In the short story “The Lottery”‚ Shirley Jackson uses imagery and setting‚ symbolism and irony to advance the theme that antiquated traditions may lead ordinary people to commit thoughtless and callous actions. Jackson uses imagery and setting to set the mood of normalcy in the village. She describes the morning of June 27th as a clear and sunny morning‚ blossoming flowers and richly green grass (237). Children ran and played with the feeling of liberty as school was recently over for the summer
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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. However‚ the people of the town are not happy about their duty‚ as they see it. “There’s always been a lottery‚” they say‚ and they believe this means
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Literary Analysis Essay: The Lottery “The Lottery‚” written by Shirley Jackson‚ is a short story about a strange annual ritual that takes place in a small village in New England. At the beginning of the story the day is described as “clear and sunny‚ with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” This pleasant sensory description leads one to believe that this will be a day of happiness. Every year on June 27th all the villagers
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Compare to Shirley Jackson’s other novels‚ Charles is one short story that are less horror. The story is humorous‚ but ends with dramatic irony as Jackson’s style. Readers may realize that Laurie’s description of the misbehaving Charles is actually himself‚ because the author has given some hints in the story. For example‚ Laurie does not show any respect to his father‚ instead he calls his father an “old dust mop”. His mother‚ however‚ chooses to ignorant the misbehavior of her son and believes
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“The Lottery” – by Shirley Jackson Name:_____________________________ ELA 10 Questions From the context of the story‚ who controls the town? Explain. Mr. Summers‚ Mr. Graves and Mr. Martin are the leaders of the town. Because‚ in the story‚ Mr. Summers owns the village’s largest business and also the major of the town. Mr. Summers has more “time and energy to devote to civic activities.” It indicates that he has money and leisure. Mr. Graves is the government official; the
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The Lottery On a clear morning‚ June 27th‚ the townspeople‚ men‚ women‚ and children begin to assemble for the lottery which is to begin at ten in the morning. The opening paragraphs completely mask the underlying darkness of this short story. As the reader progresses throughout the story‚ these deeper elements of the story become evident. "The Lottery" successfully combines elements of horror‚ irony‚ hypocrisy‚ and tradition in a way that fulfills Carver’s criteria of a story that exemplifies
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The short story‚ “The Possibility of Evil”‚ written by Shirley Jackson‚ the short story is about a sweet old lady‚ Miss Strangeworth‚ that cares a lot about the the people in the town and feels the need to “fix” their problems. Miss Strangeworth feels that there is so much evil in the world and she needs to get rid of the evil. Miss Strangeworth is socializing with the people who she thinks has problems in their lives‚ so no one will suspect that she is the one writing the anonymous letters to them
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Monique Lewis Ashcraft English 102 Feb. 25‚ 2013 The Lottery 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" The lottery takes place in a small close knit town where tradition is taken quite seriously. Each year an event is held in which
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In the story the Haunting of the Hill House Shirley Jackson sets a trap for both the readers and the protagonist‚ although the Hill House has a history of supernatural existence‚ but the events that unfold during the story suggest that some of the happenings at the house were not entirely supernatural but can be linked to the psychology of the characters. Eleanor Vance the main protagonist in the story is a socially repressed woman who spent eleven years of her life taking care of her ill mother
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tradition followed so closely? Many are for religious or family reasons‚ but how many traditions are followed blindly? What deems a tradition‚ or anything the crowd does‚ as morally acceptable? The themes of each story‚ Young Goodman Brown and The Lottery‚ deal with flaws in following the crowd. Young Goodman Brown is a young man who fits his name. He is innocent and believes the community is as harmless as they appear. However his innocence has blinded him to the reality of the dark world. Brown’s
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