Shirley Jackson's Use Of Symbols In The Lottery
FRANKLIN FOTOH
ENGL 102
7/30/13
"The Lottery" by Jackson, is a short story which talks about a tradition which comes up once a year in a little village of about 300 natives. In the lottery process, one person is selected randomly and heinously stoned to death. Tessie Hutchinson is the victim of this social disturbing practice and she protest against the culture before she is been sentenced by Mr. Summers the lottery coordinator. In the story, the readers first get a gloomy picture of a summer day but, Jackson uses this setting to suggest an ironic ending of a senseless murder.
Firstly, Jackson portrays a setting in which she tells the reader what time of day and what time of year the event takes place. This is important to get the reader to focus on what a typical day it is in this small town. The …show more content…
The town is first mentioned in the opening paragraph where she sets the location in the town square (7). The author puts in angle the location where the town square is located "between the post office and the bank" (133). This visualizes for the reader what a small town this is, since everything seems to be centralized at or near the town square. This is also important in that the town square is the scene for the remaining part of the story. Moreover, Shirley Jackson creates a comfortable atmosphere while describing the residents of the town. First, she describes the children gathering together and breaking into "boisterous play"(133). Also, the children are described as gathering rocks, which is an action of many normal children. She described the men as gathering together and talking about "planting and rain, tractors and taxes"(133). Finally, she describes the women of this community as "exchanging bits of gossip"(133) “which is a common stereotype of women”. (Schaub
ENGL 102
7/30/13
"The Lottery" by Jackson, is a short story which talks about a tradition which comes up once a year in a little village of about 300 natives. In the lottery process, one person is selected randomly and heinously stoned to death. Tessie Hutchinson is the victim of this social disturbing practice and she protest against the culture before she is been sentenced by Mr. Summers the lottery coordinator. In the story, the readers first get a gloomy picture of a summer day but, Jackson uses this setting to suggest an ironic ending of a senseless murder.
Firstly, Jackson portrays a setting in which she tells the reader what time of day and what time of year the event takes place. This is important to get the reader to focus on what a typical day it is in this small town. The …show more content…
The town is first mentioned in the opening paragraph where she sets the location in the town square (7). The author puts in angle the location where the town square is located "between the post office and the bank" (133). This visualizes for the reader what a small town this is, since everything seems to be centralized at or near the town square. This is also important in that the town square is the scene for the remaining part of the story. Moreover, Shirley Jackson creates a comfortable atmosphere while describing the residents of the town. First, she describes the children gathering together and breaking into "boisterous play"(133). Also, the children are described as gathering rocks, which is an action of many normal children. She described the men as gathering together and talking about "planting and rain, tractors and taxes"(133). Finally, she describes the women of this community as "exchanging bits of gossip"(133) “which is a common stereotype of women”. (Schaub