiny, once insignificant details cast the story in completely new light, an awful one. This contrast between the relive happiness of the beginning, and the grimness at the end heightens the aspect of horror.…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,” (pg 52, line 260-261) sounds promising RIGHT? “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is about a beautiful nice June 27th when people are gathering around and one person is going to hell. The lottery was created was because the village had to sacrificing someone for a good harvest and now it’s just for tradition. Let’s go into detail on why the lottery was created.…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is easily considered as one of the most highly regarded short stories of all times as it leaves the readers with excitement and suspense at the seemingly peaceful-but-turned-violent scenario. It begins with the setting and the mood in a sense of peace and tranquility. It was “a clear and warm summer morning,” where everybody was gathered around and getting ready for the lottery that was held once…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shirley Jackson, author of the short story “The Lottery”, portrays population control as the purpose of the story. For instance, after the narrator states the amount of time the lottery took place in other villages, it continued saying, “... in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours…” (1) The period of the lottery in other towns was prolonged, but in this village, the lottery goes by quickly. The village kept a consistent population, and the population has never increased more than three hundred. In addition, Mr. Summers argued that he will need to use something sturdier than pieces of paper “... now that the population was more than three hundred and likely to keep on growing...”…

    • 235 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story by Shirley Jackson “The Lottery” serves as a mirror to see our own society and rituals at an extreme. Throughout the story the author normalizes the characters’ inhumane ritual so the reader would be able to understand the underlining meaning of the story. In our society there are rituals that we do not dare to question because they have been embedded into our lives. The character Old Man Warner justifies such rituals by saying, on page 142, “There’s always been a lottery.” he himself not entirely understanding why it is done. Shirley Jackson wants the reader to understand how oblivious society is to itself, and shows how it would be if it were to be looked upon in an outer perspective.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is often said that there is strength in numbers. While it is true that a large group of people has more power than an individual, a single person within a large group will almost always conform in some way. This weakens the individual and leads to fewer new ideas in order to maintain group status and agreement. Many times, rituals or ideas are allowed and accepted just because they are favored by a majority or have been part of that society for so long that they have become almost like a tradition. In "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson uses alarming images to guide the reader to understand the futility and foolishness of blind obedience to these rituals. The lottery “selection” emphasizes the importance of questioning what is right in front of you instead of just conforming mindlessly.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Elements in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, work together to reveal a theme of a Patriarchal Society through character traits and traditional customs. Paralleling the society during which time the story was written. It is my argument that Shirley Jackson was trying to show the gender roles of that time zone and the repercussions women suffered for seeking equality in the workforce, such as how women were perceived during the time the story was written.…

    • 3268 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “ The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson, shows the corruption in a village whose people treat life with insignificance. Through the use of literary devices, Jackson portrays how practices in traditions can be barbaric;ultimately, resulting in persecution.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short stories, “The Lottery” and “Charles”, have notable differences in writing styles. “The Lottery”, is a story about chance. Will you be lucky enough to live for the day? “Charles” is about Laurie, who is starting Kindergarten and wants attention from his parents. In both short stories, the author, Shirley Jackson, described the characters, the themes, and the situations to create an illustration for the reader.…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A lottery: the word lightly rings a blissful tone through out the ears of most American citizens. Yet, in the small town that Shirley Jackson writes about in her short story The Lottery, the word unknowingly stings the ears of these quiet townspeople. Jackson writes about a town that is blinded by an adherence to a tradition. While the actual lottery in the story may seem as an exaggeration, in reality there are many things in today's society that are blindly adhered to because they have been traditions for so long, such as fraternities, sororities, religion, political traditions, academic traditions, and even war. Many people follow these traditions blindly, never questioning why they do them; they just do them because they have always been done that way. People are socialized to follow such societal traditions without asking why. Consequently those that ask "why" are often criticized or ostracized. By Jackson's successful exaggeration of the situation, she shows the absurdity of doing something just because its always been done. Obviously, Shirley Jackson effectively reveals a chilling tale of pointless violence, inhumanity, and senseless adherence, while unintentionally enlightening the readers with a morality lesson about not always following the crowd.…

    • 1087 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shirley Jackson, who was born in San Francisco, CA. Jackson grew up in the time of WWII. She didn’t have a close relationship with her mother, as she discovered that her parent were not expecting to have her. During her childhood years, social interactions were challenging for her, therefore, she spend much of her time writing stories and reading. Later on, she wrote The Lottery. Unfortunately, the story was writing during times in which brutality accepted, a time where massive amount of people were being murdered for no particular reason. Despite all the chaos, people who were not affected by this brutality, ignored the fact that it was still going on. This is reflected in the story, when Mr. Summers, the activities coordinator of the small village announced, “Well, now.. Guess we better get started, get this over with so’s we can go back to work”. The nature of the ritual is peaceful, however, the ritual ends up being extremely brutal. Much like the Holocaust, where an specific group of people were targeted and penalized with death for no reason whatsoever. Thus there was great suffering during the time of WWII, everyone else ignored the macabre massacre of millions of…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, yet still, leaves a mark on any person who gets their hands on it today. The story starts out by setting an enjoyable atmosphere at the beginning of summer. The community gathers and the story almost fulfills the reader’s idea of a perfect town activity. However, the story has a sharp twist at the end that leaves the reader in shock. Jackson wrote the story to leave an impact and whom how quickly human nature can change. Shirley Jackson shows the duality of human nature in the characters of the children, Tessie Hutchinson, and Mr. Summers.…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays