Would it be amazing to win the lottery, no, Winning the lottery in my mind is comparable to one thing.
There is an old story of the Midas-hand of gold .He wished from the gods to have a hand that everything he touched turned to gold which worked well for him until he realized that his new on wealth made all his enemies even angrier .His wealth also found him lots of new friends none of which were loyal to him only the money he possessed. Leaving him with no real friends ,no one to trust .His daughter pleaded for him to get rid of it and he became so paranoid about his hand and his money that he pushed away the people who said it wasn't good for him .Thereby losing his true friends and when his true friends tried to take it away from him he would touch them with his hand and they would turn to solid gold . This began the transition from a good man
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Realizing his mistake he tried to give his gift back. I believe that this is the same thing that would happen if you won the lottery .All your friends would try to kkep you from become too posh or too big of a jerk and their concern would make you think that they had it in for you.You would push away your real friends leaving you with friends there for the money. so I think slowly building a fortune and living off a small sum off that fortune would teach you to respect for the money you have earned. Rather than just suddenly having all this money that you would have no respect or value for . Having money you didn't have to work for is money you don't value for .Which would cause you to be much more flash than if you had actually worked for it yourself.I think the thought of Epicurus is right you don't need money to be happy .Money makes life easier but I know for a fact that money can be an as much a curse as a blessing . Money may make life more comfortable but it changes people they become more worried about what they possess rather than the people that love them. The
Money can cause people to act selfish and arrogant, especially when they have so much money they do noteven know what to spend it on. In the novel,
Money— sweeter than honey but oh so destructive. It facilitates a man’s life, while a lack of it imprisons him in the streets of penury. It raises his social status, while an absence of it leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while a deficiency of it makes him worthless in society’s eyes. Considering these two roads, most do not take more than a second to decide to chase riches.
“The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson is a short story about an annual lottery held in a small village amongst the three hundred villagers. A lottery is usually associated with cash prizes or free trips, but in this story, the winner of the lottery is rewarded by being stoned to death by the townspeople. “On a late summer morning, the villagers of a small New England town gather to conduct their annual lottery” (Mazeeno 1). As the villagers gather in the square, everyone is chipper and anxious to get the lottery over with. Mr. Summers conducts the lottery and other civic activities in the town, so he calls everyone up to come pull a piece of paper out of the black box. There is a piece of paper for everyone in the village, but there is only
The short story, “Paul’s Case,” by Willa Cather, portrays a clinically depressed young man, Paul, who misunderstands money. Paul was born into the middle class, but he desires a lavish upper class life. Paul’s desires cause him to despise his own community and turn him into an outcast. Due to monetary constraints, Paul cannot fulfill his desire to be a member of the upper class community either. Therefore, Paul believes money is the answer to his problems. Unfortunately, Paul does not understand the correlation between money and hard work, so he sees himself as trapped where he is in society. Whereas, the successful business tycoons he idealizes are able to work hard and amass great riches that advanced their position in society. In “Paul’s Case,” Willa Cather uses symbolism, diction, and an omniscient third person point of view to examine how misunderstanding money is dangerous. This misunderstanding of money is Paul’s demise at the end of the story.
The myth of “King Midas” by Thomas Bulfinch and the “Fallacy of Success” by G.K. Chesterton investigates how success can be achieved, but leaves the reader questioning if it is as easy as it sounds. In Thomas Bulfinch's “Midas”, the author explains how there was a great King named Midas. He took care of his old schoolmaster for eleven days, then the god Bacchus gave him reward for his hospitality. Whereupon Midas wished that whatever he touched turned into gold, “He took a glass of wine, but it flowed down his throat, like melted gold… he hated the gift he had lately coveted.” In other words, when Midas wished for the power to turn everything into gold, he later regretted it, due to the fact he couldn’t eat anything. (Paragraph 2, Bullfinch) An overarching theme expressed in the quote is “success cannot be easily attained with a touch of a finger”.
“’It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,’ Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.” These are the famous last words written by Shirley Jackson in “The Lottery.” “The Lottery” is a short story that takes place in a small town with nearly 300 people. Every year, the town comes together for the yearly tradition of the lottery, which is a human sacrifice to prepare for the fall crops. “The Lottery” is a suspenseful story that shows the irony to many important details of the story, including the true meaning of a lottery, the dangers of keeping only some aspects of a tradition, and the defiance of Tessie Hutchinson.
Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. Many things can be used as symbolism such as colors, symbols, and objects. Symbolism is used to give another meaning to a character, word, or object and give a deeper meaning to something. The color black is often symbolized as evil or death, while the color white is categorized as life and innocence. The Christian cross can also symbolize many things such as hope, faith, and forgiveness. Objects may also symbolize things such as a chain; it can mean union but can also mean isolation. These are just a few examples of symbolism there is a manifold of things that can have a dual meaning and you don’t know it.
Symbolism of the Lottery In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”, she emphasizes on tradition in a small town, which has been drastically lost throughout the years. The community holds on to tradition due to the fear of superstition of the harvesting of the crops. Symbolism is “the representation of something in symbolic form or the attribution of symbolic meaning or character to something” (Dictionary.com). The villagers show the unwillingness to challenge tradition and superstition. They might mumble about other villages that have done away with lotteries.
Suspense is a common element in popular media which is used to keep TV shows or plots of books or movies from being too predictable and boring. A key example of suspense in a movie is a scene from JAWS in which the shark is slowly approaching the boat and in the background a piano plays an ominous two key tone to send chills down the audience’s spines.In Shirley Jackson’s short stories, ¨The Possibility of Evil¨ and ¨The Lottery,¨ Jackson uses multiple literary devices to upgrade her stories and to create much needed suspense. Since Jackson is known for writing suspenseful stories with even more surprising plot twists, she relies on literary devices to ensure that her stories live up to their dramatic expectations. Though Jackson’s two short
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, is a short story about an annual lottery that is drawn in a small town. Every year a lottery is held, in which one person is arbitrarily selected to be stoned to death by the people in the village. The lottery has been adopted for over many years by its inhabitants. Jackson uses setting, objects, and names to disguise the actual meaning and objective of the lottery through the tradition of symbolism.
“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.
What thoughts come to mind when you think of "The Lottery?" Positive thoughts including money, a new home, excitement, and happiness are all associated with the lottery in most cases. However, this is not the case in Shirley Jackson’s short story, "The Lottery." Here, the characters in the story are not gambling for money, instead they are gambling for their life. A shock that surprises the reader as she unveils this horrifying tradition in the village on this beautiful summer day. This gamble for their life is a result of tradition, a tradition that is cruel and inhumane, yet upheld in this town. Shirley Jackson provides the reader’s with a graphic description of violence, cruelty, and inhumane treatment which leads to the unexpected meaning of "The Lottery." Born in San Francisco, Jackson began writing early in her life. She won a poetry prize at age twelve and continued writing through high school. In 1937 she entered Syracuse University, where she published stories in the student literary magazine. After marriage to Stanley Edgar Hyman, a notable literary critic, she continued to write. Her first national publication “My Life with R.H. Macy” was published in The New Republic in 1941but her best-known work is “The Lottery.”(Lit Links or Reagan). Jackson uses characterization and symbolism to portray a story with rising action that surprises the reader with the unexpected odd ritual in the village. While one would expect “The Lottery” to be a positive event, the reader’s are surprised with a ritual that has been around for seventy-seven years , demonstrating how unwilling people are to make changes in their everyday life despite the unjust and cruel treatment that is associated with this tradi...
The 20th century saw a significant increase in the publication of short stories focusing on different themes affecting society. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" are some of the stories that have maintained relevance to recent scholars and students. "The Lottery" explores a ritualistic lottery characterized by the annual stoning of community members after choosing a particular black box. On the other hand, in "Everyday Use," Walker explores the reunion between a mother and her two daughters to address the questions of tradition and heritage. " The Lottery" and "Everyday Use" utilized similar symbols to explore tradition and heritage.
Lottery" was written shortly after World War II, however it is unknown as to when
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