More handpicked essays just for you.
The lottery literary criticism
Literary analysis of the lottery by Shirley Jackson
The lottery literary criticism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The meaning of good and evil and the difference between them could be very confusing and hard to differ. The difference between good and evil can be deteriorated in someone's character and choices. If you continuously chose violent, evil things your character might be considered evil or bad. The Lottery by Shirey Jackson is a story that you figure out the good and evil in the characters.
You can tell some of the people in The Lottery have questionable characters by some of them being almost excited about the lottery, which if you don’t know, the lottery is when they draft someone to be stoned. The stoning is a tradition in their society which opens the reader to wonder why is such a violent act occurring in this society. Tes Hutchinson was one of the characters that even though she showed up late to the lottery she seemed very excited so this shows the evil side of Tess's character. The question is what side is more dominate, good or evil because everyone has both traits in them but its whats most in them decides if they are good or evil characters. As eager as everyone is for the lottery no one in the town wants it to be them and when Tess is chosen she does not want to face the fact that she was going to be stoned. She doesn't want to be stoned so bad that she offers her daughter and son-in-law as a replacement but
…show more content…
obviously that didn't work out. The fact that the whole town participates in the stoning shows the violence in the town. Tess hutchinson is a bad character that has a little good in her.
I mean of course we all sorta feel bad for her because she is the most known character in the town to us, the readers. We know Tessie more than any other character so we are all going to feel a little bad that this is happening to her but she does so many things that makes us want to not care that it’s her. Tess’s character really showed evil when she tried to substitute herself for her own daughter and son. A normal good person would not do that. Tess protested the lottery after being choosing and I don’t think she would of done this if she wasn't the one being stoned to
death. Other characters in the story are just as evil. Many of the characters have bad things about them. The old man tries to get other villages in others towns to start participating in their own lotteries. Tessies husband Bill shows bad character when he is willing to show everyone that his own wife got to drawing, most husbands would try to switch with there wife and sacrifice themselves or at least try and hide it. Mr. Summers and Mr. Grives set up the lottery each time it is participated. All though each one of these characters have done bad things they are not evil, these characters are dominantly good people with some bad inside them due to the society they live in. Tessie deserves to be stoned because that’s the town's tradition. She lives in a society that chooses to participate in that and she participates as well, just as long as she’s not the one being stoned. The lottery is far from right, it’s actually sick but she was not complaining about it when she was not choosin. This sorta relates to today's society to blindly follow something but I think we are a little more considerate when choosing something to do with tradition. There is so much more options and voices that can be heard in today’s society I don't think we will ever be this blind to follow traditions as terrible as the lottery. We have such a far more improved world to be willing to blindly follow something like the lottery.
This story made me frustrated at the way people get forced into a rut that they can’t escape. Jackson Jackson isn’t completely innocent, no one is, but most of his problems were a result from the wrong that others had inflicted upon him. The frustrating part was that He was incapable of getting himself out. He did things like spend money on alcohol and cheese burgers, only to end up throwing it all up and even less money. To me, this story is about redemption. Jackson received grace from people like the good cop, and the pawnbroker. None of his own efforts changed his situation, only the kindness of others changed him. These kind deeds helped reconcile the reality of Jackson’ life and his situation. In a story like this, I always hope for a
Shirley Jackson takes great care in creating a setting for the story, The Lottery. She gives the reader a sense of comfort and stability from the very beginning. It begins, "clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green." The setting throughout The Lottery creates a sense of peacefulness and tranquility, while portraying a typical town on a normal summer day.
The readers to feel sympathy for Tess is to portray Tess as a natural victim. The snare of the victim. We, as readers, have established what a good and natural if. not socially) moral person Tess is, we have seen how her family. manipulates her, how Alec takes advantage of her, how she blames.
“The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson,was published in 1948. The story centers around a social gathering holding every resident in attendance. It is an annual tradition to have this gathering and all of the town’s people have to participate in a lottery in the belief that it will help bring a prosperous harvest. A slip of paper is made for everyone who lives in the town and one special slip is marked with a black spot. The one who draws the marked paper is proclaimed the winner of the lottery and receives the honor of getting stoned to death by the rest of the participants. The slips of papers are drawn from the same rustic black blox used year after year. The town is symbolic of the box in the way of how the box is handled, the color of the box is painted and of how the box was made.
The author also points out in her story that no one knew when or why the tradition of the lottery began. Even not knowing Tessie Hutchinson, at first had no issues with the annual event. It was only when she “won” the lottery that she developed the point of view that was bias or judgmental. Mrs. Hutchinson protests the process of the lottery and the town’s methods, “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right” Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013, pp. 256). The interpretation of the stoning is that the town quantifies the reason to murder to satisfy the harvest.
Tessie Hutchinson plays a significant role by displaying hypocrisy and human weakness.She protest against the lottery when her family is endangered, she complains ironically and shouted to Mr. Summers, “you did not give him enough time to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn’t fair!” (pg. 247). Her statement about the fairness of the lottery is ironic because until her family was selected, she does not seem to believe that the lottery is unfair.
Theme: The possibility of evil by Shirley Jackson is a short story written in the time period of 1965. A great aspect of this short story is the fact that it is vague. It contains many themes that are seen from thousands of different perspectives. One of these themes is, “Where there is light, there is darkness.”
The town's citizens are eager, gathering in the town square in order to take part in the yearly lottery. With the story focused around one particular family, the Hutchinsons, who are so anxious to get it all over with until they find that one of their members is to participate in the lottery's closing festivities, Tessie. Of course, unlike your typical lotteries, this is not one that you would want to win. The one chosen from the lottery is to undertake a cruel and unusual death by stoning at the hands of their fellow townsmen for the sake that it may bring a fruitful crop for the coming harvest season. Ironically, many of the towns people have suggested that the lottery be put to an end, but most find the idea unheard of being that they have lived in it's practice for most of their lives.
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.
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.
"The Lottery" is a short story that shows just how disturbing the human mind can be at times. As the story proceeds it builds the reader up till the end where what you thought was going to happen did not turn out that way. But is that not how our lives are portrayed? Do we not build ourselves up to society believing what they say and do until the matter is put into our hands? Mrs. Hutchinson was a follower of society just like we are. Everyday was the same routine and every year she played the lottery just like all of the other town people. But this year would be a very different year for Mrs. Hutchinson because her chance at the lottery was about to happen. Now as a reader in this day, we would think of the lottery to be a great prize to receive but not during the days of these town people.
The story of “The Lottery” is a dark tale that gives the reader a window into a community blighted by an tradition propagated by ignorance; sending a message that reverberates with many events, ideas, and observations throughout the annals of time. Written by the great Shirley Jackson, this fable exemplifies how delusion and illogical thinking led to the terrifying and morose ending of Tessie Hutchinson's existence. Shirley Jackson was well known in her lifetime, but not necessarily as the literary master she is hailed as today. Jackson had great interest in the culture of witchcraft, and deeply incorporated this knowledge into one of her first short stories: “The Lottery.” While this influence greatly improved the haunted tone of the story, it also spawned various rumors regarding Shirley Jackson herself, being a reclusive bookish woman interested in the dark arts. However, just as the “witches” of Salem were mercilessly murdered for ambiguous reasons, so too was Tessie Hutchinson. Shirley Jackson saw the reflection of these poor souls within our very lives, and channeled their sorrowful essence into a meticulous story that is as moving as it is disturbing.
Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson arrives late, having “cleanly forgotten what day it was” (411). While the town does not make a fuss over Tessie’s tardiness, several people make remarks, “in voices loud enough to be heard across the crowd” (411). Jackson makes the choice to have Tessie stand out from the crowd initially. This choice first shows Tessie’s motivation. Tessie was so caught up in her everyday household chores that she does not remember that on this one day of the year someone was going to be stoned to death at the lottery.
In Shirley Jackson's, "The Lottery", human morals and values are thrown away all for the pride of winning something. What is it that they really win? When you win the lottery in this story, you actually win death by stoning. Isn't that ironic, people actually being competitive and getting excited about death in public. What morals or values do these people really have, and how are they different from what common society is thought today?
On several occasions she draws attention to herself and makes it apparent that she only cares about her own well being. By her arriving to the lottery late, not in the same dress code as the other townswomen, and by making loud remarks during the lottery, she draws attention to herself. After the first phase of the lottery was over, Tessie still managed to draw attention to herself by yelling out although she was actually trying her hardest for the attention to be diverted away from her family and for the drawing to be redone. When Bill drew the initial black dot, Mr. Summers asked, “You got any other households in the Hutchinsons?” (Jackson, 4) and Tessie responded, “There’s Don and Eva! Make them take their chance!” (Jackson, 4). Her self-centeredness was shown by her willingness to put her own children at risk of being killed in order to decrease her chances.