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Literary analysis of characters on the lottery
The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
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The phrase human nature refers to the underlying qualities of both warmth and evil prevalent in all human beings. The Lottery begins with a description of a serene and an outwardly appearance of a normal town. Yet as the story gradually progresses and the story nears the lottery, a tradition that has been kept for generations, the story hints at the sinister significance of the ritual of death. Shirley Jackson manipulates the tone to create the impression of a seemingly normal and peaceful town while foreshadowing the barbaric ending, emphasizing the apathy inherent in human nature.
The author utilizes different tones to accentuate the misleading visualizations of the town with the setting, the townspeople, and lottery that are used to express
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human nature. The setting describes a tranquil scenery of a seemingly normal town. The town has grass that is “richly green” and a sky “clear and sunny.” The sunny, clear and luscious background comes together to depict a flawless, ordinary town that it is not. The residents of the town are jovial and relaxed, giving the impression that nothing unusual is about to happen in town. The residents of the town “exchanged bits of gossip” and “laughed softly.” The actions of the townspeople create a deceiving light atmosphere to the story in order to create the sense of a normal town. After Tessie is chosen to be stoned, the atmosphere is full of relief and excitement for the stoning part of the ritual. Mr. Summers concluding the lottery in a causal manner, saying “all right folks” and the pile of stones the boys made earlier “was ready” to be used for the stoning. Even during the killing, the tone was kept the same and it shows that despite the town seeming generally happy, it holds an evil background. Using the generally light tone of the story conveyed through the use of the setting, the people, and the lottery, the misconception of a normal town is created to demonstrate that the exterior we see may be disguised. The sinister aftermath and the significance of the lottery are emphasized by the use of foreshadowing.
The time of day of the town plays a significant role in the expression of apathy in humans as it foreshadows the town’s impatience in completing the lottery. The residents desired to “finish quickly” and get home in time “for noon dinner.” The people of the town cares not for the victim, but their next meal, emphasizing their lack of value they hold for human life. The decision of the townspeople to forget the chants and recitals but carry on with the killing foreshadows the true nature of the town’s residents. The townspeople remembers the “ritual salutes” and a “tuneless chant” that was once part of the tradition that has “changed with time.” However, their continuous acceptance of the killing shows the barbaric side of the townspeople. Foreshadowing the stoning at the end of The Lottery shows the willingness of the townspeople to actively participate in a ritual that goes against human nature. The townspeople “gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles” and then, “they were upon her.” The use of foreshadowing shows how prepared the people are to kill, and how normal and insignificant the killing was to them. Jackson uses foreshadowing to explain the underlying nature of cruelty found in
humans. The setting, the residents of the town, and the tradition of the lottery is used to create tone and foreshadowing. Jackson uses the tone of the story to make the town look normal and the foreshadowing of the ending to show the cruel residents of the town, ultimately expressing the true nature of humans. In recent news, the families torn between the North and the South Koreas from the Korean War now have the opportunity for a reunification, and a Lottery is used to pick a hundred of these families. The outcome of this lottery contrasts the one in the story, as something positive can be gained for the winner, yet it is a barbaric practice that denies the opportunity of sixty-thousand other families to be reunited. Jackson’s emphasis on the extent of human cruelty and our need to address them still exists.
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.
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.
"The Lottery," a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale about a disturbing social practice. The setting takes place in a small village consisting of about three hundred denizens. On June twenty-seventh of every year, the members of this traditional community hold a village-wide lottery in which everyone is expected to participate. Throughout the story, the reader gets an odd feeling regarding the residents and their annual practice. Not until the end does he or she gets to know what the lottery is about. Thus, from the beginning of the story until almost the end, there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the Jackson's effective use of foreshadowing through the depiction of characters and setting. Effective foreshadowing builds anticipation for the climax and ultimately the main theme of the story - the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and cruelty.
Tradition is huge in small towns and families and allows for unity through shared values, stories, and goals from one generation to the next. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” carries that theme of tradition. The story follows a small town that performs the tradition of holding an annual lottery in which the winner gets stoned to death. It (tradition) is valued amongst human societies around the world, but the refusal of the villagers in “The Lottery” to let go of a terrifying long-lasting tradition suggests the negative consequences of blindly following these traditions such as violence and hypocrisy.
Why would a civilized and peaceful town would ever suggest the horrifying acts of violence can take place anywhere at anytime and the most ordinary people can commit them. Jackson's fiction is noted for exploring incongruities in everyday life, and “The Lottery”, perhaps her most exemplary work in this respect, examines humanity's capacity for evil within a contemporary, familiar, American setting. Noting that the story’s characters, physical environment, and even its climactic action lacks significant individuating detail, most critics view “The Lottery.” As a modern-day parable or fable, which obliquely addresses a variety of themes, including the dark side of human nature, the danger of ritualized behavior, and the potential for cruelty when the individual submits to the mass will. Shirley Jackson also addresses cruelty by the citizen’s refusal to stand up and oppose “The Lottery.” Violence and cruelty is a major theme in “The Lottery.”
"The Lottery" is "symbolic of any number of social ills that mankind blindly perpetrates" (Friedman 108). The story is very shocking, but the reality of mankind is even more shocking. Isn’t it funny that Jackson gives us a description of our nature, and not only do we not recognize it for what it is , but it shocks us.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Masterplots, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
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.
“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” (Twain). The Lottery begins during the summer. A small, seemingly normal, town is gathering to throw the annual “Lottery”. In the end, the townspeople—children included—gather around and stone the winner to death, simply because it was tradition. The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective. “I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story 's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (Jackson). As humans develop as a race, their practices should develop with them. Shirley Jackson develops the theme
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.
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" uses the third-person dramatic point of view to tell a story about an un-named village that celebrates a wicked, annual event. The narrator in the story gives many small details of the lottery taking place, but leaves the most crucial and chilling detail until the end: the winner of the lottery is stoned to death by the other villagers. The use of the third-person point of view, with just a few cases of third-person omniscient thrown in, is an effective way of telling this ironic tale, both because the narrator's reporter-like blandness parallels the villagers' apparent apathy to the lottery, and because it helps build to the surprise ending by giving away bits of information to the reader through the actions and discussions of the villagers without giving away the final twist.
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and “The Possibility of Evil” share very similar themes and they both exhibit her writing style. The are many lessons you can take away from “The Lottery” , the central theme can be identified as: When seeing the larger picture it is easy to be oblivious to the evil surrounding you. This means that when the villagers are focusing on the larger picture, which is the lottery, they can not comprehend the great act of evil the are committing the complete the task. Like “The Lottery“, “The Possibility of Evil” can be open to many themes but the central theme can be identified as: Everyone is at risk for evil. This can be interpreted as whether it is chosen or not all people are at risk to commit evil doings.These
Jackson’s “The Lottery” follows the events that take place during a small village’s annual tradition. The story begins with the narrator describing the beautiful summer day. As the children gather to collect stones, the men arrive to socialize. Just about all of the village is in attendance when the conductor of the lottery takes account of any missing villagers. The gathering starts off on a positive note and is similar to most town festivities. In fact, everyone seems eager to start drawing names and to get back to their business. However, when the drawing of the names begins, the readers can sense how uneasy the crowd becomes. In fact, after the Hutchinson family wins, Tessie Hutchinson quickly goes from eager to frantic. In opposition to Tessie’s pleas, the Hutchinson’s draws again within
In the controversial short story ‘The Lottery’, author Shirley Jackson’s central theme suggests that evil is inherent within human nature. The townspeople, who initially are depicted as pleasant and ordinary citizens, gather together annually to participate in an outdated fertility ritual, by choosing someone at random to be sacrificed. However, the real horror of the story is not simply in the murder of an innocent citizen —but within the cold and atavistic nature of the townspeople, who adhere to violent social conditioning without reason. Literary critic, A.R Coulthard supports this idea by writing, “It is not the ancient custom of human sacrifice
The average person is pressured by the people around him to perform in acts that would not normally be considered. The boundaries of these “acts” could range from petty theft, to mass murder. Shirley Jackson explains this clear fact, and ponders on the topic in the short story, “The Lottery”. The plot begins in a jovial small village, which becomes more important knowing that fact that Jackson was left dejected by the people of a small town she lived in her 30’s, as a direct result of her eccentric writing ideas. Jackson considers how far people can be driven to the brink of utter insanity by means of society pressure. Shirley Jackson develops a theme of society pressure, by means of mood and indirect characterization, to the extent of showcasing