The Lottery Rhetorical Analysis

Two Thumbs up “The Lottery”

Jesse Stewart, Callum Richardson, Jason Lum

Jason: Roeper

Jesse: Ebert

Callum: Guevara

Roper: Breaking news! The short story world just got better, with Shirley Jackson’s new release “The Lottery”. Hello, I'm Richard Roeper, the tribute of New York Times Bestseller. “The Lottery” is an exhilarating, rich piece of art and is one of the biggest achievements of the year, likely receiving multiple rewards.

Ebert: What! Multiple rewards! Are you out of your mind! There were countless aspects of the story that were just horrid. For example, the resolution was way, way, way too rushed. It ended with Tessie been stoned to death desperately yelling that it wasn’t fair. However, it would have been more intriguing if Shirley Jackson stated what happened to the village in the end. If the villagers did stop the lottery, yet the harvest was still plentiful then it also would have helped convey theme such as question traditions because they may just be superstitious.

Guevara: That’s blasphemy! The story was written to perfection keeping the reader on the edge of their seat right to the end. The story includes such vivid details in the exposition, such as the opening line where the reader is immersed in positive and lovely thoughts. The reader is then kept in the dark

till the end where their jaws drop in a state of shock, therefore, the climax was extremely powerful and was also an immense turning point in the story.

Ebert: To only make matters worse, the time period in which the story takes place embarrasses practically everyone. The story seemed to take place around the 1900’s based on the fact that the men had more authority and based on gender roles. Though, in the 1900’s people particularly held on to such important traditions in their lives. However, Shirley Jackson’s story is now stating that traditions should be questioned because they may all be for nothing and be superstitious, seriously offending others including myself. In fact, on June 28th, 1948 the union of South Africa banned the story completely revealing just how negative this story is to society.

Roeper: Actually, the time period in which the story takes place is a great example of Shirley Jackson's phenomenal writing skills. The setting has such a strong connection to crucial themes since there were many imperative traditions when the story was set. This then made the themes in the story very applicable and crucial for people at that time. The combination of perfect setting and themes provoked that huge wave of negativity demonstrating just how powerful and influential “The Lottery” truly was.

Ebert: Soon you start to realize that the conflicts in the story are another problem with “The Lottery”.

One of the conflicts is person vs. self, featuring Mrs. Hutchison burdened with the decision of caring for herself or for her family. She says, “There’s Don and Eva, make them take their chance.” This shows that Tessie is trying to get more members to participate, wanting to lower her chance of winning the lottery, which doesn’t make sense whatsoever. Here right before the climax, everyone now knows that the lottery is definitely different. As a result, the climax wasn’t a big plot twist and it didn’t deliver that high emotional intensity that the reader was longing

for.

Guevara: The conflicts were all very interesting based on the fact that it reflected society on a whole with great effectiveness. Practically every single person could relate too many of the conflicts that characters face in “The Lottery”. For instance, should I care for others or care solely for myself is a problem that most people face every single day.

Ebert: The characters in the story were not authentic, making the story seem unrealistic as well. Firstly, Shirley Jackson did not put much effort into developing the characters to make them feel real. For instance, we don’t know much about anyone’s outer appearances. She also made a terrible decision about using third-person (objective) since we don’t know anything about what the characters feel or think. This is a crucial part of characterization because this would reveal what the characters motives and views are regarding the lottery.

Roeper: I totally disagree with what Ebert says. Shirley Jackson made a great decision of using the point of view third-person (objective). As a result, we didn’t know what the characters felt or thought. This plays an important role in keeping the true nature of the lottery a secret. I also love how the characters personalities were not consistent because it establishes an important theme: people are not always being what they seem.

Ebert: Last but not least, the mood in the story did not seem detailed enough compared to the start of the book considering that this is the most intense part of the whole story. It would have been nice if Shirley Jackson used strong descriptive details to help the reader feel completely immersed in the most intense part of the story.

Guevara: Don’t listen to him! Shirley Jackson used great word choice and details throughout the whole story provoking magnificent imagery for the reader to experience. We read about a magnificent day, which makes the reader feel like everything is fine in the village and that this village is completely normal. I also disagree with you about the ending. There was surely enough detail for the reader to picture. With the given details near the end, I can clearly imagine a terrified look on her face and see the villagers turning into gruesome and senseless killers.

Roeper: That is all we have in store for you today, thank you for watching and be sure to subscribe below. On a final note (everyone says this simultaneously) “The Lottery” is a story that is two thumbs (Roeper and Guevara say up) (Ebert says down).

The End