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The lottery by shirely jackson analysis
The lottery by shirely jackson analysis
The lottery by shirely jackson analysis
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The Lottery All people are unique in their own ways, however have contradictory characteristics such as good and evil. Some people have a soul in which the good side is more dominant, and others have a more dominant bad side. The lottery is a way for the characters in the story to reveal the hidden evil of their souls.
One example of this is portrayed through the eagerness and the willingness to participate in the lottery. One of the characters says that they feel like its only been a few weeks since the last lottery, which gives the impression that the lottery is something to look forward to. This shows that the evil side of these people enjoys inflicting pain on others.
Mrs. Hutchinson was eager to get to the lottery herself.
Hutchinson said, and the people near her laugh” (142). Jackson manipulates her reader at this point by making us believe that Mrs. Hutchinson is all for the lottery. Interestingly, we come to find that other women in the town have similar behaviors as hers, “’There goes my old man,’ Mrs. Delacroix said” (142). Despite the fact that there are minor differences in their words of Tessie and Mrs. Delacroix, it becomes evident that their anxieties are of the same essence. Now, as the story progresses and the lottery begins it becomes more difficult to compare Mrs. Hutchinson to other people in the town after the first round where her family wins the lottery. At that moment, Mrs. Hutchinson losses it and transforms to something that the villagers do not like. She begins to protest and even more after the second round when she learns that she will be sacrificed. All at once, Mrs. Hutchinson tries to do everything she can to get out of such death, “There’s Don and Eva,” she offers up her daughter for the slaughter instead of herself (143). Lastly, her near death drove her to show her true colors and how she changed through out the whole
“The Lottery” is a short story about an event that takes place every year in a small village of New England. When the author speaks of “the lottery” he is referencing the lottery of death; this is when the stoning of a village member must give up his or her life. The villagers gather at a designated area and perform a customary ritual which has been practiced for many years. The Lottery is a short story about a tradition that the villagers are fully loyal to and represents a behavior or idea that has been passed down from generation to generation, accepting and following a rule no matter how cruel or illogical it is. Friends and family become insignificant the moment it is time to stone the unlucky victim.
“The Lottery" is a story of tradition and the weakness to see past it. There are about 300 people in this small village. The oldest man in this story is 77 and the tradition dates back before his time so that the village can have a good harvest. No matter the age, any person in this village with the black do will get killed. Tessie Hutchinson tries to slim
Mrs. Hutchinson runs into the event late, laughing that she had “[c]lean forgot what day it was” (Jackson 292). After that, Mr. Summers, the officiator of the lottery, calls out names of the people who are unable to attend the lottery, and asks for the person who will be drawing for them. There were two people missing, Clyde Dunbar who had broken his leg, and the Watson’s mother. Dunbar’s wife was drawing for him, and it seemed that she was unhappy that she was the one handed this task. Similarly, a boy from the Watson family was nervously drawing for his mother and himself. This is where the tension and the suspense of the story begin to build, as the reader can tell that the characters are growing increasingly worried as more names are called. Mr. Adams and Old Man Warner discuss the north village, a town contemplating abandoning the lottery. Old Man Warner calls them “crazy” (Jackson 294), and that “there’s always been a lottery” (Jackson 294). This is another example of the rigidness of the townspeople when it comes to their old traditions, as well as beginning to show that the lottery isn’t exactly a positive event, as many towns are dropping it. Next, the Hutchinson family is called, meaning that either Mr. or Mrs. Hutchinson or one of their three children will be the winner of the lottery. Mrs. Hutchinson immediately protests, adding to the mystery of the lottery. Considering that most people would be thrilled to be the winner of the lottery, this scene is another indication that the lottery is anything but good. One by one, the Hutchinsons revealed their slips of papers that they drew to determine the winner, and each person that holds a blank shows great relief. The climax of the story arrives as Tessie Hutchinson is revealed to be the winner of the lottery. This simultaneously relieves some of the suspense
In conclusion, the use of symbolism, irony and setting in the Lottery is very evident, the author indirectly implicates the true darkness within the human heart. The Lottery remains relevant in society today because the overall vagueness of the city allows this story to be true to all people around the world. The short story shows us that humans are evil enough to follow traditions blindly, even if they cause pain and death in loved ones we know. Jackson also centers a lot of symbols and irony on religion and how they affect our culture and decisions. In this the reader can learn that sometimes it’s better for a person to follow his moral compass, and not just blindly follow his evil heart, and the evilness of others.
I believe Mrs. Hutchinson in The Lottery is meant to represent the idea of a stereotypical woman conforming in old society. She is only interested in taking care of her family, cooking, and cleaning. Now this is ironic because as the story goes on, she becomes less of a family woman, by trying to offer up her other family members with the goal of trying not to die. So I believe she represents the two side of conformity: conforming and not conforming to an extreme extent.
As soon as all the families had drawn, no one moved. Everyone just stood still waiting to see who got picked to be in the final drawing. "Then the voices began to say, `It's Hutchinson. It's Bill,' `Bill Hutchinson got it (The Lottery, pg. 5)." From a readers point of view this would be the greatest thing that could have ever happened to them, but not in this case. Moving forward in the story, Mrs. Hutchinson is found yelling, "It wasn't fair!" and "You didn't give him time to choose any paper he wanted (The Lottery, pg. 5)." People in the crowd were telling her to "be a good sport. All of us took the same chance (The Lottery, pg. 5)." Mrs. Hutchinson did not like the responses at all. She even demanded that her married daughter draw in the final round with them. This was only to lessen her chances of getting picked in the end.
The theme in “The Lottery” is violence and cruelty. Violence and cruelty is a major theme because there is a lot of violence and cruelty in the world. The Lottery has been read as addressing such issues as the public's fascination with salacious and scandalizing journalism, McCarthyism, and the complicity of the general public in the victimization of minority groups, epitomized by the Holocaust of World War II. The Holocaust was very cruel and violent cause other people didn’t like certain people so they just kill them and their children and still now we have violence and cruelty with wars and people that hate each other.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the theme of the story is dramatically illustrated by Jackson’s unique tone. Once a year the villagers gather together in the central square for the lottery. The villagers await the arrival of Mr. Summers and the black box. Within the black box are folded slips of paper, one piece having a black dot on it. All the villagers then draw a piece of paper out of the box. Whoever gets the paper with the black dot wins. Tessie Hutchinson wins the lottery! Everyone then closes in on her and stones her to death. Tessie Hutchinson believes it is not fair because she was picked. The villagers do not know why the lottery continues to exist. All they know is that it is a tradition they are not willing to abandon. In “The Lottery,” Jackson portrays three main themes including tradition, treason, and violence.
Change seems to be closer than expected. Many of the other villages changed their traditions and got rid of the lottery. This sparks some controversy in the society. Some villagers strongly believed that it was time for the lottery to end. Others did not want to part with their cultural traditions, some even believing that the lottery brought good harvest. Unfortunately for Tessie Hutchinson, the traditions do not change in time to spare her life. The author’s description of the symbols in the short story help to reveal the layers of the society in which the lottery exists. Throughout the short story, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, the author’s depiction of the black box, Davy Hutchinson, the main character’s son, and the lottery itself help to convey the idea that fear of change can impede evolution in a
When the story first opens up, the introductory scene that opens the story up includes children gathering stones and running to the destination where the lottery takes place. According to Linda Wagner-Martin’s journal, “The Lottery by Shirley Jackson”, she explains that the children running around provides a calm and peaceful vibe to the story. She also explains that bringing the children into the description creates a poignancy not only for the death of Tessie, the mother, but for the sympathy the crowd gives to her youngest son, Dave. She explains that it’s family members, women and children, and fellow residents that are being murdered through this ritual. The author additionally attempts to throw the reader off at first by creating a beautiful image of a town where the “flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” which gives an innocent feel to the town; but, the story actually ends with an egregious ending. One of the children, Martin, “stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the younger boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones.” The reason behind the younger children picking up the smoothest stones was because it would allow the person that’s being stoned a slow death due to their soft edges. With this, Jackson indicates that the children define this murderous and unethical event as ethical because they help their elders murder someone
When children are born, they are innocent because their minds are essentially a blank sheet of paper. In a civilized society, adults try to protect the children from being exposed to harmful influences, such as murder or crime. However, in “The Lottery,” when Tessie Hutchinson is chosen as the winner, Jackson describes that “someone [gives] little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles” so that he can also stone his mother. In this quote, Jackson uses the world “little” to describe Davy Hutchinson, suggesting that he is young and innocent, but the villagers still give him the stone, encouraging him to kill his own mother. By intentionally arming the children with stones, the villagers are dehumanized. This quote depicts the villagers’ immorality because they are deliberately training the children to murder in order to preserve the tradition of the lottery. The moment Mrs. Hutchinson is picked as the winner, Jackson notes that “the children [have] stones already” (Jackson 7). The children’s naturally gather the stones without anyone telling them. Additionally, their action shows that the concept of murdering a person for no reason has been imprinted on their minds. Nonetheless, the children cannot be blamed because the villagers allow the children to participate in the violent ceremony, suggesting the villagers’ extreme barbarism and savagery. Through the dehumanization of the villagers, Jackson
“The Lottery” is a story which shows the complexity and capability of human behavior. Something immoral, like stoning a person to death once a year, is a normal occurrence. The main character, Tessie Hutchinson, is the victim of the lottery. Tessie is a character with a number of seemingly good characteristics, yet her surrounding culture rejects these characteristics. The majority of the people in the village has opposite attitudes and beliefs in comparison to Tessie’s. These attitudes and beliefs reflect her personal desires which quickly struggle against the culture’s expectations. Tessie is unlike the other villagers; she is initially indifferent to the lottery indicating her desires are unrelated to the lottery. Upon winning the lottery, Tessie changes and her personal desires to survive and reject the lottery emerge in her selfishness and outspoken personality. These struggles against the village’s expectations are shown through the culture’s emphasis on tradition and small town ties.
The townspeople seem to have mixed emotions about the lottery; they fear it yet on a very barbaric level they enjoy it. By standing "away from the pile of stones," and keeping their distance from the black box, the villagers show their fear of the lottery (Jackson 863). However, once they find out who is going to be stoned, Tessie Hutchinson, they seem to actually enjoy the stoning. One villager picks up a stone so big she can barely carry it; someone even gives Tessie’s youngest son a few pebbles to throw at his mother. Their overall attitude about the stoning is summed up by the phrase "and then they were...
By reading “The Lottery”, the violent behavior can be seen when the lottery is about to begin. For instance, the little boy “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones” getting ready to throw them at the person who had drawn the piece of paper(Jackson, 1). Not only does the author put violence in the hand of one child, but she puts violence in the hands of many more children. As an illustration, since Bobby Martin had stuffed stones in his pockets “the other boys soon followed his example” with no hesitation(Jackson, 1). The children seem very calm about