Essay on The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” a town is set on the 27th of June. As the entire town is gathered, even the children, a representative from every household, usually the oldest male, goes up to a black, wooden box and selects a piece of paper at random. Once every household has a slip of paper, the entire village opens their respective slips as a group. Only paper one has a mark on it which signifies that they’ve been chosen. Each member from the chosen family draws another paper slip. The person with the dot on their paper is stoned to death by the entire village. Jackson uses foreshadowing and misdirection to direct the reader’s attention to the detail of the black box which conveys the theme of the power of the mob mentality by giving

The lottery official says cheerfully, “Thought we were going to have to get on without you, Tessie” which leads the reader to believe that Tessie will be safe from the lottery. However, they cannot “get on” without Tessie because it is her name that gets drawn. Jackson also uses foreshadowing to build suspense throughout the story. Early on, the reader learns that the children are stuffing their pockets “full of stones” and that they are “selecting the smoothest and roundest stones.” This foreshadows what is to come later, which is the boys using the stones to throw at the lottery winner and kill them.

In “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, a seemingly average town meeting turns sinister. In the beginning, the townspeople are gathering in the square of their village on a beautiful, clear and sunny day, which later can be seen as ironic. The characters carry out normal small talk and discussion as they wait for the traditional lottery to begin. At this point, most readers have no clue that an atrocious event will soon be taking place. As the story moves forward, a strong sense of traditionalism ripples throughout the pages and in the characters. The lucky winner of the town’s annual lottery, to the reader’s shock and horror, receives stones being pelted at them until their untimely death. Jackson uses symbols such as the setting and the black box to display the general theme of the short story and force the reader to question traditions.

“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a disturbing social practice in a village. Besides, there were about three hundred citizens in the small village where the setting took place. The introduction of “the lottery” is about an event that takes place every year on 27th in the month of June, where the community members of this tradition organize a lottery. Everyone in the village including small children to adults is expected to participate. Besides, when this story was introduced at the very first in 1948 by Shirley Jackson, many people were upset. This is because this story was so strange to undertake in modern enlightened times.

The Lottery happens in June every year in a small village of about 300 people. It's a tradition held annually for well over 80 years and Mr. Summers who oversees several civic activities in the community like square dances, teenage club, and the Halloween program as well as the Lottery. The Lottery normally starts around ten o'clock in the morning and is finished around noon, the townspeople gather at the center of the town. A small old black wooden box is used to shuffle and pass out slips of paper out to the townsfolk, the various head of house-holds line up to be dealt a small hand of fate. A lot of the original stuff that came with the small black wooden box has been long since

As Natalie Babbitt said, “ Don't live in fear… Only the unlived life. You don't have to live forever; You just have to live” ( Tuck Everlasting).Shirley Jackson wrote a somewhat controversial story “ The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson. This story is about a town's yearly Lottery that only one lucky person gets to win. The Author uses dialogue and setting to convey the mood, which is Don’t live in fear.

The Lottery is a story written by Shirley Jackson. This story is about an event that happens every year which Mr.Summers conducts. Each man of the house must draw from a black box that holds paper and the person that draws a black circle means that one person in their family will get the prize. Every person in that family draws and the one that gets the black circle will receive the lottery of getting pelted with stones to death. The people in this town believe that this lottery is good for them and it helps out their farming life.

“The Lottery” written by American Author Shirley Jackson, is a short story about luck that was published in 1948. “It isn't fair, it isn't right,...”(Jackson 6). Teachers of Henrico County should keep this text in the curriculum because it has a diverse set of characters, a “deep meaning” theme, and an interesting plot. First of all, the teachers of Henrico County Public Schools should keep “The Lottery” in the curriculum because it has a diverse set of characters. In the text, there are characters aging from children to elders.

The Author, Shirley Jackson describes a fictional story, "The Lottery", about a little town and their traditions. The village looks like a normal and beautiful town, where the people are hard workers and friendly person. The town is a middle class town, where kids usually attend school, women are stay in home wives, and men's usually work on farms. Although the town looks like an ordinary village, is not the same on June 27th.

Shirley Jackson, born on December 14, 1916, devotes much of her life to the writing of short stories and novels. Some of these include The Sundial, The Haunting of Hill House, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Jackson's stories, inspiring and influential to most, are also controversial to some. Her most controversial story, published in 1948 in The New Yorker, is "The Lottery." The purpose for the writing of the story varies depending upon the reader, but some might say that it "expresses Shirley Jackson's abysmal opinion of her fellow creatures" (Coulthard 228). Whatever the purpose may be, "The Lottery" remains one of the most famous stories to date. Despite the controversy, readers also notice the symbols and underlying

Furthermore, when Tessie holds her hands out and says “It isn’t fair” (34) and then a stone hits her on the head, the reader acknowledges that Tessie’s death is the result of blindly practicing harmful tradition, as nobody was listening to her despite the fact that she just showed them, the villagers, that it is easy to change the result of the lottery. In addition, traditions can limit the growth or negatively affect the younger generation. With the information given by Shirley Jackson, “the children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles” (34), there is no doubt that the core of this tradition is to become unsympathetic in order to gain goods which are harvested; to keep the tradition alive, the villagers encourage the kid to become like them, to love wealth more than anything. Also, when Mr. Summers asks Bill Hutchinson how many children he has, Bill says “‘There is Bill, Jr., and Nancy, and little Dave. And Tessie and me.’”

In today’s society we perceive the lottery as being a great fortune brought down upon you by Lady Luck. It is a serendipitous event, even if the person has done nothing to earn it. One would never see the lottery as an unfortunate occasion that occurred in your life because it is supposed to bring prosperity into your life. Also, one would not dare to think that winning the lottery would bring such repercussions as injury or death. In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the author could have used Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson as the town’s scapegoat due to their reluctance to change traditions, her horrible work ethic, and minority status as a woman.

Tradition, something that justifies not thinking critically and mindlessly following something from the past without caring if it goes against basic human rights; this for the sake of being on good terms with your ancestors. Also known as the action of customs being passed down to generations that make up a group of people and their culture, such as religion and beliefs. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a story where it tells how a small unnamed village in the United States reunites every year to choose a person to be able to continue a ritual that their ancestors had. Ritual in which, after choosing the person through a type of lottery, this one is stoned to death by every member of the village. Shirley Jackson portrays in “The Lottery” the reason for people adhering to

The story started when people are gathered every end of June for the annual lottery ritual in a small village. All the head of each family are required to grab a slip a slip of paper in the box that is placed in the middle of the village. The in charge of the lottery was Mr. Summer. The conflict occurs when Tessie found out that her husband Bill was the center of the Villager’s attention. There is something on the paper that he picked. Because of that Tessie can’t even accept it and she keep on yelling that it is not fair. She believed that the time given to Bill was not enough to pick the paper that he wanted from Mr. Summer. The entire Hutchinson family, are

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the small village, at first, seems to be lovely, full of tradition, with the townspeople fulfilling their civic duties, but instead this story is bursting with contrast. The expectations that the reader has are increasingly altered. The title of this short story raises hope, for in our society the term “lottery” typically is associated with winning money or other perceived “good” things. Most people associate winning a lottery with luck, yet Jackson twists this notion around and the luck in this village is with each of the losers.