Response To Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Final Paper The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a seemingly normal day in a small village. The town has gathered together on a beautiful summers day to socialize and to support the local businesses. Typically, when one thinks of a lottery, they think of winning something pleasant, such as money or baked goods. However, after a few pages this is clearly not the case. In the beginning of the story, all the villagers are gathering while the children collect stones joyfully. Each family’s name is called, and the head of each household comes up to get a piece of paper nervously. Once all of the families have drawn a piece of paper it is quickly seen that Bill Hutchinson’s family has the only slip of paper with a black dot. They have won the lottery. However, winning the lottery is not as pleasant as was earlier assumed. Mrs. Hutchinson begins to protest, terrified of her family’s fate, proclaiming that the lottery is not fair. Her protests
The decrescendo is representative of the beginning of the second round of the lottery, as it has somber undertones, which illustrates the feeling of the family as they pick their pieces of paper. The solemn melody played by the woodwind instruments is performed interchangeably with a contrasting, more upbeat melody of the brass instruments. The piece reaches a turning point when the brass instruments and the woodwinds are replaced by the more lively melody of the strings. This matches the turning point of the story; in particular, the instance Mrs. Hutchinson opens her paper and realizes she has the paper with the black dot. The one last somber part played by the strings and the woodwinds represents Tess’s realization of her fate. The tempo and intensity of the piece increase with the melody played by the brass instruments, mirroring the emotions surrounding the stoning of Tess by the