5. Determine the mass of the penny on the balance, and record the mass in the table on the bottom of the page. Removed the penny from the balance using tweezers and place it in its beaker.…
* Withheld information “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a story that withholds information. The withheld piece of information is what the lottery actually is. The lottery is an annual tradition where the people pick a piece of paper out of a box and the one who picks the piece of paper with a black dot is stoned to death. The author, however, does not reveal what happens after the papers are picked until the end of the story. The withholding of information makes the reader wonder what the lottery is and this creates suspense.…
In “The Lottery”, people who draw the slip of paper with a black spot on it will be stoned to death by reason that the villagers maintain a belief that killing someone is of great benefit to the whole village. This kind of human sacrifice is a collective act of murder because people force another person to sacrifice his life innocently for their own interests. As described in the novel, “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now and she held her hands out desperately”, from which we can see that selfish villagers are murdering Tessie Hutchinson actively. So the lottery is a collective act of murder.…
According to the story, the town’s people have no complete understanding of the origin of lottery. They were not aware how the lottery was run compared to recent lotteries. This proves that the villager’s blind faith in the lottery portrays the dangers of fervor; not challenging to change or remove unethical traditions. During the story, some of the town’s people talk about how other towns are abolishing the lottery process. However, still no one challenges the lottery process because it may result in an individual being exiled from the town. It is stated clearly in the text that, “every year, after the lottery Mr. Summers began talking about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade without anything being done”. A black box older than Old…
“The Lottery” begins with a community portraying an uneasiness in each person’s actions because a certain event takes place the same day, every year, casting a shadow on everyone’s lives on that day. Every person will select a slip of paper from a box and the person with the slip that has a black dot on it will be stoned to death, quickly, with stones that people have already stacked in a pile. The pile is an accumulation…
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.…
Throughout the course of human history we have dealt with the inevitable changing of the guard that occurs every few generations. The Lottery is an emotional look into the lives of the residents of a small town as they deal with the moral implications of holding on to a tradition that is so old that the intricacies of the ritual are all but lost to the people currently living in the town, or choosing to give up the archaic and barbaric traditions that where started with the founding of the town, and pursuing more progressive and civilized behavior.…
In addition, the only man in the story who seems to recognize this tradition is Old Man Warner. When Mrs. Adams mentions that other towns have quit doing the lottery, he adds “nothing but trouble in that,” and calls the, “young fools.” He has survived the lottery for 77 years, and seems to know that you don’t mess with a ritual. A lottery is completely by chance, and there is no way it is fair or unfair. When Tessie fights the ritual and ends up being stoned to death, it shows that you must remain faithful to your tradition, which seems to be the entire moral of the…
As society changes, some traditions evolve, but some remain stagnant. Tradition is a substantial part of our life today, but decades ago it was a lifestyle. Anyone with an objection to a tradition was met with dire consequences. In “The Lottery,” the fortunate or in this case the unfortunate winner would be stoned to death. “The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock” (Jackson 1). This quote shows that the lottery runs on tried-and-true process, and the whole town passionately followed the ritual. The participants were of the view that the sacrifice would bring in bountiful corn during harvest time. In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson proficiently uses distinctive setting…
This story gives the lottery a bad reputation. The first thing that comes to mind is winning a sum of money or goods. In the beginning, the story suggests that the people are going to draw for a prize. Instead they are drawing to see who will be stoned to death. This is part of the irony in the story along with the day is described as being a sunny summer day, flowers blossoming and the grass richly green. This suggests that a happy event is getting ready to take place. The people of the town are reluctant to give up the lottery. As everyone starts to gather in the town square there is talk how other towns have…
(1) When one blindly follows tradition, they become unmindful. In “The Lottery,” the citizens have practiced the ceremony for as long as anyone can remember. They see that sacrificing by stoning is the only way to handle their situation of a small food supply. However, it is obvious that there are more humane ways to handle the situation. This could have been the only way many years ago, but now people only continue it because they blindly follow the tradition.…
Sacrifice can be recognized at all levels, for instance, in 1960 during the Vietnam War over 58,220 Americans sacrificed their lives to stand for the people, and land that they love; however, these men and women sacrificed at a large range: their lives, leftover bread, or even a family member (Nation Archives). Sacrifice has so many different rankings that it truly is mind blowing. In comparison in the passage “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson, each year someone is sacrificed to save their beloved land, and in some cases a family member will volunteer in place of a loved one. Although readers may contemplate the lottery as a cruel and brutal sacrifice (which it is), readers need to remember that the lottery is all…
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.…
Overall, The Lottery seems to truly become a burden on the lives of people. By drawing away from their personal liberties and causing a sense of fear and anxiety amongst many, it is demonstrated that tradition can trump morals and personal…
The lottery is an example of the utilitarian monster because, in a lottery game, there are many losers, but only one winner. The happiness of the winner of a lottery ticket is very high, and when compared to the unhappiness of the losers, there is still, in theory, a net happiness gain. So in essence, the happiness of many (the losers) is sacrificed for the disproportionate happiness of one individual (the winner).…