Shirley Jackson is an amazing writer who provides a twist on her story. One of her most popular works is “The Lottery.” While some readers are on the edge of their seats, fully interested, others question if what is happening in the story is really happening somewhere in the world at that moment. Shirley Jackson takes an interesting approach to writing such a dark story. “The Lottery” is about an annual ceremony where a town member gets sacrificed. Once the person is stoned to death the townspeople reassure themselves that they will get a plentiful number of crops that year. Although some of the people in the town would like to get rid of the Lottery, they are not allowed to because without it they would not have a good harvest. The town was run by blind obedience and the people knew nothing other than the yearly lottery. Blind obedience is people following what they are told to do because it is all they know. They are blinded to the corruptness of what they are doing because it is all that they have ever been exposed to. Although the main event in the story is very gruesome, every little detail has some symbolic meaning behind it. Each of these symbols is also positive which contrasts the …show more content…
depressing sacrifice that occurs. “The Lottery” is not just a story of a town that should be taken as is. When it is dug into deeper, the reader can find that it shows symbolism in nature, the objects used during the sacrifice, and in the important dates throughout. To some readers “The Lottery” is just a story run by blind obedience, but behind each detail, symbolism brings out the happiness and joy that the community finds in the tradition. Without symbolism, “The Lottery” would not be brought to life. Every little detail means something that helps tell a part of Jackson’s story. For instance, the story is about a stoning and in that sense, there really is not any joy or happiness at all. It seems as though there is nothing good in a town where sacrifices happen so that their crops can grow. Nature surrounds the town and that is one thing readers do not realize without digging deeper. Even though the main event is something tragic, there is happiness and healing everywhere. “The Lottery” is set in a small town surrounded by grass, beautiful flowers, and a sun that burns hot and bright in the mid-summer. Although there is tension in the atmosphere the sun brings about healing to all who are near. “Its generative heat associated with youth, vitality and fertility heals and restores, but come Midsummer and its scorching heat leads to the poisoning, burning madness of the summer solstice right” (Schaub, 3). Although everyone is hurting and sad because they are losing someone to the stoning, the sun is always there to remind them that in time their hearts will be healed and happiness will fill the town once again. The only way the sun will give the town good crops is if they sacrifice a member in the community. In addition to the crops being plentiful, they will feel a healing presence from the warmth and light that the sun provides. Flowers also surround the town and fill it with beauty. They are also considered a crop, but not one the people can eat. The blooming of the flowers points to the “transitory stages of the vegetal cycle” (Schaub, 3). They symbolize goodness as well as temptation and deceit. Flowers are normally used for pleasant occasions but are also used as the last tribute paid at a funeral. They symbolize goodness and simultaneously serve as a goodbye to the loved one they are going to lose due to the sacrifice. Another symbol that is everywhere is the grass. It grows all around and stands tall in the midst of the chaos. The grass symbolizes fertility, peace, balance, and harmony which seems to describe the population accurately. On the other hand, it implies ignorance, unripeness, and inexperience. These are the characteristics that attribute to the pagan sacrifice. The grass tries to show that there is some balance within the town but in the means of things, it is meant as an accurate description of the sacrifices. To determine who will be the yearly sacrifice everyone picks a paper out of a box and whoever has the black dot on it is the chosen one.
The black wooden box that is used for the selection, the three-legged stool, and the slips of paper they draw from the box all symbolize the idea of death and rebirth. Schaub writes that “...the wooden box is associated with the vegetal cycle, with death followed by rebirth” (4). When “The Lottery” happens each year, they use the same box, but they have to repair it due to how old it is. When they repair the box, they take pieces from the old one and incorporate it into the new one. They do this so that the box they first had is still part of the new one, like a tradition. The incorporation of the old box into the new one symbolizes a
rebirth. The three-legged stool which the box sits on each year symbolizes the cycle of fertility and is considered an object that brings all solutions. The stool is there to help support the box for when people go to pick a paper from it. The stool is holding the box that holds the papers that decide who gets killed and is, therefore, a vital part because it is in supporting the death in a figurative way. The slips of paper symbolize death because whoever gets the one marked with a black dot is the “winner.” They are then sacrificed so that the town’s crops will grow and prosper. Although the paper represents death, no one feels the remorse of killing another person. Jennifer Hicks writes that “they are certainly old enough to know that one from their family will be chosen as the sacrificial lamb, yet they show no remorse or guilt that it is not them” (2). This shows how everyone in the community takes part in this tradition. Even the little children are being handed stones to throw at their own family members without realizing what is really happening. The person who is chosen to be sacrificed dies by stoning. Everyone in the town gathers around the sacrifice, picks up a handful of stones and begin to throw them at the person who was selected. The stones are a universal symbol of punishment and martyrdom. Since the stones are a symbol of punishment this could only mean that they are being used for a morbid ceremony. Considering everything that is known about the stones and the sacrifice just shows that “The Lottery” is a death-bringing ritual. The number system goes on and on to infinity, but in “The Lottery” there is a date that is very significant in the story. June 27th is a very important date because that is when the midsummer solstice begins. The fertility rites take place on either June 23rd Midsummer Eve or June 24th Midsummer day. The number twenty-seven reveals the transitoriness of life. This day is when a member of the community dies and therefore shows how the paper is representative of death. Schaub writes that “as a consequence, it alludes to the imminent death that awaits any outcast who prevents the community from being a tightly-knit group. Once the outcast is dead unity is restored and fertility secured” (3). The two stands for life and death, good and evil, and man and woman. The seven stands for the perfect completion of a cycle, and to grant death to either man or woman. The ceremony that occurs on this day also has to be done between ten and twelve o’clock. By ten o’clock the community has fallen from its perfection. They will perform the ceremony between these two times because the community is not in a state of perfection and it is therefore okay. Then by twelve o’clock salvation, holiness and perfection are restored in the community. “So, by decoding the numbers used by Jackson the full implications of the fertility rite can be fathomed” (Schaub, 4). The time has significance because the killing has to be performed when the town is out of perfection. Without digging into these numbers further, the reader would just take the times as is and not realize their true meaning. Although “The Lottery” is seemingly about a sacrifice, when the reader looks beyond that and into the real meaning there is still some happiness hiding within the symbols of the story. Without the yearly sacrifice, the town would not get healthy crops and then the flowers and grass would not grow as well and bring happiness to the dreary town. The town lives off of blind obedience and the fact that the people do not know their practice is wrong allows them to keep on doing it. This blind obedience also lets Jackson put in positive symbolism because they are truly blind to how disturbing their yearly tradition is. After being digging further into, “The Lottery” it is not just a story about death, but one that is full of tradition and positive symbols. Symbols in nature, objects, and dates are seen throughout the entire work by Jackson and allow the reader to have a deeper understanding. The positive symbols that shine through the gruesome event also allow for a contrast in the story. It is as if the story was meant to be seen as a disturbing one, but as “The Lottery” continues, when looked deeper into, there was some joy to be found.
The black box represents virtually the only part of the original ritual that has been preserved since the lottery began. It is there not only to hold the papers that will be drawn, but also to represent to the townsfolk the tradition. The black box is constructed of pieces of the original box, a link to the time when the purpose of the lottery was clear. Most of the old custom has been forgotten: wood chips have been replaced with paper slips, and on one can remember the recital and ritual salute that had previously been part of the lottery; but the o...
Shirley Jackson wrote many books in her life, but she was well known by people for her story “The Lottery” (Hicks). “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948, in the New Yorker magazine (Schilb). The story sets in the morning of June 27th in a small town. The townspeople gather in the square to conduct their annual tradition, the Lottery. The winner of the lottery will stoned to death by the society. Although there is no main character in the story, the story develops within other important elements. There are some important elements of the story that develop the theme of the story: narrator and its point of view, symbolism, and main conflict. The story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, argues practicing a tradition without understanding the meaning of the practice is meaningless and dangerous.
Attention Getter: Shirley Jacksons, The Lottery, without a doubt expresses her thoughts regarding traditional rituals throughout her story. It opens the eyes of us readers to suitably organize and question some of the today's traditions as malicious and it allows foretelling the conclusion of these odd traditions. The Lottery is a short story that records the annual sacrifice ceremony of an unreal small town. It is a comprehensive story of the selection of the person to be sacrificed, a procedure known to the villagers as the lottery. This selection is enormously rich in symbolism.
In “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, tone and symbolism are equally important elements in comprehending this eerie short story. This dark tale takes place in a small town of about 300 people during the summer. The writer begins by painting a picture of children playing, women gossiping, and men making small-talk of home and finances, putting the reader at ease with a tone of normality. The people of the town coalesce before the lottery conductor, named Mr. Summers, appears to begin the annual town ritual of drawing from a box which will result in the killing of one townsperson by stone throwing. It isn’t until the fateful conclusion when the reader comes to realize there is nothing normal about the
The lottery itself is conducted in a black box using paper-slips. The color black represents death, as the future of someone’s life will be decided from it. The dark mood is felt when it is introduced. A general feeling of nervousness is spread throughout the crowd, the younger people in particular.
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.
The author of “The Lottery” wrote this story “to shock the story’s readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (Jackson 211). This story reflects human behavior in society to show how although rules, laws or traditions do not make sense, people follow them. Throughout the story the three main symbols of how people blindly follow senseless traditions were the lottery itself, the color black, and the hesitation that people had towards the prize.
Written by Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery” is a short story about a town that hosts an annual lottery that decides which person is stoned by the rest of the town. Jackson slowly and subtly builds the suspense throughout the story, only resolving the mystery surrounding the lottery at the very last moment, as the townspeople surround Tessie with their stones. The symbolism utilized helps demonstrate the overall significance of the story, such as the lottery itself. The lottery shows the way people desperately cling to old traditions, regardless of how damaging they may be. In addition, it can show how callous many will act while staring at a gruesome situation, until they become the victims.
In “The Lottery”, Jackson wrote about a special tradition of a small village. June 27th was warm and sunny, and it gave the impression like nothing could possibly go wrong. Everyone knows the lottery as an exciting thing, and everybody wants to win, but this lottery is unlike any other. This lottery was actually the tradition of stoning of an innocent villager; that year it was Tessie Hutchinson. Though the horrific ending was not expected, throughout the story Jackson gave subtle hints that this was not an average lottery. Jackson foreshadowed the death of Tessie Hutchinson with stones, the black box, and the three legged stool; she showed that unquestioning support of tradition can be fatal.
Set in 1948 and published in The New Yorker, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson describes a village ritual of sacrifice. Contrary to the positive feeling associated with the word “lottery,” the story strikes fear into the readers’ hearts as the winner is stoned to death. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” uses symbolism and genre conventions of a classic dystopian story to show the different ways in which human cruelty can occur.
Winning vast amounts of money can make anyone slaphappy, but unfortunately this type of wager won’t be discussed in Shirley Jacksons “The Lottery.” Jackson catches the reader’s attention by describing a typical day by using words such as “blossoming, clear and sunny skies” to attract the reader into believing a calm and hopeful setting which eventually turns dark. In this short story Jackson tells a tale of a sinister and malevolent town in America that conforms to the treacherous acts of murder in order to keep their annual harvest tradition alive. Jackson exposes the monstrosity of people within this society in this chilling tale. She allows the reader’s to ponder and lead them to believe that the lottery is actually a good thing; till she implements foreshadowing, to hint at the dreadfulness behind the lottery and its meaning. My goal in this paper is to discuss why Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a portrayed as a horror story, and the importance the townspeople used to glorify ritualistic killings, to appease to an unseeable force in return of good harvest for the upcoming year.
“Although everyone appears to agree that the annual lottery is important no one seems to know when it began or what its original purpose was” (Introduction) This is made clear when in the story it says that the reason the tradition had started was lost years ago. It is also made clear when the box is being describe as an old rugged looking thing and “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box” (Jackson). In the story it also says that so much of the original tradition has been lost or discarded that Mr. Summers who symbolizes a leader who has frighten amounts of power, was able to slip in chips of wood instead of paper into the box (Jackson). Mr. Summers is in charge of the lottery it is even up to him to but the black dot on the paper that decides who will be stoned. The power that Mr. Summer has serves as a symbol of humans blindly following tradition because no one ever challenged Mr. Summers whether it be to figure out or stop the lottery or even to challenge why he is the one in power. Instead the town’s people feel sorry for him because he has a nagging wife and no children. Jackson never explains why Mr. Summers has all this power. Mr. Summers is a bit ironic to because of his last name summers. When someone thinks of summer they think
With a dramatic shift from a seemingly innocent atmosphere to a bleak turn of events, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” manages to capture her readers’ attention in a virulent manner. Although they are often criticized, she is known for her works in the gothic horror genre, particularly “The Lottery”. This story depicts a small town that holds an annual “lottery” in which one unlucky person is randomly selected to be stoned to death in order to ensure a bountiful corn harvest. Since she suffered many psychological battles, Shirley Jackson creates such dark stories criticizing humanity’s violent presence to portray the era of life she faced. World War II had already ended by the time “The Lottery” was published and there is an underlying criticism
What thoughts come to mind when you think of "The Lottery?" Positive thoughts including money, a new home, excitement, and happiness are all associated with the lottery in most cases. However, this is not the case in Shirley Jackson’s short story, "The Lottery." Here, the characters in the story are not gambling for money, instead they are gambling for their life. A shock that surprises the reader as she unveils this horrifying tradition in the village on this beautiful summer day. This gamble for their life is a result of tradition, a tradition that is cruel and inhumane, yet upheld in this town. Shirley Jackson provides the reader’s with a graphic description of violence, cruelty, and inhumane treatment which leads to the unexpected meaning of "The Lottery." Born in San Francisco, Jackson began writing early in her life. She won a poetry prize at age twelve and continued writing through high school. In 1937 she entered Syracuse University, where she published stories in the student literary magazine. After marriage to Stanley Edgar Hyman, a notable literary critic, she continued to write. Her first national publication “My Life with R.H. Macy” was published in The New Republic in 1941but her best-known work is “The Lottery.”(Lit Links or Reagan). Jackson uses characterization and symbolism to portray a story with rising action that surprises the reader with the unexpected odd ritual in the village. While one would expect “The Lottery” to be a positive event, the reader’s are surprised with a ritual that has been around for seventy-seven years , demonstrating how unwilling people are to make changes in their everyday life despite the unjust and cruel treatment that is associated with this tradi...
In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, she suggests the dated tradition by describing the aging of the box and the suggestion for a new box, “Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything's being done. The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained.” (Jackson 305) The setting is described as “clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” (Jackson 304). The children are the first to assemble and “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example” (304). Only the male children have the responsibility of gathering rocks while the female children talk among each