The Lottery Short Story

1. Social psychologists observe that every group develops its own outcast or misfit, who is blamed for all sorts of group malfunctions and woes. Have you observed this dynamic in your own work, school, church, or family groups?

The short story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson begins with villagers gathering in the square, between the post office and the bank, to participate in the lottery which is not what it seems like because the story’s surprising ending reveals that Tessie Hutchinson, who draws the slip of paper with the black spot on it is stoned to death when the lottery ends. Shirley Jackson reveals through the use of irony, foreshadow, and symbolism in the story how much people can get caught up in maintaining a tradition that they wouldn’t question their wrongful actions, such as the murder of an innocent human being.

When “The Lottery” was first published in 1948, it created an enormous controversy and great interest in its author, Shirley Jackson.

At the beginning of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” the village congregates in the square on the “clear and sunny” (247) midsummer day of June 27th. The children are out of school, the flowers are blooming, and the grass is a vibrant green. Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” begins on “the Festival of Summer,” (242) which includes processions, dancing, singing, bells, and horses. Although the village in “The Lottery” and the city of Omelas appear pleasant and even utopian, the village holds an annual killing of one of its citizens and the city is complicit in the imprisonment of a child. Although the settings of the short stories are alike in their summery mood, by the end of both stories,

At some point in one’s life, it is inevitable to encounter some type of conflict. Whether it is within oneself, a person or a group, it is often a struggle to overcome these conflicts. Tessie Hutchinson, the main character in “The Lottery” faces death due to the tradition of the town. In the short story “The Sniper” the Republican sniper fights in a civil war against the Free Staters and has to live with the regret of killing his brother. Lastly, Andy from the short story “On the Sidewalk Bleeding ” struggles with his identity when no one helps him because he is in a gang. The short stories “The lottery”,

Arrogance, good and bad, disastrous and calm are all ways to describe characters. Characters better help analyze a piece of literature. However, taking two different stories to give them a similar meaning is beneficial. In “The Lottery” the author uses setting to back up the old tradition as being a right thing to follow rather than questioning it, while “The Necklace” shows the struggle of fitting into society through the use of imagery and setting.

Stoning in modern and civilized America? A Democratic Taliban? In fact, “The Lottery” a story Shirley Jackson published in 1948, was widely criticized and controversial for its chilling radiography and certain "apparent normality." Since then “The Lottery” is one of the most famous and represented in American literature short stories. The story is amazing on its showing of radical and exceptional argument in which civilians are stoned in the public square as a way of incriminating one of their own in social cohesion with hopes of prosperity. It could be said that “The Lottery” may be a parable, for other extremist countries, even those only existent

“The Lottery” was an interesting piece of information because I did not expect the outcome of the story. Basing off from the title, I was ready to read of a person who had won the lottery and their journey detailing what they had done with such large amount of money in their possession. However, I stumbled across a story where people from a small village had gathered for the lottery the morning of June 27th to conduct a ceremony that had now been a ritual of theirs for years. I was noticing throughout the reading that people had to grab a piece of paper from the black box that Mr. Summers had but this paper symbolized something. After I had finished the reading and arrived at the conclusion, Tessie Hutchinson held a paper

When the human race was still living in caves, tradition sparked the idea for family,language and history. From the beginning humans have used tradition to from religions and holidays then humanity discovered there dark side sparking countless wars over religion and the reason for unmeasurable deaths. In the stories hunger games and the lottery both societies have a spoiled view of what tradition is, using tradition to glorify the deaths innocent individuals.

The point of view of the stories “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is an essential literary mechanism, when comparing these two stories. The short story “A Rose for Emily” is in the first person perspective of a town as they both discovered Emily’s, an elder of the town, mysterious and dark secret. In contrast, I will compare the story of “A Rose for Emily” with another short story “The Lottery.” The short story “The Lottery” is told in objective third person depicting a town holding a mysterious lottery and quickly discovering the dark purpose behind it and what awaits the winner. With a gothic-like horror, I found the point of view of these two stories to depict their climaxes in a shocking, but also almost mundane way. Painting the world with a dark palette steeped in death and an adverse to change, I found these stories to be dark but also enlightening. Faulkner and Jackson use of point of view dramatically affect how I saw the use of chronology, how one interpreted author's' intent, and the theme of death in their two stories and how they differed. The point of view depict dark and terrifying in almost mundane ways creating power and impactful stories individually, but these stories can be even more powerful when read side by side.

An astonishing ending of a story makes a story more memorable and interesting. It lingers in reader’s memory and starts to evoke multiple readings. Such story allows the author to better deliver his or her values to the audience. In order to build a surprising ending, not only the plotline has to be interesting, but also needs to use some smart tricks or techniques. In the short story, “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, the setting, tone, narrative strategy and irony effectively builds up the plot, inconspicuously foreshadows and exaggerates the shock and horror of the ending, therefore, effectively reinforces the themes of the story.

1. Were you surprised by the ending of the story? If not, at what point did you know what was going to happen? How does Jackson foreshadow the ending? Conversely, how does Jackson lull us into thinking that this is just an ordinary story with an ordinary town?

“The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson reflects human's deepest nature on tradition. Jackson uses routines as a way of illustrating the festival like qualities of the annual lottery. The setting of vibrant colors in the short story conveys a peaceful tone.The characters are portrayed as loving and caring. The ideas of a festival like a lottery, a "homey" setting and, the people's actions all help develop the bigger idea. The people and tradition Shirley Jackson in her short story the “The Lottery,” uses quite ordinary language and details about the people, the lottery, and the setting to create a “normal” tone that initially disguises her theme that mankind behaves primitively.

The lottery, by Shirley Jackson, is a short story describing a fictional small town which celebrates an annual custom known as “the lottery”. One of the most shattering and skillful aspects of this story is that it tumbles the reader about what should happen next or even at all. To the casual eye, the title of the story invokes the reader with a sense of hope – the expectation about someone is going to win something. The starting part of the story affirms the sense of hope by expressing beautiful setting and typical nature of the villagers. But as the reader pass more than half way of the story, he/she began to realize that something is amiss in the intense of ordinary villagers and mainly, the ritual. The reader is then told that the aim behind the lottery is civic duty – stoning of someone by his or her peers, perhaps hanging to death. The story explores mankind evil nature behind traditions and rituals which make people of the town blind by being catastrophic and conceiving victim by social pressure. Jackson suggests this theme by developing a contrast between content, rural setting and sense of characters, to intensify the revelation of real purpose of “The Lottery”, that makes reader question about humanity of villagers and more so ever, traditions and beliefs.

It was a dark, frosty winter night, and the white, crystallic snow was falling on the gelid ground of New York City. There was an alley in the middle of shops and buildings of all types,