Abstract the Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Lateisha Davis
Professor Coleman
English 101 (2503)
25 July 2012 Abstract for “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
Although Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” is widely read, it has received little critical review in the decades since it was published. This analysis of the text illuminates Jackson’s intertwining of the story’s theme, point of view and language. One finds that each of these three an integral part depends on the other. One must examine Jackson’s linguistic techniques in order to understand how the point of view is so effective in constructing the story’s theme. Her linguistic techniques include: the use of the article “the,” the lack of adverbs and adjectives in the syntactic structures and the use of words with ambiguous semantic descriptions.
Shirley Jackson is a contemporary American writer who has drawn little critical attention; however, her short story “The Lottery” has interested some critics and puzzled many of its early readers. When the story first appeared in The New Yorker, many readers wrote the editors of the magazine asking for an explanation for the story’s meaning (Gibson 193). However, Jackson never appeased the readership with an answer. Many of the story’s critics use the scapegoat archetype as a point of departure for their criticism (Friedman; Brooks, Warren). Other critics explore various political, social or religious aspects of the story ( Allen; Bobbitt; Bagehee;
Bogart; Kosenko; Nebeker),
Throughout all of the criticism, critics have neglected to analyze Jackson’s use of language in creating the story’s point of view. Jackson is successful in creating the story’s theme through her use of point of view, and she creates the story’s point of view through a mastery of linguistic tactics.
2
One must examine Jackson’s linguistic techniques in order to understand how the point of- view is so effective in constructing the story’s theme. Jackson’s use of third person objective
point-of-view
Professor Coleman
English 101 (2503)
25 July 2012 Abstract for “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
Although Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” is widely read, it has received little critical review in the decades since it was published. This analysis of the text illuminates Jackson’s intertwining of the story’s theme, point of view and language. One finds that each of these three an integral part depends on the other. One must examine Jackson’s linguistic techniques in order to understand how the point of view is so effective in constructing the story’s theme. Her linguistic techniques include: the use of the article “the,” the lack of adverbs and adjectives in the syntactic structures and the use of words with ambiguous semantic descriptions.
Shirley Jackson is a contemporary American writer who has drawn little critical attention; however, her short story “The Lottery” has interested some critics and puzzled many of its early readers. When the story first appeared in The New Yorker, many readers wrote the editors of the magazine asking for an explanation for the story’s meaning (Gibson 193). However, Jackson never appeased the readership with an answer. Many of the story’s critics use the scapegoat archetype as a point of departure for their criticism (Friedman; Brooks, Warren). Other critics explore various political, social or religious aspects of the story ( Allen; Bobbitt; Bagehee;
Bogart; Kosenko; Nebeker),
Throughout all of the criticism, critics have neglected to analyze Jackson’s use of language in creating the story’s point of view. Jackson is successful in creating the story’s theme through her use of point of view, and she creates the story’s point of view through a mastery of linguistic tactics.
2
One must examine Jackson’s linguistic techniques in order to understand how the point of- view is so effective in constructing the story’s theme. Jackson’s use of third person objective
point-of-view
Cited: Allen, Barbara. “A Folkloristic Look at Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery.’” Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin 46 (1980): 119-24. Bagchee, Shymal. “Design of Darkness in Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery.’” Notes on Contemporary Literature 9 (1979): 8-9. Bogert, Edna. “Censorship and ‘The Lottery.’” English Journal 74 (1985): 45-47. Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, eds. Understanding Fiction. 2nd ed. New York: Appleton- Century-Crofts, 1959. Friedman, Lenemaja. Shirley Jackson. Boston: Twayne, 1975. Gibson, James. “An Old Testament Analogue for ‘The Lottery.’” Journal of Modern Literature 11 (1984): 193-195. Kosenko, Peter. “A Marxist/Feminist Reading of Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery.’” New Orleans Review 12 (1988): 27-32. Nebeker, Helen. “‘The Lottery’: Symbolic Tour de Force.” American Literature 46 (1974): 100-07.