Preview

Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
88 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson
“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is a short story based out of a small town in New England whose people strongly believe in maintaining old traditions. An annual lottery has been held for the past seventy years but despite the many parts that have changed or faded away, the lottery continues. This lottery is a tradition unlike any other, because the winner is actually an unfortunate individual that is stoned to death. The people hold strongly on to this tradition simply because there has always been a lottery.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Lottery, a short story written by Shirley Jackson explains two of the most important aspects of humanity: traditions and rituals. The story takes place in a small town in New England where every year a lottery is held, most people would relate lottery to wining cash. In this lottery one person will be randomly choose to be stoned to death by the people in the village including their own family members. The lottery has been practiced for over seventy years by the townspeople and even though the villagers do not know the purpose of this tradition or the origin of it, they keep it to show respect to their ancestors ignoring the fact that is cruel and it is turning the whole village into murderers.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1.The dark ending was not a typically lottery but throughout the story methods of foreshadowing was used by the author, Shirley Jackson. Characters throughout the story fear the lottery nervously but the dark suspicions are confirmed when “Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers. "You didn't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair!"”(Jackson 5). Tessie instead of being excited for winning the lottery is extremely against winning which confirms that the lottery is nothing to be excited about. Jackson begins the story picturing the town as a the children were playing around as if nothing horrible was about to happen.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is a story about a small rural village that holds its annual lottery. Families in the village participate and the lottery starts by one representative from each family pulling a piece of paper from the black box the one who gets the paper with the black spot is stoned to death as per tradition of the lottery. This world that is created by Shirley Jackson in “The Lottery” is a dystopia.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Lottery, a well-known short story written by Shirley Jackson and was published in 1949. Shirley Jackson creates a story filled with lots and lots of foreshadows and symbolisms, these helps building up the tension within the reader mind to question the conclusion of the story. The main focal theme of The Lottery is the danger of blindly following tradition, the author used this theme as a mirror to reflect on the society. The Lottery is worth reading because the message Jackson used to portray the modern day society about its tradition, to question for its purpose and outcomes. Throughout the story the author used a variety of techniques to bring together the whole concept of the story, some of the techniques are foreshadowing, symbolism…

    • 127 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Usually, when one hears anything about a lottery, it is perceived as being a great fortune brought down upon whoever wins it, even if the person has done nothing to actually deserve it. After all, it is won only by a stroke of luck, an unforeseen and unexpected circumstance. But even so, it is supposed to bring wealth and luxury into the winner’s life. Not one person in today’s society would ever see the lottery as an unfortunate event that winning it would bring serious repercussions such as execution and death. On the contrary, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, uses irony to exemplify how people can illogically follow senseless traditions and ultimately demonstrates how society can blindly persecute innocent individuals.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through her ability to display the grim reality of a small idealized town, Shirley Jackson unmasks the evil of tradition in “The Lottery.” She repeats that mindless rituals are unacceptable practices. Jackson begins her writing with, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (715). This first sentence gives us clues that there is not an extreme amount of emotion; it hints that the style reflects the attitudes of the villagers. The townspeople picture the lottery as normal and have no more emotion towards it than they do the flowers or the warm sunny day. The children begin collecting rocks as they are playing, and the adults…

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ““It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and they were upon her.” (Jackson)Even though the community is following traditions that they happen every year. The traditions are still wrong. This book has a very dark theme, and things within the community that symbol many things. The short story is also very similar to the known movie The Hunger Games.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is set in a small New England town with a population of around 300 people. From tradition, towns all over, including this one, partake in a lottery or drawing of slips by family to pick who will b e sacrificed for success in the growing season. This novella is about the theme “fear affects the thoughts, ideas, and actions of others as well as the root of fear.” For instance, Shirley Jackson writes “There’s always been a lottery,” he said petulantly “some places have already quit lotteries,” Mrs. Adams said. “Nothing but trouble in that, “ Old Man Warner said stoutly.” (pg. 4) Old Man Warner fears the absence of the lottery when proclaiming: “Nothing but trouble in that”, he thinks that their entire town will…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author of the short story, The Lottery, is Shirley Jackson. In the lottery, the villagers of a small town gather together on the 27th of June for the annual tradition of the town lottery, which is conducted by Mr. Summers. In which, every year they select a random person to be stoned to their death, as they are the winner of the lottery. Emphasizing the theme of the dangers of blindly following traditions. This is shown through characterization, tone and dialogue.…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is a tradition really a tradition if it’s meaningless and hollow? The original purpose of the lottery was to make corn growth heavy, but over time it was forgotten, and just done for the sake of doing it. At first, The lottery was actually for religious purposes, and many events followed and preceded it. Then it turned into a hollow tradition nobody really cared about. “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, turns to a less observed topic, and gives us a very good example of what many of us do today.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Traditions are beliefs that are kept around for centuries, and are passed on from generation to generation. There are all sorts of traditions around the world. Traditions are made up by one person, and no matter how stupid the tradition is it is still followed. Traditions are supposed to be memories, and who would want to remember such a gruesome tradition. The murder of Tessie hutchinson was one that never would be forgotten.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” it is evident that conforming to society and sticking with tradition can lead to outweighing personal morals./be a burden on the lives of people. Although The Lottery was a tradition that has been occurring for years, nobody sticks up to support their morals to challenge The Lottery. Not only does The Lottery limit the rights of many, but many other expectations in their society do too.…

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the short story, The Lottery by shirley Jackson, blind tration and resistance to change are explored through the story. Presented to anyone who might find themselves in the similar situation that the main character of The Lottery, Tessie Hutchinson found herself in. The invisible pressure that is enforced by society to act a certain way, and follow certain traditions is one of the main themes of this story. More importantly though, this story also encourages individuals who feel oppressed by society in one way or another to speak up and defend what they truly believe in, even though the price of that might mean their lives. In addition, author utilizes literary elements such as irony, symbolism and allegory.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, yet still, leaves a mark on any person who gets their hands on it today. The story starts out by setting an enjoyable atmosphere at the beginning of summer. The community gathers and the story almost fulfills the reader’s idea of a perfect town activity. However, the story has a sharp twist at the end that leaves the reader in shock. Jackson wrote the story to leave an impact and whom how quickly human nature can change. Shirley Jackson shows the duality of human nature in the characters of the children, Tessie Hutchinson, and Mr. Summers.…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most stories that people read have six elements of fiction. The story the lottery by Shirley Jackson contains six elements of fiction like any other story. The six elements of fiction are Structure, Characterization, Theme, Symbol, and Setting.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays