The lottery is a reaper of some sort that every year, claims the life of an innocent soul. Jackson confuses the reader with her lively tone, but reels them back in with the small, but meaningful gestures and comments from the town’s people. The villagers accept this form of death because it is the only thing that they know. The tradition of the lottery has been drilled down for so long that Old Man Warner, the oldest of the town, doesn’t know any better. Another form of symbolism is the black box that sits upon the three-legged stool.
Citera Propst Jon-Paul Wimer Introduction to Fiction November 2, 2011 The Lottery The Lottery, written in 1948 by Shirley Jackson, is a short story about a small village that holds an annual drawing of the lottery. To most the lottery is perceived as positive if won. In Jackson’s story the winner of the lottery is stoned to death as a sacrifice a good season of crops. The winner of the lottery is more than likely the rest of the village, and the loser being the one who was sacrificed. The Lottery can have multiple themes, but an interesting theme to focus and analyze would be tradition.
Symbolism in “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a short story filled with an immense amount of symbolism used in a way that conveys to readers the evil nature of society and traditions. Every year the community gathers to select a winner for the year’s lottery and this year it is Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson who is the lucky winner to be stoned to death. The story begins in a setting so real it could have taken place any where right here in America but it does not give an exact location. This signifies that these evils of humanity and tradition that take place in the story can take place any where we live. The time period the event occurs in is not stated either, signifying that such cruel acts can take place at any time.
In “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, people robotically follow a tradition simply because it has always been done. This reflects a blind conformity. Every June the lottery takes place; the prize for winning is death. The villagers believe sacrificing one of their own will ensure a good harvest. We get our sense of possible rebellion when Mr. Adams says: “over in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery.” Mrs. Adams adds that some villages have already given it up.
This particular lottery actually has intentions of hurting people and taking their lives. Shirley Jackson plays with the audience’s mind creating various moods throughout the story. In the beginning paragraph, Shirley Jackson starts the story off with a bright and festive mood. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the bank, around ten o’clock;” Thereis a feeling that the mood will continue to either get better or stay the same.
The Lottery really starts to uncover itself when everyone has already chosen a slip and they realize that the Hutchinson family has the black slip. Tessie Hutchinson became hysterical, screaming “ you didn’t give him enough time to take any paper he wanted I saw you. It wasn’t fair.” Of course Tessie is upset because her family chose the black slip. Jackson begins to show us how all of a sudden someone can begin to become rebellious. We wonder if Tessie would have spoken up if it was another family was chosen.
Family Ties in the Lottery The Lottery by Shirley Jackson begins with a gathering of all of the people living in a small town. We are deceived into believing that this quaint town meeting is just another ordinary, commonplace meeting of all of the townspeople. There seems to be a spirit of goodwill and camaraderie amongst the people. There are many details that lead us to believe that in this town, families are very close. The children are gathered together playing, the men gather to talk, and the women gossip together.
'The Lottery' is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. The story is set in a small American town with 300 inhabitants where the people are close and tradition is important. In the beginning of the story the children of the town are gathering stones and putting them in piles. As Mr. Summers conducts all civic activities it is almost time for him to begin the lottery. The lottery is an annual event that has been around for over seventy-seven years and it is practiced by every member of the town but has one single winner.
Despite the best available care, Anna’s older son – Jamie – sickens and dies. Anna greives. As other lives are claimed by the plague, the villagers seek for a scapegoat and find one in Mern Gowdie, now believed to be a witch. Anna, who is tending her sheep on the moors, tries to prevent an angry mob from testing whether Mern is a witch by ‘swimming’ her. She is cast roughly aside, hits her head and passes out.
Jake gylinhall Assignment #2 Wednesday Class The Lottery builds itself around suspense of an old tradition of stoning one person within the village every year. This story is more importantly about the importance and strength that tradition can have on many groups of people, and even a large town. Tradition involves handing down beliefs, practice, or ritual from generation to generation. However, there is an obvious problem with tradition, if we weren’t present at the time the tradition was made, who was to judge if this tradition, in its beliefs and practice, were ethical or just? The power that helps overcome this problem is by argumentum ad Populum.