There are a myriad of different possibilities for the theme of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson‚ but to me the story represents the concept of blame. As humans‚ we sometimes feel a need to target someone as the root of our problems‚ even if we know that they were in no way involved. This makes us feel better because we are able to take out our anger or stress on someone else. In some cases this person may be picked at random‚ such as Tessie was in the story. This can at times be unfair to the target
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The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story that without the symbolism of its characters‚ would amount to little more than an odd tale about a stoning. However‚ because of what each character represents and the way the setting helps to magnify those representations‚ it becomes a short story that is anything but short of meaning. The first character is probably the most obviously symbolic character of the story. Every word that leaves Old Man Warner’s Mouth reeks of tradition. He never stops
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civilization. It helps to pass the beliefs‚ philosophies‚ and customs of societies from generation to generation. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson describes about a tradition of an annual lottery draw‚ participated by the people of a village to insure a bountiful harvest. Usually in lotteries‚ the winners get something special that makes them happy. But in this story‚ the tradition of the lottery is that whoever is the winner is stoned to death to get a good crop on coming harvest time. Though tradition is
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“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story that presents an annual mandatory lottery where each “head” of the family comes up to draw a paper. The family with the head who picks the paper redraws as a whole‚ and the “lucky winner” gets stoned to death. Villagers in the town originally performed the lottery from the belief that a sacrifice brought better crops to the village. Now‚ however‚ the villagers‚ who have forgotten the purpose‚ continue just because it is a tradition. In the beginning
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Amy Griffin’s Article - “Shirley Jackson’s THE LOTTERY” Critiqued Does a community exist for the sustenance of its custom and tradition or is it the other way around? The community in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” has lost proper perspective of the essence of their “lottery” traditional practice. They became captives of their own community’s tradition such that under its compulsion they engage in very self-destructive acts. They lay themselves and all they have family and all‚ on the line as
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Factors For and Against Marijuana should be legalized in the United States. Reasons for legalization (ranked from strongest to weakest) 1. Medical benefits for terminal illnesses such as cancer. 2. Police and court resources would be freed to pursue more serious crimes. 3. The FDA could regulate the quality and safety of the drug. 4. This drug has fewer side effects that most currently legal narcotics. 5. Legalization would lower prices‚ thereby reducing crimes such as theft. 6
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just concluded. Husbands came and talked about taxes and wives gossiped about the town. In some towns‚ the Lottery could take two days‚ but in this town‚ there were no more than 100 residents and the Lottery only took two hours. If the Lottery began at 10 a.m.‚ families could be home for their noonday meals. Each year‚ the concept of creating a new box from which to draw the Lottery tickets from is brought up‚ but nothing ever comes of it. The current box is said to have been made with splinters
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The Lottery opens with the details of the day of the lottery as s Sunny‚ warm‚ summers day. Summer thrives on having days described in the opening sentence and sunny day signifies how normal the lottery is in their society. Despite the fact someone is going to be killed and stoned to death that day. Children gathering stones and also participating in the stoning show that everyone can cast judgement on people. The old black box could represent conservative views government or religion. Mr. Summer
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Comparative Essay “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Lottery Ticket” by Anton Chekhov Most people today would define Lottery as the drawing of lots in which prizes are distributed to the winners among persons buying a chance‚ however these two stories give us a different out look on the word lottery. The stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Lottery Ticket” by Anton Chekhov are both extremely powerful stories that leave you thinking. People turn on other people for self
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Relevance between “The Lottery” and the then Society People‚ past and present‚ have potentially selfishness and madness. When someone gets in trouble unfairly‚ people could protest against unfairness or could obey the unfairness. “The Lottery‚” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948‚ shows dark sides hidden in people’s minds. This story was influenced after the World War Ⅱ‚ so people’s brutality from the war is reflected to this story. In this story‚ there is an annual lottery that the result
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