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The importance of symbolism
Everyday symbolism
Symbolism and interpretation
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Literary techniques are used in all kinds of literature. They are essential to a good story due to the fact that they are what helps bring the story to life with details and images and the reader’s imagination. Using them correctly pulls the reader deeper into the story. Shirley Jackson used three main techniques in her short story called, “The Lottery”. She masterfully used themes, symbols, and foreshadowing throughout the story to engage the reader and add to the overall experience of the story. One of the literary techniques Shirley uses is a theme of tradition. Throughout the story, it talks about how certain things about the lottery have not changed. For example, the little black box that they draw from has not changed. The black box was torn, discolored, and older than the oldest man in the village. “Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything being done.” (Jackson) Another theme she used was the theme of family. At the beginning of the story, you can tell how important family is to the villagers by how they act. When they first gather in the village square, they split up into their own separate families. Each member of …show more content…
A good example would be when the little boys are playing together before the lottery takes place. They go around collecting the best rocks they can find. The young boys either put the rocks in a pile or keep them in their pockets. At first it seems like they are just playing little games and having innocent fun. However, when we reach the end of the story, those same stones are used to kill Tessie. In addition, Mr. Summers mentioned to Tessie how he thought they would “go on without her”. In my opinion, he seemed a little too happy about the idea of Tessie not being there. This clearly foreshadowed her death and it also makes you wonder if the whole thing is
The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a community that has a yearly lottery pull. The short story is set in a small town that is seemingly normal at first. Every year the town has a lottery pull, in which one person is chosen at random, to be stoned to death by all of their fellow townsmen. The lottery is a tradition that was started many years ago, and is kept alive by the current residents. By using symbolism, irony, and setting Jackson shows the true darkness within the entirety of the human race.
Allegory - a story in which characters or objects are symbols to create a moral, historical, or political meaning
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” irony is an underlying theme used throughout the story. Shirley Jackson involves residents in a preparation of following a longstanding traditional process of lottery. However, this proves to be a different type of lottery as the winner gets a different form of present. This is unknown to the reader of the story until when the story is almost over. Residents gather at 10 in the morning in the square that is located between the bank and the post office awaiting the arrival of Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves who conducts the lottery. These residents are very determined to carry out the lottery despite the fact that the reasons for the lottery tradition are fading away and thus loosing their importance and significance. Shirley in the beginning of the story creates a peaceful mood of representative town on a normal day in atypical town. This setting act as a good foreshadow of the ironic ending. Irony is a primary theme that is applied in the lottery story by Shirley Jackson.
In “The Lottery”, an outdated tradition puts one person at eminent irrefutable death per year. What are some outdated traditions that exist today? Do any of them relate to the extremity of this tradition? “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is based on outdated traditions. The biggest idea of this story is that one person is sacrificed per year because it is the tradition. In the black box, there are blank slips of paper but only one has a black dot. Tessie Hutchinson chose the slip of paper that had this dot which meant that the rest of the town stoned her to death, for it was part of their tradition. This story includes biblical references such as comparison to the specific story of "The Adulterous Woman", connections to the Bible in Mrs. Delacroix's
A truly great short story is one that is told in such a way that the reader walks away with a sense of awe, shock, or inspiration. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is such a story; however, because the writer holds back for so long before she releases the true revelation of the story, the reader almost feels as if the denouement is never going to come. Without the heavy use of foreshadowing throughout the story, the reader would be lost in the details wondering where Jackson was actually going with this story. The first example of foreshadowing takes place in the second paragraph. It reads, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selected the smoothest and roundest stones” (Jackson,
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.
Throughout the story, the reader is given some normal and some odd details, like when the children were placing stones in a pile at the square, or when Mrs. Hutchinson complains when her family wins: “‘It wasn’t fair,’ Tessie said” (6). In addition, it is described that the villagers “kept their distance, leaving a space between them and the stool” (1). Since the tale is told in the third person ordinary perspective, it is naturally easier to foreshadow because the narrator describes only what he perceives in the story, which means lots of seemingly useless details are given when really they are actually foreshadows. All the foreshadowing makes the reader feel a bit anxious and unsure about what’s happening as the story progresses. In brief, because of the point of view “The Lottery” is told in, Shirley Jackson is able to implement lots of foreshadowing to create a sense of suspense and darkness in the
In the short story “The Lottery,” author Shirley Jackson introduces the universal theme that senseless violence is wrong. “The Lottery” is considered to be one of her most “iconic” pieces of writing. (Shirley Jackson's Bio (2009)). In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson introduces several claims that support the universal theme. The first claim that readers notice is, Jackson revealed the brutal actions that led up to the stoning in order to raise stakes. The next claim is, Jackson created characters with multiple points of view to show the characters motivation.
Traditions are passed through generations without question by most of the participants. Shirley Jackson includes multiple details that show the villager’s feeling about the tradition they had been participating in. When the villagers started making their way toward the area, in which the lottery would take place, “the villagers kept their distance” from the stool, holding the black box of papers. At this point Mr. Summers, the man directing the lottery, asked for some help. A couple of men volunteered, but “hesitated” before they went to Mr. Summers (Jackson 868). By including these details and describing the villagers’ actions, Shirley Jackson uncovers the nerves of the people. Jackson shows that the villagers, mostly, fear what is about to happen. So why do they continue on with the
I believe that Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" is written as just a story about a particular time and place. It does not correlate with any cultural or historical events during that time period. Jackson is certainly trying to say something about human nature and that something is definitely not positive. In the story, the public goes against human nature and acts disloyal to each other. The community gathers together in an open area to stone one individual to death. This tragic event occurs every year on the morning of June 27. There is a lottery that determines the person who gets stoned. The person who has a black dot on his/her paper has to be stoned and killed.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the author is able to entertain and enlighten the readers. The interesting and profound topic of the story is partly the reason for drawing the readers in; however, the clever characterization of Tessie and the anonymous setting help to make the story more relatable as well as force the readers to feel sympathy for the characters. Although a story about a town devouring a member of its community is horrifying, there is a large meaning. Jackson effectively uses “The Lottery” to warn the readers of the dangers of the group. Shirley Jackson describes the characters in “The Lottery” in a way that readers can relate to each of them in some way, yet she makes one character stand out from the start of the story.
Of the many intriguing varieties of literary methods used to write most short stories, the author of The Lottery, Shirley Jackson, uses symbolism, allegory and plot to make this story stand out. Of the many literary methods of writing, Jackson used symbolism and allegory to her advantage. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary classifies symbolism as “the particular idea or quality that is expressed by a symbol” and Allegory as “a story in which the characters and events are symbols that stand for ideas about human life or for a political or historical situation”. Jackson also organizes her story with a striking, broad message, which takes the reader by surprise. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary also lists Plot as “a series of events that form the story in a novel, movie, etc.” The combination of these methods assists the reader with the understanding of the story, the meaning, and the significance. Shirley Jackson uses symbolism, allegory, and plot to illustrate a theme of true human nature in The Lottery.
The characters in a short story are vital to understanding everything that the author has put into her work. Most of Shirley Jackson’s characters in “The Lottery” adapt as the story goes on, revealing their true opinions and behaviors. Her characters are also true to life, which establishes realism in her stories. Tess, Old Man Warner, and the women of this story all provide outlooks and opinions that shape “The Lottery” into the constructive story it is.
In Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," what appears to be an ordinary day in a small town takes an evil turn when a woman is stoned to death after "winning" the town lottery. The lottery in this story reflects an old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order to encourage the growth of crops. But this story is not about the past, for through the actions of the town, Jackson shows us many of the social ills that exist in our own lives.
In Jackson’s “The Lottery” (1948), she lulls the reader into thinking that the story is going to end on a positive note by using three aspects of literary devices: setting, symbolism and imagery. She uses setting to make the reader stray away from any negatives and start off the story on a positive note, symbolism to depict a positive scenery, and imagery in which she uses descriptive words or phrases for the reader to create mental images and distracts the reader from focusing on the main event of the story. In turn, the reader doesn’t anticipate the ending; resulting in a final effect of shock and horror towards the ending of the story.