Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The diffusion of responsibility led to a mass bystander apathy in which, “...[the villagers] discarded their own sense of responsibility, deceiving themselves into believing that other[s]...who allowed the misconduct knew better than they did about what was right” (Gandossy). They believed in their hearts that their tradition would lead to the prosperity of their lovelihoods and for that of their families. They would be “benefiting from the current way of doing things” (Gandossy).Also no authoritative figure like Mr. Summers or Mr. Graves spoke out against the lottery. As Robert Gandossy and Jeffrey Sonnenfeld state in their journal, ‘I see nothing, I hear nothing: Culture, Corruption, and Apathy,’ “It demonstrated the willingness of the adults to go to almost any extreme if they believed they were being directed or encouraged by a legitimate authority.” Unfortunately the villagers do not realize that they would be better off without the lottery. They follow a tradition whose parts have been long forgotten, and still carry out the most violent end result in the most barbaric way, death by stones. The people are very self-centered seeing as how they are so quick to turn on friends and family. Like Jay Moore states in ‘Behaviorism’, “A culture thrives when it teaches its members to be concerned about the welfare and ultimate survival of the

    "The Lottery," a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale about a disturbing social practice.  The setting takes place in a small village consisting of about three hundred denizens.  On June twenty-seventh of every year, the members of this traditional community hold a village-wide lottery in which everyone is expected to participate.  Throughout the story, the reader gets an odd feeling regarding the residents and their annual practice.  Not until the end does he or she gets to know what the lottery is about.  Thus, from the beginning of the story until almost the end, there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the Jackson's effective

Tradition is a large part of life today, but decades ago it was almost a way of life and if it was not followed there were stiff consequences. The story is misleading by the title because of the normal thought of a lottery is something positive or a giveaway. The story is quite the opposite of the common thought. The main point that Jackson shows in “The Lottery” is that people can be involved with such a violent act and think nothing of it. In the story all the people are happy, “they stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.”(Jackson 124). The tradition the village seams at first to be a happy scene, but later learn that it is a terrible event that is a

Imagine this; it is 9am, the sun is out and even though the children are playing , but before the day is done, someone will find themselves the winner of the lottery. However, it is not the lottery that most are familiar with. In 1988 author Judy Oppenheimer conducted an interview with author Shirley Jackson, the author of '' The Lottery'' . In this interview Shirley explained why she wrote the short story in the following excerpt ; " I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives " (Oppenheimer 1988 ). In order to identify the key elements of the

“The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson. This narrative uses different literary devices to help the reader understand the importance of the story. The author uses her story to describe the dangers of blindly following tradition. In this story, Jackson uses foreshadowing, irony and imagery to show how peer pressure can make someone feel no guilt through the negative tradition that occurs.

A lottery is a process that is entirely controlled by chance, whether there is loss or success is dependent on luck. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a small town that holds an annual lottery. The lottery itself is an age long tradition that started so long ago the ritual had been mostly forgotten. The villages around them have shut down the lottery, because of how old and forgotten the lottery is. This shows how people will blindly follow tradition no matter the age of it.(Jackson, “Read The Lottery...”).

“The Lottery” is a short story in which the small townspeople gather each year, on June 27th at 10:00 in the morning to perform a practice that has occurred for many years. The people who gather in the square almost seem to have a cheerful disposition while they go through the motions of

The readers of the story “The Lottery” think the ending of the story is going to be something other than what it actually is because of the misconception they have about “lottery” and lack of information that the author gives to the readers. When people think about a lottery, they think of something exciting such as going to Las Vegas, but that is not always the case. In other words, the lottery can mean something totally different to a certain group of people; the readers’ attention is solely focused on the word “lottery.” In addition, the story does not talk about any specific features about the lottery. For example, the author states, … in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than

"It isn't fair, it isn't right, Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her" (Jackson). Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” is brimming with illustrations of how thoughtless repetition dilutes foundations that were once rock solid. The traditions of the village in the story lead to the stoning to death of one of the residents on a yearly basis. The people were not so clear as to how, when, or why this took place every year; however, this did not stop them from continuing with an encore. The limited view they had on life and of growth was the road block that prevented any major change. Traditions can overcome society's better judgement.

Andrew Lansley once said “Peer pressure and social norms are powerful influences on behavior, and they are classic excuses.” Most people tend to follow cultural customs because they have grown with them or it has been forced onto them with factors such as parents or their environment. However, is it always right to follow these customs even if they are in fact considered wrong? Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a short story about the cultural norms of a small community and its annual lottery ritual; a stoning. Jackson overthrows the story by making the lottery a corrupt occurrence rather than a victory. The reader would probably think that the “winner” of the lottery would be benefited but in this case the victory was not so delightful. In her short story “The Lottery” Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear so, it is inherently barbaric.

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, symbolism, both through the names and objects presented throughout the story, play a significant roll in defining how ignorance can make humanity blindly follow rituals through the illusion of maintaining one’s heritage and beliefs.

Shirley Jackson wrote a short story called "The Lottery". It was about small village and its village people of roughly around 300 people and every year they have a tradition where all the townspeople gather around a black box and have to pull a piece of paper out to see what family was to draw again. Then once the family was picked they had to put as many pieces of paper in the box as they have in their family and do it all over again. Once every family member picked out of the box, they had to open and see who go the paper with the black dot. The family member with the paper with the black dot was to be stoned.People all over the world follow traditions, but the real questions is do they know the meaning behind the tradition.

     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

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a story littered with warnings and subtext about the dangers a submissive society can pose. While the opening is deceptively cheery and light Jackson uses an array of symbols and ominous syntax to help create the apprehensive and grim tone the story ends with. Her portrayal of the town folk as blindly following tradition represents the world during World War II when people’s failure to not mindlessly accept and heed authority lead to disastrous consequences. . Shirley Jackson uses a large array of techniques to help convey the idea that recklessly following and accepting traditions and orders can lead to disastrous consequences.

Everyone in the village sound so eager to participate in the lottery without caring over the outcome. (The Lottery) “There are hints early in the story indicating that people are reluctant to participate in the lottery,…” The lottery is not a luxury prize as it sounds or expected to be. As I read more in to the short story I realized it’s a tragic event, which the villagers are so excited to celebrate. The villagers had forgotten some parts of the tradition but still kept the tradition going. (The Lottery) “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.” There was one of the family members no so happy about the lottery, and made sure she let the rest of the villagers know.