Critical Analysis for The Lottery - 1205 Words

Critical Analysis for â€Å"The Lottery† Shirley Jacksons short story, The Lottery, aroused much controversy and criticism in 1948, following its debut publication, in the New Yorker. Jackson uses irony and comedy to suggest an underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind. The story takes place in a small village, where the people are close and tradition is paramount. A yearly event, called the lottery, is one in which one person in the town is randomly chosen, by a drawing, to be violently stoned by friends and family. The drawing has been around over seventy-seven years and is practiced by every member of the town. The surrealness of this idea is most evident through Jacksons tone. Her use of friendly language among the†¦show more content†¦Yet everyone still goes along with it. Not a single person openly expresses fear or disgust toward the lottery, but instead feigns enthusiasm. Jackson may be suggesting that many individuals are not strong enough to confront their disapproval, for fear of being rejected by society. Instead they continue to sacrifice their happiness, for the sake of others. The failure of Mr. Summers to replace the black box used for the drawing symbolizes the villagers failure to stand up for their beliefs. Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset tradition as was represented by the black box. The box after so many years is Faded and stained (121) just as the villagers view of reality has become tainted and pitiful. An intense fear of change among the people is obvious. Jackson uses the protagonist, Mrs. Hutchinson, to show an individual consumed by hypocrisy and weakness. Though it is hinted that she attempted to rebel and not show up to the event, Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late, with a nervous excuse of forgetting what day it was. It is ironic that she, who almost stood up for her beliefs, is the one who wins the lottery, and is fated to be stoned. What is perhaps the most disturbing about Mrs. Hutchinson, however, is her sudden unleashing of her true self. Before the drawing she is friendly with the other women, pretending to be pleased to be present. The very moment that she sees is her family that drawsShow MoreRelatedCritical Analysis of The Lottery695 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"The Lottery,† written by Shirley Jackson takes place on the twenty-seventh of June in a small town in the United States. The beginning of the story starts off talking about the local children gathering around and the town square where the lottery is held. At the square, the little boys begin to gather stones from small to large ones and pile them up. The next people to show up at the village square are the husbands as they are discussing daily life amongst each other, then finally, the wives beginRead MoreCritical Analysis of The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson Essays2273 Words   |  10 Pages In the short story The Lottery, author Shirley Jackson creates a very shocking and horrifying situation through the use of characterization, setting, and the theme of the individual versus society, which is portrayed in the story as scapegoating. She writes as if the events taking place are common to any town (Mazzeno 2). The story was very unpopular when first published, mostly because of the fact that people did not understand it. 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By adding symbolism to the short storiesRead MoreEssay on The Lottery by Shirley Jackson: an Analysis1522 Words   |  7 PagesKouyialis EN102: Composition II Professor Eklund The Lottery by Shirley Jackson: An Analysis The short story â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson was written in 1948 and takes place in a small town, on the 27th of June. In this story, the lottery occurs every year, around the summer solstice. All families gather together to draw slips of paper from a black box. When reading this story, it is unclear the full premise of the lottery until near the end. The heads of households are the firstRead More Essay on Shirley Jacksons The Lottery - Message of Social Responsibility912 Words   |  4 PagesThe Message of Social Responsibility in The Lottery      Ã‚  Ã‚   Often, we paint a fairytale view of life for ourselves and our children. Sometimes, an author paints a frightfully realistic picture of life and forces us to reconsider the fairytale. In Shirley Jackson’s story, The Lottery, a town each year conducts a lottery in which the winner or looser, in this case, is stoned to death by his or her own neighbors. The tradition is supposed to uphold social structure within the town, but in orderRead MoreThe Unexpected Surprise of Violence1009 Words   |  5 Pagescommunities at ease. Shirley Jackson develops her theme of unexpected violence in her short story â€Å"The Lottery† through the use of irony, symbolism, and denouement. On a summer day in a small town in the short story, â€Å"The Lottery†, Jackson takes advantage of the peaceful environment and adds a convoluted twist through a misleading title and Old Man Warner and his traditions. 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The purpose of this essay is to persuade and support the following thesis: â€Å"Still, when all is said and done about lotteries bringing a vast amount of money into the lives of many people into the lives of a few, the states should not be in the business of urging people to gamble (Jimà ©nez 116).† The evidenceRead MoreHappiness666 Words   |  3 PagesPositive  emotions  and  work  success Meta  analysis  by  Boehm  Ã‚  Lubormyrsky (2008) Positive  emotions  at  work  are  statistically   associated  with:   †¢ Earning  more  money †¢ Displaying  higher  performance †¢ Displaying  more  OCB †¢ Experiencing  more  job  satisfaction †¢ Reporting  more  meaning  in  their  work †¢ Receiving  more  help  from  co  workers 4 30/04/2013 Are  we  putting  too  much  importance   on  happiness? Who  is  happy? †¢ Winning  the  cortical  lottery  is  generally  more   important  than  winning  the  actual  lottery   when  it  comes  to  positive  emotionsRead MoreInstitutionalized Ritual in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson1625 Words   |  6 PagesShirley Jackson’s The Lottery, is a terrifying, tension filled masterpiece of an ancient human practice set present day America, 1948. Jackson’s dark, short story is about a rural farming village on the east coast, who, like other villages around them, conduct a yearly â€Å"lottery.† It begins in the town square in the month of June, where the schoolchildren are gathering stones while awaiting the arrival of their respective families. When the lottery is formally started, roll call is initiated followed