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One example of irony from the story lottery by Shirley Jackson
Examples of irony in the story the lottery shirley jackson
One example of irony from the story lottery by Shirley Jackson
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While the majority of the people in this world may seem so sweet, in some there is evil that lives amongst them. The story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson is able to display the features of evil doings that humans have the potential to do through everyday life and through her own little twist. Miss Adela Strangeworth is known in her town for her kind heart and friendliness, though behind the scenes her ironic true colours are revealed. Next, the roses in which she plants symbolizes the presence of evil in Miss Strangeworth herself. Lastly, the peaceful atmosphere of the story is used to hide the focus of evil that is within. Jackson uses the literary devices of irony, symbolism and atmosphere to thoroughly exhibit the traits of …show more content…
She does this by revealing Miss Strangeworth’s ironic actions of her destructive attitude and hypocritic ways. This statement shed lights when Miss Strangeworth is writing letters to Mrs. Harper and Helen, and she notices how the town is becoming more vile, “The town where she lived had to be kept clean and sweet, but people everywhere were lustful and evil and degraded, and need to be watched; the world was so large , and there was only one Strangeworth left in it,” (Jackson, pg. 253). Miss Strangeworth exemplifies arrogance and hypocrisy by stating that she is the solution to all evil, yet she is initiating evil by means of writing letters to people conveying her pernicious words and telling them that they are not good enough. She expresses how she dislikes evil, therefore she is contradicting herself with her actions since she continues to spread evil through her judgemental …show more content…
The roses bloomed so beautifully, yet they contain sharp thorns that may hurt other people. After all of her letters were sent out, Miss Strangeworth soon received her own letter at her doorstep, “She began to cry silently for the wickedness of the world when she read the words: Look out at what used to be your roses,” (Jackson pg. 255.). When the word is out that Miss Strangeworth is the person who is sending all those evil letters, the respect that the people of the town had for her is finally gone. In the beginning of the story, the roses presence was adored by everyone, and that’s also when Miss Strangeworth’s prominence in the town was strong too; but when the roses were cut, this showed the transition of Miss Strangeworth’s respect of others was dying and that her evil took over the best of
In the short story “The Possibility of Evil,” Shirley Jackson uses several symbols to tell the story about Miss Strangeworth. One symbol she uses consist of the roses that Miss Strangeworth treasures. The roses represent the love and perfection of Miss Strangeworth. As we know, Miss Strangeworth believes that the world is horrible and unclean and that she is the only perfect person. She loves her roses dearly which emphasizes her needs for everything to be perfect just like her. She values her roses so much because only she takes care of them making them a symbol of perfection and becomes one of the items that Miss Strangeworth loves and sees as superior to other roses. Another symbol Jackson uses compose of Pleasant Street, the street that
Miss Strangeworth is quite a scornful person. She tends to notice the negative things about a person, and is judgemental. Here are two quotes from the story in which Miss Strangeworth is scornful. “Miss Strangeworth wondered, glancing at her quickly, if she had been taking proper care of herself. Martha Harper wasn’t as young as she used to be, Miss Strangeworth thought. She could probably use a good strong tonic. “Martha”, she said, “you don’t look well.” Miss Strangeworth came into a grocery, and saw an old friend. Though the first thing she notices is how unkept she is. Another time Miss Strangeworth judges someone negatively is when she was walking past the library and saw one of the staff she knew. “Miss Chandler seemed absent minded and very much as though she was thinking about something else. Miss Strangeworth noticed that Miss Chandler has not taken much trouble with her hair that morning, and sighed. Miss Strangeworth hated sloppiness.” In that quote, there was obvious negativity coming from Miss Strangeworth and Miss Chandler. Clearly, she didn’t take time to assume that she may have had a rough morning; she just stated how she hated sloppiness and walked
Shirley Jackson has a creative way of writing her short stories and uses a surplus of literary devices to make us readers feel how she wishes. For instance in both short stories “The Possibility Of Evil” and “The
One of the ways this is achieved is by using an exterior appearance to deceive ones true morals for an intriguing motive. This is seen through the character of Miss. Strangeworth the main character in "The Possibility of Evil" appearing to be a sweet old lady however, she is not what she seems. Her deceiving exterior is seen when the narrator states "Walking down Main street on a summer morning, Miss. Strangeworth had to stop every minute or so to say good morning to someone or to ask after someone 's health (Jackson 1). This quote illustrates Miss. Strangeworth uses her
In this book, notwithstanding, you discover insidious where you would minimum discover it- - in Miss Strangeworth. The hero should be an upbeat, kind, sweet minimal old woman, yet that is the place the incongruity is uncovered. The per user gets shocked by the disclosure that Miss Strangeworth is composing all these terrible letters to the townspeople. She doesn't see the mischief the letters are doing. She is composing them for her own particular smugness. So in the event that she loves composing the letters, does this mean she prefers harming individuals? Provided that this is true, this implies she is genuinely detestable. She composes a letter that says "a few people just shouldn't have kids… .." (Jackson, 1941, p. 169). This is a showing of how Miss Strangeworth is genuinely insidious. The underhandedness in her was not in any manner
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a chilling tale of a harsh ritualistic gathering conducted by people of a small village. The word lottery would typically remind someone of a drawing to win a cash prize. A better comparison to the story would be the lottery used to select troops for the Vietnam War; a lottery of death. Another would be the human sacrifices the Aztecs willingly made long ago.
In the short story "The Possibility of Evil",by Shirley Jackson, Miss. Strangeworth appears to be a normal old woman that is highly respected among the town, but we soon realize that she has a dark side. She writes letters to people telling them things that are mere suspicion, but have negative consequences to their lives. These events in the plot show the theme that anyone can have the capacity of being evil.
box. We do not always enjoy change, even if it might prove beneficial to us.
Miss.Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by considering what she says or does. In the story, “The Possibility of Evil”, the author writes, “ “The roses belonged to Pleasant Street, and it bothered Miss.Strangeworth to think of people
The evil nature of this individual is made manifest, and thus evil enters the story in a significant way.
Like any good character, Mrs. Strangeworth has understandable desires. The possibility of evil the story entails is from Miss Strangeworth ideology of what she sees is the truth. In turn, she writes deagroitive letter to her townspeople, feeling that a solid plan for stopping the evil in the town she's lives in. For her, writing these letters let herself feel a sense of pride for the town she deeply love. “The sun was shining, the air was fresh and clear after the night’s heavy rain, and everything in Miss Strangeworth’s little town looked washed and bright.” (Shirley 1) If her desire wasn’t to make a better town, she would have never written such letters. Mrs. Strangeworth has desire like any other character with well intentioned, but with ability to take it to the extreme makes stand out from the crowd.
The short story “ The Lottery ” the author Shirley Jackson uses symbolism and imagery to develop a theme the brings forth the evil and inhumane nature of tradition and the danger of when it’s carried out with ignorance.
Every neighborhood has that one old lady that looks so sweet but really isn’t. The lady in Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Possibility of Evil”, is a perfect example. Miss Strangeworth looks like a sweet old lady, but she has a side that nobody knows about. Miss Strangeworth‘s character can be analyzed by considering what she does, what the narrator says about her, and how other characters interact with her.
According to Oxford Dictionary, the word “evil” is defined as, “profoundly immoral and wicked,” which can be interpreted in many different ways. In the story, “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, Miss Strangeworth’s point of view is completely different than the townsfolk’s opinion on who is provoking evil. In a small town, Ms. Strangeworth finds joy in sending unwanted, anonymous letters to innocent town’s people thinking that without these actions, her town would be entirely wicked. By using foreshadowing, the author effectively conveys the theme, “Evil is in the eyes of the beholder.” Symbolism is also used by the author to make the theme easier to understand. Lastly, irony plays a big role to establish the theme. The writer
In Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" symbols are used to enhance and stress the theme of the story. A symbol is a person, object, action, place, or event that in addition to its literal meaning, suggests a more complex meaning or range of meanings. (Kirszner & Mendell 330) The theme of the story is how coldness and lack of compassion can be exhibited in people in situations regarding tradition and values. That people will do incredibly evil and cruel things just for the sake of keeping a routine. Three of the main symbols that Shirley uses in the story is the setting, black box, and the actual characters names. They all tie together to form an intriguing story that clearly shows the terrible potential if society forgets the basis of tradition. The story also shows many similarities between the culture of the village, and the culture of Nazi Germany. How blind obedience to superiors can cause considerable damage to not only a community, but the entire world. Symbolism plays a large role in "The Lottery" to set the theme of the story and make the reader question traditions.