The Lottery By Shirley Jackson
Imagine winning the lottery but instead of some kind of monetary reward, winning causes you to lose your life! Well in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” that is exactly what happens to the characters, at first everything appears like just another normal mundane village but gradually things take a much darker turn as the lottery persist until the unlucky fellow wins. After being announced victorious the victors family (including the victor himself) have a much smaller lottery and whoever wins that is stoned by the entire town! In this village the lottery was an annual tradition that the entire village was extremely opposed to ever changing, two of the villagers that stood out most to me were old man Warner and Mr.Summers.
The first villager to take note of is the oldest man in the entire village who coincidentally is called Old man Warner. He has gone through and endured seventy-six lotteries (seventy-seven by the end of the short story), and from what the story tells us old man Warner does not have any surviving family left, whether they succumbed to from the lottery or some other cause is unknown. Just like the other villagers in the story old man Warner is heavily opposed to change and even goes as far as insulting the nearby villages that have stopped the lottery by calling them crazy fools. Old …show more content…
man Warner is convinced of several other things such as the old superstition that the lottery is what brings a good harvest; “lottery in June corn be heavy soon.”
An equally important character to take notice of is Mr.
Summers who is characterized as a middle aged man who is a “round faced, jovial man.” He has no kids but is married to a scolding wife and Mr. Summers also runs the local coal business found in town. Mr. Summers in a very devout man to the village running and hosting all sorts of things such as the local square dances, teen club, and running the lottery. Unlike most in the village Mr.Summers is the only one who demonstrates a willingness to accept and bring change, going as far as to attempt at getting a new box for the lottery each year (he fails as the villagers find the box to be a sacred part of the
tradition).
Another important detail to see is Mr.Summers and old man Warner both do not change throughout the story and can be distinguished as complete opposites with Mr.Summers who is shown as younger, happier, and inclined to change. While old man Warner is old ,mean ,and not ready to accept change at all, but both are not actually completely different. One thing that is the same about both men is that they each support the lottery and encourage the villagers to hurry with the lottery at the end of the story. With Mr. Summers saying “let's finish quickly” and old man Warner saying “Come on, Come on, Everyone.”
All in all the Lottery is a story that starts fairly good with a happy tone but slowly takes a dark turn until it hits a extremely sad and controversial ending. If the story for the village was to continue I do not see the lottery being taken out of effect any time soon. The reasoning for this conclusion is the village is to heavily set on avoiding change the people are completely opposed to it and there only seems to be one man who does not mind it. Even then another reasoning is the lottery is reinforced from a young age, even the woman who was stoned at the end of the story youngest son (presumably four or five) partakes in her death; “And someone gave little Davy Hutchingson a few pebbles”. From all this evidence it is only plausible to inquire, if the lottery costed your life would you join?
The first villager to take note of is the oldest man in the entire village who coincidentally is called Old man Warner. He has gone through and endured seventy-six lotteries (seventy-seven by the end of the short story), and from what the story tells us old man Warner does not have any surviving family left, whether they succumbed to from the lottery or some other cause is unknown. Just like the other villagers in the story old man Warner is heavily opposed to change and even goes as far as insulting the nearby villages that have stopped the lottery by calling them crazy fools. Old …show more content…
man Warner is convinced of several other things such as the old superstition that the lottery is what brings a good harvest; “lottery in June corn be heavy soon.”
An equally important character to take notice of is Mr.
Summers who is characterized as a middle aged man who is a “round faced, jovial man.” He has no kids but is married to a scolding wife and Mr. Summers also runs the local coal business found in town. Mr. Summers in a very devout man to the village running and hosting all sorts of things such as the local square dances, teen club, and running the lottery. Unlike most in the village Mr.Summers is the only one who demonstrates a willingness to accept and bring change, going as far as to attempt at getting a new box for the lottery each year (he fails as the villagers find the box to be a sacred part of the
tradition).
Another important detail to see is Mr.Summers and old man Warner both do not change throughout the story and can be distinguished as complete opposites with Mr.Summers who is shown as younger, happier, and inclined to change. While old man Warner is old ,mean ,and not ready to accept change at all, but both are not actually completely different. One thing that is the same about both men is that they each support the lottery and encourage the villagers to hurry with the lottery at the end of the story. With Mr. Summers saying “let's finish quickly” and old man Warner saying “Come on, Come on, Everyone.”
All in all the Lottery is a story that starts fairly good with a happy tone but slowly takes a dark turn until it hits a extremely sad and controversial ending. If the story for the village was to continue I do not see the lottery being taken out of effect any time soon. The reasoning for this conclusion is the village is to heavily set on avoiding change the people are completely opposed to it and there only seems to be one man who does not mind it. Even then another reasoning is the lottery is reinforced from a young age, even the woman who was stoned at the end of the story youngest son (presumably four or five) partakes in her death; “And someone gave little Davy Hutchingson a few pebbles”. From all this evidence it is only plausible to inquire, if the lottery costed your life would you join?