Preview

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson: Cruelty or Human Nature?

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1787 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson: Cruelty or Human Nature?
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson: Cruelty or Human Nature? Shirley Jackson, the author of the short story, "The Lottery", is the daughter of Beatrice and George Jackson. Jackson was born on August 5th, in 1946. Some background on Jackson is that she graduated college with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ("Shirley Ann Jackson") Jackson had many accomplishments in her lifetime. She received many awards, metals, and honors. Jackson was appointed to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, she was elected as chairman of the newly formed International Nuclear Regulators Association, and she then joined the ranks of U.S. college presidents on July 1, 1999, where she assumed the top position at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She was featured on the cover of the March issue of Black Issue in Higher Education. Jackson graduated from Roosevelt High School as valedictorian of her class ("Shirley Ann Jackson"). Shirley Jackson is most remembered for her being a Theoretical Physics and getting good grades, because that is what got her where she was at (Shirley Ann Jackson). A list of her works:
• The Road Through the Wall, 1948
• The Lottery, or, The adventures of James Harris, 1949
• The Lottery, 1950
• Hangsaman, 1951
• Life Among the Savages, 1953
• The Birds Nest, 1954
• The Witchcraft of Salem Village, 1956
• Raising Demon, 1957
• The Sundial, 1958
• The Haunting of Hill House, 1959
• The Bad Children, 1959
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle, 1962
• Nine Magic Wishes, 1963
• Famous Sally, 1966
• Come Along With Me, 1968 (Ward 7)

Shirley Jackson is a contradiction or perhaps just the other side of the idea of an author who fails to make any impression during their lifetime, and is only later discovered by a new generation. Ms. Jackson is an author who was successful both popularly and critically in her short working life, who is now almost forgotten, a thing both unreasonable



Bibliography: 4 April 2001. 28 November 2004. . Chandler, J.D. "Conflict in Shirley Jackson 's The Lottery." J.D. Chandler. (2000): . Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 7th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. 83-89. Kosenko, Peter. " A Reading of Shirley Jackson 's The Lottery." Peter Kosenko. 1984. November 9, 2004 . McMahan, Elizabeth, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. Literature and the Writing Process. 7th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. 1105. The Brother Judd. The Lottery. 2004. 15 Nov. 2004 . Ward, Kyla. "House and Guardians." Shirley Jackson. 2004. November 9, 2004 .

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Lottery, a well-known short story written by Shirley Jackson and was published in 1949. Shirley Jackson creates a story filled with lots and lots of foreshadows and symbolisms, these helps building up the tension within the reader mind to question the conclusion of the story. The main focal theme of The Lottery is the danger of blindly following tradition, the author used this theme as a mirror to reflect on the society. The Lottery is worth reading because the message Jackson used to portray the modern day society about its tradition, to question for its purpose and outcomes. Throughout the story the author used a variety of techniques to bring together the whole concept of the story, some of the techniques are foreshadowing, symbolism…

    • 127 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Thesis/Essay Map Statement: Through the names of the characters used, the ritualized use of a scapegoat, and the actions of the women in “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson symbolistically foreshadowed the unforeseeable ending and portrayed the culture of rural America.…

    • 2906 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Lottery” (1948) is a short story written by American author Shirley Jackson. Shirley Jackson is best known for this short story which suggests a secret behind the annual event that has been done by the people in a village for years. The central theme of this story is a mysterious old black box that is used in the lottery drawing. I found that “The Lottery” is a story that actually brutal, scary, and horror but the author can under wrap the true meaning of the story until the last word.…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Overall Shirley Jackson discusses the movement of the setting, the unusual foreshadowing, and the outermost symbolism in "The Lottery" to give an overall point of view of the story.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the major themes of Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” is the barbarity of human nature. The story depicts a seemingly average American town, where the people willingly participate in an annual tradition of killing one of their own. The person is chosen randomly by a lottery, which gives the people enough humanity to continue on with the ritual.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Lottery” may be somewhat deceiving from it’s title and can lead you in the wrong direction if you are not careful to notice the foreshadowing signs that is typical in Shirley Jackson’s stories. In “The Lottery” she gives two signs that are hidden deep into words that you, the reader, have to break up. She uses actions by her characters, and characters names. She leaves one more clue that is not in the story, but that fills her own life.…

    • 513 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In modern times, the lottery is generally acknowledged as a set of fantastic prizes that people vie to win; however, in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the exact opposite is true. Jackson transforms this rather innocuous-sounding practice to a dark, perverse town ritual in a shocking twist that leaves the reader hungry for more details. Jackson conveys her message that tradition is not always best with her omission of details, use of foreshadowing and abrupt ending.…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”, is about a small town that meets on June 27, a beautiful day, for the annual lottery. All 300 people in this town meet in the town square and draw slips of paper out of a box, awaiting the person to have the one with the black dot on their paper. Once they find that Tessie Hutchinson, a mom, and wife, pick the paper with the black dot the town crowds around her and begins throwing rocks, stoning her to death. Jackson manipulates her readers so well that they ignore the symbolism and irony throughout the story, making Jackson not create the outcome she intended after having read the story because of the shock factor at the end and the illogical storyline.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “ The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson, shows the corruption in a village whose people treat life with insignificance. Through the use of literary devices, Jackson portrays how practices in traditions can be barbaric;ultimately, resulting in persecution.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The crowd was quiet. A girl whispered, "I hope it's not Nancy"; not every winner of a contest receives a favorable prize (Backpack Literature 242). When reading the beginning of the fictional short story The Lottery, the title leads the reader to assume that one of the characters in the story will become lucky. The author reveals the hidden theme towards the ending when the story’ true meaning becomes apparent. The author Shirley Jackson gives the reader subtle symbolic hints that the small New England town has a ritualistic nature. When the reader reaches the ending of The Lottery; all of Shirley Jackson’s signals begin to come together similar to puzzle pieces. The reader realizes the irony in the story because the winner of the annual…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I have chosen the story called “The lottery” for my summative task. This finest story of Shirley Jackson was written in the month of its first publication, in the June 26, 1948, issue of The New Yorker. Shirley Jackson was an American author and popular writer in her time. She is best known for her mesmerizing short stories. When she was a student she became involved in literary magazine through which she met her future husband Stanley Hyman. She is best known for the short story called “the lottery”.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson covers the issue of the human instinct to go along with the herd mentality and not question the ethics of a situation, often in order to be accepted by peers. This mentality is what causes stock market crashes. In the past it has gone to an extreme in situations like the holocaust, the Salem witch trials, and the French Revolution. The internet and Sporting events are less extreme examples of herd mentality. The story can be assumed to be based in the late 1940s, shortly after the war ended. However, the premise of the story resembles something of ancient Incan sacrifice, when townsfolk would give up a member of their community in order to have a more plentiful harvest (“The secrets of”). The reader will start…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, yet still, leaves a mark on any person who gets their hands on it today. The story starts out by setting an enjoyable atmosphere at the beginning of summer. The community gathers and the story almost fulfills the reader’s idea of a perfect town activity. However, the story has a sharp twist at the end that leaves the reader in shock. Jackson wrote the story to leave an impact and whom how quickly human nature can change. Shirley Jackson shows the duality of human nature in the characters of the children, Tessie Hutchinson, and Mr. Summers.…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mohammad Alnemer Prof. Kane Mary English 1302 June23, 2015 Lottery by Shirley Jackson Shirley Jackson is an expert at controlling her peruse, a strategy that pays off as the story develops and everything that once appeared to be wonderful are demonstrated to have an exceptionally dull side. The title of "The Lottery" alone is an awesome illustration of how Shirley Jackson topples peruse desires; we more often than not hear "lottery" and are loaded with a feeling of trust and plausibility; we are anticipating that it is going should be an anecdote about somebody who wins something. Much to our dismay what a troubling prize it will be, obviously. The title of "The Lottery" itself can serve as a theory explanation for expounding on the story. One of alternate ways "The Lottery" turns peruses on their heads is a result of the differentiation between scenes of ordinary residential community life an existence that is so frequently romanticized versus the inauspicious reality of what the lottery truly is.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Lottery

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Following it's publication in the New Yorker in 1948, Shirley Jackson's "the lottery" aroused much controversy, leading to that issue of the new Yorker quickly being sold out. Through the use of comedy and irony, Jackson demonstrates the "pointless violence and general inhumanity in [readers] own lives"…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays