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The symbols in the lottery
Shirley Jackson literary techniques
Symbols of the lottery
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The Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson In "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to make us aware of the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. The story starts off on a beautiful summer day in a small town. The author describes the day as very euphoric but strikes a contrast between the atmosphere of the town and the atmosphere of the people gathered in the square. The atmosphere is subdued, where the children are "gathered around quietly." The black box is the central theme or idea in the story. It symbolizes at first some type of mystery, but as we read the ending we realize that it is synonymous with doom. Someone's fate lies in an inanimate object, the black box. We do not always enjoy change, even if it might prove beneficial to us. The box is symbolic of our loathing of change; it is old and splintered showing that we cling to what is familiar rather than change and it also symbolizes the traditions of the community. No one in the little town questions the origin of the black box, but accept it as an intrical part of their lives. There is always discussion of people getting a new box, but no one ever really goes through with it. "Everuy year, after the lottery, Mr.Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything's being done". The lottery itself is symbolic of the paradox of the human psyche between compassion on one hand and the thirst for violence and cruelty on the other. An example of this is when the children are enjoying a break from school, playing and being children, and suddenly they are being joined by "rational" adults in stoning a mother to death. It appears that tradition has blinded these people in an irrational way, making them unable to think of a reason why this possibly should not be happening. When forced with the possibility of death, human nature in all its complexity, comes down to one instinctive urge, that of survival. When Tessie was in no danger she was gossiping with the other ladies and even encouraged her husband to go and pick a piece of paper. When Tessie wins the lottery; she pleads for another chance and screams for mercy. She demands that her daughters take their chances as well, which is indicative of regression toward our ... ... middle of paper ... ...in. They chose this method of sacrifice in order to yield themselves from the responsibility and burden of murder. Even though the towns lottery has lost all traditional value the sacrificing has held steadfast. As it says in The Lottery ? although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remember to use the rocks.? This quote means that even though their tradition has gone off course they will always hold to their beliefs about sacrifice. To summarize they held true to their beliefs because of apprehension. So tradition has subconsciously made the community unaware of their horrible actions. The citizens of the village are not afraid of change. They are afraid of what change will bring. The present community has never known a year without the lottery or depleted crops. They fear if they if they disband from the traditional sacrifice their crops will fail. Also their warm safe homes will fade away and the dampened caves that have become so fictional to them will appear to be realistic problems. Works Cited: Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." The Lottery. New York: Popular Library, 1949.
Holistic nursing focuses on promoting health and wellness. It is care that is based on the theory of a balance between the body, mind and spirit. Its goal is to heal the body person as a whole. Holistic assessment is a practice that is specialized on nursing knowledge, theories, expertise and intuition to guide nurses in becoming therapeutic partners with their patients. It recognizes and gathers information about the totality of the human being, the interconnectedness of body, mind, emotion, spirit, socio-cultural, relationship, context, and environment. This paper is based on a holistic assessment of a patient from my job. A 72 years old Caucasian.
The black box is a good representation of the central idea to the story. The box is painted in black, which has always been a universal symbol for evil and death.
Change is good." We hear the catchy phrase everywhere. From company slogans to motivational speeches, our world seems to impose this idea that change is always a good thing. Assuming that the change is for the better, it is probably a true statement in most cases. The root of this idea seems to come from the notion that we are dissatisfied with the state that we are in, so, in order to create a more enjoyable surrounding, we adjust. Others, however, stray from this practice, and instead of trying to adapt to the people around them, they try and change others.
For many, change is a cause for ignorance. Most of us fear the idea of change. When one is faced to deal with c...
The story opens by embracing the reader with a relaxed setting, giving the anticipation for an optimistic story. “…with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green (p.445).”
Many people are resistant to change. They become comfortable with their lives and don’t dare to venture outside of the box.
Interracial marriage is a union between two people from different racial backgrounds. Over the past decades, interracial marriage has been on the rise and has predominantly become popular among recent generations. Interracial marriages, despites the challenges it faced in the early centuries due to slavery and racial segregations is now common across many cultures. Since the abolishment of laws banning interracial marriages in the late 1960’s, society has embraced interracial marriage disregarding racial and cultural differences in the process. Several researchers have attributed the growing trends of interracial unions to immigration. While there is popular support for the growing trend of interracial marriage, it is imperative to consider whether becoming a multicultural society has impacted interracial marriages. This paper will place much emphasis on the growing trends and patterns of interracial unions in America. In addition, more emphasis will be placed on marital satisfaction in interracial unions and finally societal attitudes towards interracial couples.
Dossey, B. M. (2010). Holistic nursing: From Florence Nightingale's historical legacy to 21st century global nursing. Alternative therapies, 16(5), 14-16.
The short story “ The Lottery ” the author Shirley Jackson uses symbolism and imagery to develop a theme the brings forth the evil and inhumane nature of tradition and the danger of when it’s carried out with ignorance.
By far, Hamlet is the best piece of writing ever written by William Shakespeare in my opinion. In most tragedies heroes die in the worse manner ever; in the play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet commits suicide, and like that Hamlet dies by getting stabbed with a poison blade. The theme appearance versus reality has shown a lot throughout this play. Things may appear to be one way, but in reality, it’s a different allusion to many evil circumstances. Many characters throughout the play tends to hide behind a different personality than what they portray in reality. There are four different characters that tend to show a different personality Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Polonius, and King Claudius. These characters have a different incognito. They give off the impression of being nice and truthful, but in reality they are filled with dishonesty and evilness.
In order to capture the recurring theme of falsehood, William Shakespeare uses the death of King Hamlet to force a trickery of security and responsibility on the major characters in his play, Hamlet. The audience rapidly discovers that masks don’t just hide physical appearances and actors aren’t just simply for theatre, they exist all around us. Everyone has the ability to create multiple identities in order to achieve a darker goal but whether or they access this ability is based on the integrity of that person. Shakespeare wanted to make a bold statement of fake personalities through his play Hamlet. False personalities will eventually fall under the force of the truth. They will eventually have to demonstrate their true character. Just like a crumpling building, they dishonesty will lead to their demise.
Tessie Hutchinson was angry that her husband had gotten the lottery, so the family drew again. In the final draw, the crowd saw that Tessie had gotten the paper with the black dot. The instant the crowd knew who got the lottery, they began grabbing the stones the boys had piled up earlier. Formerly, Mr. Summers joined the crowd and said “let’s finish quickly” to be in time for noon dinner(Jackson, 7). At this instant, Mrs. Delacroix had “selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands” for the ritual(Jackson, 7). This sentence shows how terrible the lottery is and how extreme it can get. Without delay, Tessie is standing in the middle of the crowd when “a stone hit her on the side of the head” and that was the signal to begin the ritual(Jackson, 7). The lottery is just a cruel thing to the victim and their family who have to watch and be a part
Appearance and reality have never been portrayed with such immense differences as they are seen in Hamlet. Deceit runs about freely the entire play and affects every character, creating torment and confusion for all. Three complex characters use treachery to their advantage as they create façade in order to carry out plans, yet their shrouded minds impede them from carrying them through. All Shakespearian tragedies are filled with delusive, spurious characters, but none are as deceitful as those in Hamlet. Claudius, Polonius, and Hamlet have distorted realities and unfortunately, each has a clouded conscious that leads them to make life-changing decisions.
can become as restricted by unquestioned tradition as we can by the walls we build and blindly
Ellman, Y. (1987). Intermarriage in the United States: A Comparative Study of Jews and Other Ethnic and Religious Groups. Jewish Social Studies, 49(1), 1-26. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.nu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=0bfb9f36-e537-4499-99ad-bcf2d453bf27%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=7114765&db=pbh