Humanity And Inhumanity In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

Winning isn’t always what it seems. Hearing the word â€Å"lottery† usually develops a positive connotation in the mind of the reader, associating it with pleasure, good fortune and happiness; however, in â€Å"The Lottery,† the winner is rewarded by being brutally stoned by her neighbors and believed friends. â€Å"The Lottery,† written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, highlights how complacently our society reacts to the pointless brutality and inhumanity towards others. To demonstrate this, Jackson examines social constructs, women’s place and how instead focusing too strongly on strict traditions, we need to reexamine these rituals to determine their necessity and if they are still beneficial to society. Jackson uses seemingly ordinary details about†¦show more content†¦Tess’s tone in her last words before being stoned is desperate and hysterical, because she knows that her protests will not result in anything but death. The black box used in the lottery each year isn’t something that the reader would usually associate with a happy lottery. The box is described as, â€Å"shabby†¦splintered†¦faded and stained,† yet no one in the community wants to replace it because, â€Å"no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.† The color black symbolizes the savage and evil nature of the lottery as well as the townspeople’s participation in it and the shabbiness of the box indicates how outdated the tradition truly is. Like the lottery, the box is well worn with its real purpose lost, and the townspeople are extremely reluctant in letting it go, even getting defensive when the idea of it is brought up. After the stoning of the â€Å"winner† occurs, the townspeople go on with their lives as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. The lottery takes less than two hours so that the townspeople could, â€Å"†¦get home for noon dinner,† immediately following the execution. The normalcy of the lottery to the townspeople is horrifying and all throughout the story everyone seems ok with this evil tradition, children are shown laughing and their parents, gossiping and talking about work. When Tess Hutchinson chooses the paper slip with a black dot making her the â€Å"winner†, Bill Hutchinson, her husband, asShow MoreRelatedThe Horror of The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson1375 Words   |  6 Pagestook part in the traditional lottery drawing and one villager was picked for the prize – a stoning. In 1948, Shirley Jackson published this short story known as â€Å"The Lottery,† in The New York Times. The story’s plot shocked readers all over America as they learned of the horror happening in such a quaint town. Jackson purposely set this tragic event in this innocent setting to emphasize humanity’s cruelty. Using her appalling short story, The Lottery, Shirley Jackson alarm s readers with the ironicRead MoreThe Theme Of The Lottery By Shirley Jackson1159 Words   |  5 PagesWhen â€Å"The Lottery† begins, nothing seems unusual about this community, no hint of what is to come, or how heinous an act is about to occur. As they ready themselves for what seems to be a cheerful event, preparing as if to win something valuable, rather than to lose this lottery, eagerness and enthusiasm fill the air. The tradition, this community has been following, is overly duteous, more sheep like, illustrating the extent to which people will go to fit in, to be part of a crowd, to feel acceptedRead MoreUse of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson1146 Words   |  5 Pagesbulb represents ideas that just sparked into a character’s head. In the short story, â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson, a village has just entered the month of June, meaning that the lottery is to begin. When everyone was present, the heads of the households’ names were called one by one to pick up a slip of paper. It was then discovered that the Hutchinson family was the chosen family to participate in the lottery again. When Mr. Hutchinson, Mrs. Hutchinson, Bill Jr., Nancy, and Little Dave each gotRead MoreAnalysis Of Shirley Jackson s The Lottery, And Kurt Vonnegut Jr. s Harrison Bergeron1604 Words   |  7 PagesA common theme of placing societal influences over personal values and beliefs can be found in Shirley Jackson’s, â€Å"The Lottery†, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s â€Å"Harrison Bergeron†. These short stories describe situations in which the citizens allow the superiors to have full control, without thinking twice about the laws and traditions that require their submission. Both of these short stories are similar in theme, because each tells about a community that chooses to participate in cruel and inhumane traditionsRead MoreThe Lottery By Shirley Jackson Analysis1085 Words   |  5 PagesPublishing â€Å"The Lottery† in 1948, at the termination of World War II, Shirley Jackson uses prevalent cultural and historic cues throughout this story to insinuate a threatened, late 1940’s American society. References to the Holocaust were made by appeasing to this violent and sadistic tradition of stoning, in like manner the propelling of the stones reference the propelling of The Atomic Bomb. Consequently, the people of this village were forced to conform with the inability to observe humanity. Jackson’sRead MoreCritical Criticism Of The Lottery1448 Words   |  6 PagesSherley’s Jackson short story, â€Å"The Lottery† tells the story of villagers that hold a terrible lottery tradition every year. Even though the story begins with the audien ces with a bad close to the community by competing in a crisis tradition on a very important day, and at the end with a death of the â€Å"winner† by stoning the person that leads to s discussions between the people, and continued to be revise in modern days (Jackson). The â€Å"theory that based on the critical perspective of the story onRead MoreThe Road Through The Wall By Shirley Jackson1897 Words   |  8 Pages Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco, California on December 14th 1916. From an early age she was at odds with her parents expectations. Within these expectations her mother had an obsession with appearance that put her further away from her. Jackson began writing in 1930 as a teenager and grew up in a suburban atmosphere; this later became the subject of her first novel â€Å"The Road through the Wall† in 1948. From California she moved cross country to Rochester, New York in 1934. Her universityRead MoreTradition or Cruelty in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery Essay2237 Words   |  9 PagesTradition or Cruelty in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery Shirley Jacksons The Lottery satirizes barbaric traditions in a supposedly civilized village. As the story begins, the villagers appear to be fairly civilized and carry on fairly modern lifestyles. This is assumed by the mens discussion of planting, rain, tractors, and taxes. The lottery was outdated to such a degree that some may think that the tradition is primal competition of anthropoid beasts. On the other hand, some think that carryingRead MoreAnalysis of Shirley Jacksons The Lottery Essays4601 Words   |  19 Pages Shirley Jackson’s famous short story, â€Å"The Lottery,† was published in 1948 and remains to this day one of the most enduring and affecting American works in the literary canon. â€Å"The Lottery† tells the story of a farming community that holds a ritualistic lottery among its citizens each year. Although the text initially presents audiences with a close-knit community participating in a social event together on a special day, the shocking twist at the work’s end—with the death of the lottery’s â€Å"winner†