We the readers take a deeper look into Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Possibility of Evil.” Instead of just looking at the narrator and how that affects the theme, we are now looking into how the purpose of this story is best understood through the literary movement of Regionalism. With my background knowledge I know that regionalism represents the stories characters, dialect, and customs. Using this knowledge I will be able to get a sense of what Shirley Jackson’s short story is truly about. We see that routines seem ever common with Miss Adela Strangeworth. Everyone in the neighborhood feels very comfortable saying good morning to each other. Most urban areas are more to themselves and their families while rural neighborhoods are open
Author: Walter Benn Michaels is the chair of the Department of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago teaching literary theory, and American literature. Michaels has also has multiple essays and books published such as Against Theory, The shape of the Signifier, and Diversity's False Solace
McQuade, Donald, ed. The Harper American Literature. Harper & Row Publishers: New York, 1987, pp. 1308-1311. This paper is the property of NetEssays.Net Copyright © 1999-2002
Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery', is a story that is filled with symbolism. The author uses symbolism to help her represent human nature as tainted, no matter how pure one thinks of himself or herself, or how pure their environment may seem to be. The story is very effective in raising many questions about the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. 'The Lottery' clearly expresses Jackson's feelings concerning mankind?s evil nature hiding behind traditions and rituals. She shows how coldness and lack of compassion in people can exhibit in situations regarding tradition and values. Jackson presents the theme of this short story with a major use of symbolism. Symbolism shows throughout the setting of 'The Lottery,' the objects, the peoples actions, and even in the time and the names of the lucky contestants.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
Now we have examined three stories written by two well distinguished authors known for their Southern Gothic Literature and found many similarities in each story. Each story has its form of the grotesque we have Miss Emily, the Misfit, the Grandmother, and Marley Pointer and let’s not leave out Helga. The characters of each story has some form of cringe inducing quality, meaning some kind of attitude about themselves that gets under ones skin. Then as we can see from the stories they all are Southern based each story is in a Southern setting. And the final thing we look for in Southern Gothic literature is tragedy which all three stories possessed.
...ary devices covered in this paper cannot even begin to cover the entirety of a great short story. The point of view, the symbolism, and the setting are just a few things that make these stories so memorable. The ability of Shirley Jackson to make a reader question the way society allows as normal with its traditions, families, and customs causes the reader to think that this can happen anywhere. Charlotte Perkins Gilman makes the reader wonder throughout the story is she crazy or is she possessed. The ability to make the reader sit white knuckled holding the book is amazing and the writing styles of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Shirley Jackson will forever go down in literary history.
Larson begins his novel “The Devil in the White City” by setting the stage, mentioning the events and people who made the fair so great. But simultaneously Larson hints at the evil lurking in the shadows. Although the reader is not fully aware of the dual nature of the human condition till Holmes’s big unveil. Larson describes Holmes as “a murderer that had moved among the beautiful things Burnham had created” (Larson 6). Chicagoans were startled by how such gruesome acts could go unnoticed for so long. The juxtaposition of...
Thesis: Shirley Jackson’s usage of irony, characters, and plot portray the stories theme of the dangers of unconsciously following tradition.
O’Conner, Flannery. “Good Country People.” Literature An Introduction To Fiction, Poetry, And Drama. Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia 3rd ed. New York Longman, 2003. 247-261
After reading Willa Carter’s “Neighbour Rosicky” story, one can see that there are puritan, transcendental, regionalism, naturalism and realism characteristics in the story (1863). Carter was able to identify the puritan characteristics when describing Rosicky’s mental and physical toughness. The transcendental characteristic is experienced when Rosicky becomes a resident of New York City, which becomes as natural as walking the busy, noisy streets; in contrast, it can also be unnatural when the streets are empty or when the nostalgia of the big city wears off. The regionalism characteristics are represented throughout the story, as it relates to the specific places and people being impacted. Naturalism is discussed in the extreme situations
Magill, Frank N. "Shirley Jackson." Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Salem Press, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 1981. 1668-1674.
Additionally, the textual support is a skillfully applied in order for the audience to comprehend the deeper, symbolic connotations underneath major concepts in Porter’s short story. However, because there is not a clear or stated thesis statement, the paper has no guideline to refer back to throughout the analysis. While it is clear Walters deeply knows the text, his arguments are somewhat weakened due to the fact there is no central idea to hold the opinions together, just that he simply has a good understanding. Furthermore, the complexity of the vocabulary hinders the reader from fully interpreting the points made by Walter, until read multiple times. This may turn off someone searching for a quick relation of the text, thus he/she may choose another author to read instead. Overall, the analysis is powerful and helpful, once the persons understand what Walter is attempting to convey. The essay will prove helpful in writing a critical analysis of “Flowering Judas” because it contains strong support connecting the ideas in Porter’s text to real
Furthermore, understanding the fact of how the villagers in that village practiced and participated in such a barbaric ritual and archaic event were not accepted by people. In addition, people who read the story commented that the modest people of the Midwest are superstitious and backward. Here, Jackson conveyed successfully with her subtle writing style that something is about to happen. She also used a third person point of view when writing this short story. The third person point of view permitted the author to keep the outcome of the story an exposure. This therefore led to the reader to consider everything is well but actually there is something wrong somewhere. Furthermore, what could be seen from the story is people were different compared to present, there is a huge difference in cultural practices. Therefore the actions of the story go in the opposite direction of people’s opinion in the present in terms of value of life, violence and the development of respect in a family.
Murphy, Bernice M. Shirley Jackson: Essays on the Literary Legacy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &, 2005. Print.
Gilbert, Sandra, and Susan Gubar. “The Madwoman in the Attic.” Literary Theory: An Anthology. Edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishers Inc. 1998.