Macbeth Critical Essay
Critical Essay – The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson deals with an important human issue in her short story, the lottery. She shows how people will conform to the norm even if they think it is wrong and conforming to the norm means they will hurt and even kill their family and friends. The lottery is about a little town somewhere in America where every year the town stones one member of its community to death. The person who is stoned is selected through a ballot but all the way through the story you think that the lottery will result in something good like a prize, but the reality is much different.
The Lottery opens 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.” Jackson lulls you into thinking that this is going to be an ordinary day in an ordinary town. The first time you think something could be wrong is when “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones” but you just assume that the collection of stones were just for playing with as all the other boys also got stones.
“The lottery was conducted--as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program--by Mr. Summers. Who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, jovial man and he ran the coal business, and people were sorry for him. Because he had no children and his wife was a scold.” I find it upsetting to think that someone who can get everyone to square dance can also get everyone to kill other people. Jackson uses very clever names; Mr Graves is the complete opposite from Mr Summers because when you think of a grave you think about death whereas when thinking of summer you think about the nice, warm summer. We see Jackson’s clever naming all throughout the story. This helps us to see how she reveals the human issue.
We are starting to see some more abnormal events when “The postmaster, Mr. Graves, followed him,
Shirley Jackson deals with an important human issue in her short story, the lottery. She shows how people will conform to the norm even if they think it is wrong and conforming to the norm means they will hurt and even kill their family and friends. The lottery is about a little town somewhere in America where every year the town stones one member of its community to death. The person who is stoned is selected through a ballot but all the way through the story you think that the lottery will result in something good like a prize, but the reality is much different.
The Lottery opens 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.” Jackson lulls you into thinking that this is going to be an ordinary day in an ordinary town. The first time you think something could be wrong is when “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones” but you just assume that the collection of stones were just for playing with as all the other boys also got stones.
“The lottery was conducted--as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program--by Mr. Summers. Who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, jovial man and he ran the coal business, and people were sorry for him. Because he had no children and his wife was a scold.” I find it upsetting to think that someone who can get everyone to square dance can also get everyone to kill other people. Jackson uses very clever names; Mr Graves is the complete opposite from Mr Summers because when you think of a grave you think about death whereas when thinking of summer you think about the nice, warm summer. We see Jackson’s clever naming all throughout the story. This helps us to see how she reveals the human issue.
We are starting to see some more abnormal events when “The postmaster, Mr. Graves, followed him,