The Lottery Shirley Jackson Analysis

Themes in modernism literature focus on the big issues of the early 20th century. Through the themes of the writing pieces the authors are able to convey his or her opinion on the changing world around them. In “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the authors show the rise in violence in the 1920s and the effect it has had. America was changing, many of the ways where for the better, technological advancement, but quite a few were for the worse, like the crime and violence.
Violence is a key theme in “Chicago”. Carl Sandburg shows how rough city life was becoming in the 20s. Crime and violence were prevalent in cities of the time period and chicago was no exception. The poem says, “Yes, it is true I have seen the

gunman kill and go free to kill again.” This shows what it was like living in these new industrialized cities. Many factors play into why there was a growing amount of violence in Chicago. During the industrial era a large amount of people were moving from the rural farm towns to the big cities to find work. This naturally caused crime rates to rise and violence to grow. Another factor was the newly passed prohibition amendment, this amendment made it illegal to seth or consume alcohol. In cities there was a lot of smuggling of alcohol, mostly by the mob. Now the different mafia families were fighting for turf, so that they had more people and better “business”. The mafia was a large part of the reason that the violence was escalating during the 20s. Sandburg gives the reader a good look into life in the big city during the industrial and prohibition era.
Shirley Jackson takes a different angle on violence than Carl Sandburg, in the short story “The Lottery”. Jackson shows more of how the culture of the modernism time period has accepted the violence as routine and normal. In “The Lottery” when they start stoning and eventually kill Mrs. Hutchison, it is chilling because nobody is bothered by it and there is no hesitation. Back during the industrial and prohibition era all of the crime and violence was culture. The mafia was just accepted like any other business back then, and the acceptance of violence came with it. Even the police were being payed off to look the other direction. Well known mafia leader Al Capone was a celebrity to the people, and they knew he was a criminal and murderer. Cities had never seen violence and crime like during the prohibition era, and Shirley wants to send a message to through “The Lottery” that they can’t become brainwashed to the idea that this violence and crime is acceptable.
Jackson and Sandburg both give a great idea of what it was like to live in the industrial and prohibition era. Jackson gives the reader an idea of what the culture was like back then, showing us how accepted violence was. Sandburg gave us more of an idea of what day to day life was like and what a person would tend to see. Sandburg shows how violence wasn’t controlled and the cities had violent people running free. Through these pieces the authors help show americans what life is truly like from a different perspective. Now today readers are able to look back at these works and get an idea of what America was like back in the 1920s.