The Lottery Shirley Jackson Analysis

There is a great deal of tension about the ritual that surrounds the Lottery traditions in Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery.” Out of fear and superstition, the lottery ceremony continues to exist. In short, the lottery is more of a tradition rather than a ritual at the point we witness in the story, but out of respect and fear for tradition, the towns folks are more than willing to commit an act of mass violence, simply for the sake of a tradition.

"The Lottery" takes place on June 27, a beautiful summer day, in a small New England village where all the residents are gathering for their traditional annual lottery. Though the event first appears festive, it soon becomes clear that no one wants to win the lottery. Tessie Hutchinson seems unconcerned about the tradition until her family draws the dreaded mark. Then she protests that the process wasn't fair. The "winner," it turns out, will be stoned to death by the remaining residents. Tessie wins, and the story closes as the villagers -- including her own family members -- begin to throw rocks at her.

Tradition is a central theme in Shirley Jackon's short story The Lottery. Images such as the black box and characters such as Old Man Warner, Mrs. Adams, and Mrs. Hutchinson display to the reader not only the tenacity with which the townspeople cling to the tradition of the lottery, but also the wavering support of it by others. In just a few pages, Jackson manages to examine the sometimes long forgotten purpose of rituals, as well as the inevitable questioning of the necessity for such customs.

In the story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, we see the different literary elements she uses to unfold her story. Literary elements help readers to interpret and appreciate the works of a writer. In this Essay I will show you the three most prominent literary elements that were used, and how they add to the suspense, and surprise of the story. These literary elements are point of view, theme, and tone and style.

Following other people may have a positive or negative effect, but when it reaches a certain point where you blindly follow others it may not have a positive outcome. “The Lottery” made by Shirley Jackson is about a small community of villagers that gather together every year to perform a tradition. All of the villagers gather together and draw small slips of paper from a black wooden box, whoever draws the first slip with the black dot on it, their family has to draw first. Now all of the members of that certain family draw again, and whoever gets the black dot in that certain family must get stoned to death. The next story is called “First They Came” made and about a man named Martin Niemoller. It talks about Martin Niemoller former

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short story widely considered to be one of the greatest dystopian works ever published. In the text, Jackson explores many implied themes including the use of scapegoats by society, the dangers of mob mentality and the consequences of society strictly adhering to tradition. Jackson’s text was clearly influenced by the Second World War that had concluded a mere three years before the date of publication. The Second World War was the largest, bloodiest war in human history. It exposed a potential for evil within mankind that had never before been seen. The Lottery is a clear parallel of the events of the Second World War, the story serves as a warning to future generations to avoid committing the mistakes of the past and does so by making extensive use of parallelism and symbolism to convey its message.

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, we observe a community that is absorbed in their rituals and traditions. In this society, they feel bound to their traditions and are even willing to abandon some of humanity’s deepest morals. The basic question of right and wrong is presented as our morals are disregarded in Jackson’s tradition based society. Their past is what they look towards when regarding their future. This community feels tied to their fading tradition and refuses to evolve even when everyone around them is. Consequently, they have become numb to the acts they commit countless times. Every generation is ingrained with these ideals and are expected to never waver from them.

Author Shirley Jackson uses symbolism, motif and great detail throughout the story, “The Lottery” in an effort to portray a ritualistic behavior that the townspeople call their “tradition”. The reader is left with the decision as to whether or not this “tradition” is ritualistic or inhumane. The townspeople congregate in the town square for traditional purposes where the Lottery will occur. The short story opens to a serene scene. “Clear and sunny’ morning, it sounds as if it is going to be a peaceful day but takes a sudden turn for the worse. The symbolism in this story is important to the message being conveyed. The townspeople’s ritual comes before any other aspect in their town even family. Family is one of the most important things in

In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” it is unique how little details all relate back to the theme of the story. The setting, and the way that Jackson describes it in great detail, helps to add not only a major shock at the end of the story, but also how the setting shapes the theme. Also, the personality and names of some of the characters can help foreshadow an eerie ending to the story. Lastly, the symbols that Jackson uses play possibly the greatest part in creating the theme of the story. The setting, characters, and symbols used by Jackson conveys how dangerous it could be to mindlessly follow tradition.

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the story conducts a “lottery” that involves the families of the town to go into a drawing. Once the drawing is done, the winner of the lottery is used as a sacrifice in the town and is pelted by stones thrown from the community, including children. Furthermore, the basis of “The Lottery” has to do with psychological problems and influence. Psychoanalysis is built upon Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychology, which asserts that the human mind is affected by their “unconscious that is driven by their desires and fears” (Brizee). Analyzing the concept of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” through a psychoanalytic lens convey how society reflects on the consciousness, how the denial of the mind can avoid the

One of my favorite pieces of writing happens to be one that we read in my freshman year at Titusville High School. It is often a required reading for many schools. The work is “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. It’s a very strange, violent, and impacting short story to the readers. Jackson was alive from 1916 to 1965. The short story was published by The New Yorker and is claimed as the most widely acknowledged short story of the twentieth century. It caused the greatest quantity of mail that the magazine ever received ---before or since---and the majority of it was hateful ("Shirley Jackson's Bio." Shirley Jackson's Bio. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Sept. 2015.). It is not a surprise that people would detest the work so much given the time period.

The story begins in a small charming town, where kids are collecting stones, and the elders are gathering at the square center of the town for the annual tradition that takes place at the end of June. Every head household is being called to the front of the crowd, were Mr. Summers has the old black box, an ancient box for the annual lottery, which contains the slips of paper. The lottery has two rounds. The first round, consist of every household in the town pick a slip of paper. The second round is for the selected family to choose a slip of paper.

While reading the story “The Lottery”, it was clear that there must be a deeper meaning. You, as a reader, will notice that the ideas and topics focused on throughout Jackson’s paper draws the reader into determining a deeper-rooted content that lays far beyond a small town and traditional ceremonies. While reading “The Lottery” it is important to keep an open mind and think outside the box, understanding the context in which this simple story grows to be a complex and profound metaphor The story resembles an American small town, Population 300, and a closely linked community. The town gathering seems honest at first but becomes darker as the story carries out. Closely linked families such as the Hutchinson’s and the Graves show traditional

In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, every 27th of June, in the middle of the town, there would be a huge litter of rocks with red “paint” on it. That “paint” is called blood. Surprisingly this day is “special and usual” for nearly everybody in town. They named this event the “Lottery”, the lottery is an event where each head of the household draws a slip of paper from the shaggy, old black box which is older than the oldest person in town, Old Man Warner(78) whichever family gets the black dot on their paper they are the “Winners.” As “winners” each member of the family gets to draw in from the black box, whoever gets the black dot “wins”, as celebration they stone he or she to death. This year the winner is Tessie Hutchinson.

This insightful story by Shirley Jackson has a satirical spin, leaving the reader with abounding questions, yet it sends off a calm, but still apprehensive atmosphere. "The Lottery" starts off with a seemingly calm village, explaining the meaning of this lottery and how the population prepares for it; giving the impression of this event being harmless and blithe. From the middle to the end of the story, it begins to give off the dark side of this piece, for sundry characters are seen solicitous and frantic about what will actually happen between the families and the lottery. Therefore, Shirley Jackson creates an ironic twist throughout the story "The Lottery" by using plot, characterization and theme.