Is The Lottery An Example Of The Utilitarian Monster

516 Words2 Pages

1) How is the lottery an example of the utilitarian monster?
a) The lottery could be considered as an example of the utilitarian monster because the money filters into the government and taxes; few members of society directly benefit from taxes even though, according to Beyerstein, money is “systematically redistributed upwards – from lotto players to urban schools.” (Beyerstein, 2006) In reality, it is the poor who are paying for the upper class to maintain their levels of life in the hope that one day they land on the jackpot to take the house.
2) How can you set yourself up to argue in favour of or against the ethical existence of the lottery in terms of monetized utilitarianism?
a) On one hand, there are positive state kickbacks from monetizing

Show More
Related

  • Obedience To Authority In The Lottery

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    The limits of obedience to authority is an overall good idea and. In the short story, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, supports the thought that blind obedience will only lead to bad things. Authority does not have to be a person; it can be an item or belief. Obedience to authority can lead to the destruction of that group and groups should never blindly follow anything, especially when they feel as if it is wrong. Obedience should be regulated and only occur when the demand of authority is rational and reasonable.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Against the Odds and Against the Common Good

    1742 Words  | 4 Pages

    The following two paragraphs are a summary of Gloria Jimenez's essay Against the Odds and Against the Common Good. States should neither allow nor encourage state-run lotteries. There are five major arguments that people use to defend lotteries. One is that most lotteries are run honestly, but if gambling is harmful to society it is irrelevant to argue if they are honest or not. The second is that lotteries create jobs, but there are only a small handful of jobs that would be eliminated if lotteries were put out of business. Another argument that would support keeping lotteries is that, other than gambling addicts, people freely choose to buy lottery tickets. This is true, however, there are misleading advertisements that may cause people to buy tickets under false pretenses.

    Read More

  • Duality Of Human Nature In The Lottery

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, The Lottery, there are many signs of duality of human nature. Many of the characters appear to be affected by the lottery at first, but towards the end their feelings start to change. Tessie, Mr.Summers, and Mrs.Delacroix all show two sides of humanity and they all generally appear to be good natured people, but are they really?

    Read More

  • The Lottery Compare And Contrast Essay

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    Compare and Contrast! Well, you use it on a daily right? The stories “The Lottery” and “The Landlady” are two stories that you can compare and contrast. Some examples of comparisons are that both of the stories use violence, and that they both end with a plot twist no one was expecting. One example of a contrast in both of these stories is that they use their imagery differently. How are these stories alike and how are they different?

    Read More

  • The Lottery By Shirley Jackson: Cruelty and Human Nature

    1815 Words  | 4 Pages

    Shirley Jackson, the author of the short story, "The Lottery", is the daughter of Beatrice and George Jackson. Jackson was born on August 5th, in 1946. Some background on Jackson is that she graduated college with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ("Shirley Ann Jackson") Jackson had many accomplishments in her lifetime. She received many awards, metals, and honors. Jackson was appointed to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, she was elected as chairman of the newly formed International Nuclear Regulators Association, and she then joined the ranks of U.S. college presidents on July 1, 1999, where she assumed the top position at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She was featured on the cover of the March issue of Black Issue in Higher Education. Jackson graduated from Roosevelt High School as valedictorian of her class ("Shirley Ann Jackson"). Shirley Jackson is most remembered for her being a Theoretical Physics and getting good grades, because that is what got her where she was at (Shirley Ann Jackson). A list of her works:

    Read More

  • Use of Scapegoats in The Lottery and in Our World

    1646 Words  | 4 Pages

    An obsession exists in the world today based solely upon the use of scapegoats. According to the dictionary, a scapegoat consists of a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place. Some of the most influential scapegoats consist of Jesus Christ taking suffering for the sins of civilization, the Jewish population being punished for the problems in Germany, and more recently the U.S. citizens who perished in 9/11 being punished for the sins of America. Scapegoats have come in many forms over time and have been very destructive. The usage of scapegoats in our society, such as in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, has proved to be damaging, and an end must be found in order to find peace.

    Read More

  • Allegories In The Lottery

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, is a provoking piece of literature about a town that continues a tradition of stoning, despite not know why the ritual started in the first place. As Jackson sets the scene, the villagers seem ordinary; but seeing that winning the lottery is fatal, the villagers are then viewed as murders by the reader. Disagreeing with the results of the lottery, Tessie Hutchinson is exposed to an external conflict between herself and the town. Annually on June 27th, the villagers gather to participate in the lottery. Every head of household, archetypally male, draws for the fate of their family, but Tessie protests as she receives her prize of a stoning after winning the lottery. Jackson uses different symbols – symbolic characters, symbolic acts, and allegories – to develop a central theme: the

    Read More

  • The Lottery: An Honorable Sacrifice?

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1948 the New Yorker Magazine published a short story written by Shirley Jackson entitled “The Lottery.” This story begins June 27th, a clear and sunny day at ten o’clock in the morning. Clear and sunny could be indicative of a happy cheerful story; however, as this story progresses there are no discoveries of a happy ending at all. “The Lottery” is a tale of a horrible death, in which a small farming society considered to be a necessary sacrifice for the good of their crops. Tessie Hutchinson was stoned to death without remorse, because she was the “winner” of the town’s lottery. In “The Lottery” Jackson uses an interesting and unique approach to demonstrate the attributes of a male dominated society; as well as weave in religious symbolism along with the ultimate sacrifice of life.

    Read More

  • Human Nature In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    464 Words  | 1 Pages

    “The lottery” is a short story that tells about the tradition in a village. Every year the people that live in the village all gather around to find out who will win the annual lottery. The winner of this lottery is forced to get stoned to death. The reason behind this tradition is the belief that stoning a citizen will bring heartier crops. This tradition is expected to happen for many years to come. In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson introduces the basics of human nature. In this short story, there are many characters who show two sides of human nature

    Read More

  • Examples Of Man Vs Man In The Lottery

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    Of the three types of conflict man vs man, man vs nature, and man vs self in the story “The Lottery”. The two conflicts that are mostly and greatly portrayed are man vs man and man vs self. With man vs man being easier to detect right on the surface of the story based on the concept of lottery and the ending where Mrs. Hutchinson is pelted to death with many small rocks by her family and community. Where the man vs self conflict might be harder to see as it is in a deeper level with the emotional conflict most of the characters must feel with in the story as i would hope the people themselves may see the lottery as a horrible thing as some people such as Mr. Adams claims that other villages such as the northern village have had thoughts of giving up the lottery in general.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Ignorance In The Lottery

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    “If you choose not to decide, you have still made a choice.” --Blaise Pascal. This quote means when you give up the chance to make the decision, you 've already make the decision to stand aside indifferently, and trying to ignore the fact that you could 've done something better with that. This related to her most famous story is "The Lottery" (1948), the time period which is not long after the Great Depression and World War II. These two events changed the mentality of the whole society, people started the idea of "man for himself", in order to survive in the community. This works a straightforward manner to metaphor human cruelty and ignorance. Shirley Jackson (1919 -1965), an American novelist and short story writer. The theme of most

    Read More

  • The Lottery and Human Behavior

    1674 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The Lottery” is a story which shows the complexity and capability of human behavior. Something immoral, like stoning a person to death once a year, is a normal occurrence. The main character, Tessie Hutchinson, is the victim of the lottery. Tessie is a character with a number of seemingly good characteristics, yet her surrounding culture rejects these characteristics. The majority of the people in the village has opposite attitudes and beliefs in comparison to Tessie’s. These attitudes and beliefs reflect her personal desires which quickly struggle against the culture’s expectations. Tessie is unlike the other villagers; she is initially indifferent to the lottery indicating her desires are unrelated to the lottery. Upon winning the lottery, Tessie changes and her personal desires to survive and reject the lottery emerge in her selfishness and outspoken personality. These struggles against the village’s expectations are shown through the culture’s emphasis on tradition and small town ties.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Anarchy And The Lottery

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Lottery” was adapted from Story and structure and was written by Shirley Jackson is the short story about an ancient tradition to inherit long time about random person to die. As The purge 2 : Anarchy was written by James Demonaco is the movie about the people in America have to survive on the chaos and violence that occurs in purge night. Both stories are clearly different about form of tradition that happen and telling. Firstly, Equality of people in “The Lottery” that everyone in the village must participate for finding person who die from random lottery, but people who work for government in The purge 2 : Anarchy don’t die and get privilege for killing poor. Secondly, Number of deaths in “The Lottery” has only one in each year and

    Read More

  • The Lottery Conclusion

    2047 Words  | 5 Pages

    Shirley Jackson’s renowned short story “The Lottery” is one of the most recognized short stories today as it draws people in due to the work’s unexpected ending. Centered in a small, unnamed town, “The Lottery” follows the townspeople throughout their annual lottery process that is performed with the same level of regard as the school dances. Throughout the story the ‘prize’ of the lottery is not revealed until the moment in the story’s conclusion in which the protagonist, Tessie Hutchinson, is hit in the head with the first of many rocks after drawing the marked slip of paper revealing that to win the lottery is to be stoned by the community (Jackson 673-679). This paper presents an analysis of the story, as furthered and supported by various

    Read More

  • The Lottery Moral Criticism

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lastly, there is the Ethical criticism approach to literature and in this approach it defines a literary work by what moral and ethical judgements it possess and promotes. In the Ethical approach critics “may range from a casual appraisal of a work’s moral content to the ore rigorous and systematic analysis driven by a coherent set of stated beliefs and assumptions”. In Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” I felt that Tan, intends to make the reader think of the meaning behind the story. She doesn’t speak out to illustrate what is the real problem between her and her mother but instead she uses her own point of view as a narrator to state what she has experienced and what she feels in her mind all along the story. She has not judged what is right

    Read More

More about Is The Lottery An Example Of The Utilitarian Monster

Open Document