Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” revolves around a lottery that takes place in this village. The rules of the lottery require each family to choose from a black box a slip of paper. Then there is a second drawing, after the families draw slips from the black box. Whichever family member gets a slip with a black dot wins the lottery. That winners prize is being stoned to death by the fellow villagers. Why do the villagers blindly the lottery if everyone knows the end results, why don’t the villagers speak up about the lottery’s injustice? I believe the villagers don’t speak up about the lottery because it’s a long standing tradition. The lottery has essentially been around longer than everyone in the village. So the villagers are just following …show more content…
Throughout the story Tess appears to not care about the lottery, but then begins to protest about it when she feels threatened by the lottery. If someone else other than Tess spoke up against the lottery how would the future of the event be affected? The real reason I feel that no one questions the lottery is because the villagers enjoy murdering their fellow villagers. The reason I say this is because in the story it is mentioned that other villages stopped holding the lottery. There has to be a reason that other villages have chosen to stop partaking in the lottery. The other reason I say the villagers enjoy murder is because most parts of the lottery have been forgotten by the villagers. But yet the villagers don’t forget the part where they must stone someone to death. It is stated in the story that
“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both
The villagers don’t care about the black box or the ritual, but they do care about the stones which signify murder. In “The Lottery”, each villager cares about his or her own individual survival, even if it means stoning one’s own family. An example of a family can be seen through Hutchinson family and their daughter Tessie, who got stoned. They’ve done this for so long, they don’t question how sinful it is. It just seems like the ordinary thing to do for them. That behavior can be proved by “… the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner (Jackson 278).” The quote demonstrates that the villagers can murder someone, then casually continue on with their daily lives. They can do that action without thinking they did anything wrong. “The Lottery” encourages the villagers to have egotistical
In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson There is a town where they have a lottery every year where the winner is stoned to death. Its a little off putting to think of that the winner of something gets to be killed. The story itself is very vague about the people in it. No place is given just that its in a small village with roughly three hundred people. The first time reading this they just seem like normal people who live in a village. Reading this story the second time you pick up on the comments of the crowd. The people in this village are not what they seem. They seem to have grudges or just jealousy. They are hoping for certain people to get picked. Maybe this is their own stress relief like the purge. Regardless of why it
“The Lottery” is a short story about an event that takes place every year in a small village of New England. When the author speaks of “the lottery” he is referencing the lottery of death; this is when the stoning of a village member must give up his or her life. The villagers gather at a designated area and perform a customary ritual which has been practiced for many years. The Lottery is a short story about a tradition that the villagers are fully loyal to and represents a behavior or idea that has been passed down from generation to generation, accepting and following a rule no matter how cruel or illogical it is. Friends and family become insignificant the moment it is time to stone the unlucky victim.
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.
The villagers think of the lottery as a chore, rather than a slaughter. The lottery to them is nothing more than another errand, a task that they need to fulfill once a year. They dread the lottery not because one of them will be killed, but because it consumes their valuable time and energy. They seem to forget the importance of the life they take away every year, instead complaining about how long and drawn-out the process or taking away said life is. The director of the lottery even wants it over quickly. ?Well now,? Mr. Summers said soberly, ?guess we better get started, get this over with, so?s we can go back to work?? (Jackson, 239) This statement shows that the people no longer care about the life that will soon be ended, but that they have work to do, and the lottery is in their way of finishing it. Moreover, ...
The point of view of tradition in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is the normal once of year gathering on the townspeople. This gathering is held in order to pick, via a lottery drawing, to decide who in the town is going to be stoned to death. “The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o’clock; in some towns there were so many people the lottery took two days and had started on June 26th, but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, and the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013, pp. 251). The fact that the people gather and discuss everyday issue prior to the start of the lottery all point to the blind tradition of selecting some to be stoned to death.
The plot as a whole in “The Lottery” is filled with ironic twists. The whole idea of a lottery is to win something, and the reader is led to believe that the winner will receive some prize, when in actuality they will be stoned to death by the rest of the villagers. The villagers act very nonchalant upon arriving at the lottery; which makes it seem as if it is just another uneventful day in a small town. Considering the seriousness of the consequences of the lottery, the villagers do not make a big deal about it. Under the same note it is ironic that many of the original traditions of the lottery, such as the recital and the salute, had long been forgotten. All that the villagers seemed to remember was the ruthless killing of a random person. It also seems strange that they let the equipment for the lottery, the black box, get into such a poor condition.
Written by Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery” is a short story about a town that hosts an annual lottery that decides which person is stoned by the rest of the town. Jackson slowly and subtly builds the suspense throughout the story, only resolving the mystery surrounding the lottery at the very last moment, as the townspeople surround Tessie with their stones. The symbolism utilized helps demonstrate the overall significance of the story, such as the lottery itself. The lottery shows the way people desperately cling to old traditions, regardless of how damaging they may be. In addition, it can show how callous many will act while staring at a gruesome situation, until they become the victims.
The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, revolves around a series of traditions that no one seems to follow anymore. This story begins by explaining how the lottery process works. It takes place on June 27 of every year. All the people of the village gather in the town's square- husbands, wives, and children. Each head of household pulls a small piece of paper out of a black box. All but one piece of paper will be blank. The piece with the black-penciled spot is the piece that will send someone in that family to death. After that piece of paper is pulled from the box the members of that family must draw. The member that pulls the spotted paper out gets stoned to ...
Every year, the lottery is held, and every year a person is killed. Each villager neglects to acknowledge the unjustness of the lottery and continue to participate because of the tradition it represents in their society. The lottery was a cultural tradition passed down from the very first settlers of the village. It makes up a huge part of the village’s history and culture. The villagers pay recognition to their culture by continuing the tradition of the lottery even though the lottery is not morally right. On page 93 it states, “There was a proper swearing-in of Mr. Summers by the postmaster, as the official of the lottery; at one time, some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year… There had been, also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came to draw from the box…” This quote shows the tribal-like rituals and traditions associated with the lottery. Through the years, some of the rituals of the lottery were lost, but the main elements of the lottery remained the same. The idea behind the lottery was that the ancestors, of the villagers, believed that human sacrifice would bring in good harvest. This led to the development and continuation
The reader can infer through Jackson's indirect characterization that some of the villagers are becoming unhappy with the inveterate lottery, and some do not seem to mind it. The villagers appear to be too afraid to do anything about it. “'There's always been a lottery,' he added petulantly. 'Bad enough to see young Joe Summers up there joking with everybody.'” (Jackson 2). Here, Old Man Warner is responding to the fact the other towns are getting rid of the lottery. Old Man Warner does not say why the lottery is to go on, but his only argument is that there has always been a lottery. None of the villagers are able to establish an argument on why the lottery needs to come to a cessation. On the other hand, Mr. Summers, who conducts the lottery, does not seem bothered by the lottery. Mr. Summers has to do all of the work behind the lottery. He has to make up the lists of the villagers, get sworn in as the official, and conduct the lottery. Even t...
Immediately, the women of “The Lottery” seem to be a friendly group who stick by one another’s sides. However, as the plot uncovers, the reader discovers that each woman would easily choose tradition over friendship. The traits of the women include endorsement of the “dominant culture” (Hattenhauer, 45), value of tradition, and belief in fairness. As the lottery transpires, the women advise Tess to “be a good sport” (Jackson, 140) because they all “took the same chance” (Jackson, 140). This simple encounter provides evidence that the women of “The Lottery” would undoubtedly lose a friendship to preserve the morals of tradition. When Tess finally reveals the paper with the mark on it, Mr. Summers is quick to begin the final step in the Lottery. The women oblige, and are even quicker to grab a stone from the children’s pile. One woman even orders another to “hurry up” (Jackson, 141) before picking up a “stone so large” (Jackson, 141) it required the use of both hands. “The Lottery” ends with the town’s people stoning Tess to death. Among the killers are the women that Tess once called friends.
The story leads to a horrific ending, with people forgetting the concept of ritual. When people think of a lottery, they draw an image with a big amount of money in their head. However, in the story “The Lottery”, the price is death. It starts in the morning of a bright, peaceful day, people are gathering in the square, children picking stones and piles them; also the black box used for drawing, “the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born.” (Jackson 205).
In an agriculture-dominant village, the lottery is practiced as the annual tradition. The “fortunate” lottery winner will be stoned to death by the town after a few rounds of drawing lots. Such flabbergasted ritual is seen as a norm in that village and the villagers even feel excited over this cruel occasion due to the mob psychology of people. The villagers abandon their rationale in demonstrating violence towards the innocent “winner”. When Tessie draws the winner piece, everyone in the village straight up turns on her with stones and pebbles including Mrs. Delacroix, her
After they have selected their villager to be stoned the crops would grow, which supplied the villagers with more food giving the villagers more hope in the lottery, making its annual tradition. Each time they would partake in the lottery corn and other crops would start to grow which gave the village faith on their survival as they were not afraid of starvation. “...Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery” (Jackson 4).