“The Lottery” is a story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948 and tells the story of a town that takes part in a barbaric ritual every year on June 27th. There are several themes in this short story. The main themes in “The Lottery” are our aversion to examine and challenge outdated ideas and rituals‚ that society will pick scapegoats to carry its wrongs and the horrors in following the crowd. The townspeople in “The Lottery” blindly go along with an appalling custom having lost the reason behind
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Irony in “The Lottery” Irony‚ generally described as expressing something different from or opposite to a literal meaning‚ is used as an underlying theme in Shirley Jackson’s short story‚ The Lottery. As an age-old tradition‚ the lottery is one in which a single person in the town is randomly chosen‚ by a drawing‚ to be violently stoned by friends and family. The main example of irony throughout the story resides within the fact that the word lottery suggests that the winning villager is going
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“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a story about a small town that gathered and did their usual lottery that happens during the 27th of June. This lottery is being headed by the “Big three” namely Mr. Summers‚ Mr. Graves & Mr. Martin. The story describes what happens during the tradition of the town wherein they eliminate the worst worker in their town every year. The story has many themes; one of these themes is sexism. Sexism is defined as the discrimination based on gender especially discrimination
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“The Lottery Ticket” A look at the concept of vulnerability in attitude change. When reading the short story‚ “A Lottery Ticket‚” by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov‚ drastic and fast changes in attitude can be seen in the main character‚ Ivan Dmitich. These changes are a clear window through which one may understand and observe Ivan’s character and values as a person. The author of the story makes these changes‚ regarding Ivan’s spouse and lifestyle‚ easy to see by the writing techniques he employs in
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Many things have gone through my head when I think of the possibilities I would have if I ever won the lottery. Although it does seem like a huge stretch‚ I do often think of what I could do with such a large sum of money. Many people could only hope to have the opportunities that come with winning the lottery. I do know that my winnings would be put to many great uses along with of course a few special treats of my own. A few I can name that would benefit from my winnings would be charities‚ family
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Pointless Violence Under a Veil of Tradition in “The Lottery”: A Discovery Via the Tools of Irony and Symbolism Within the Framework of Formalism The approach to literary criticism known as Formalism focuses on the literary text itself as the source for meaning‚ and deems the text as the only context a critic should turn to for research. It is a style of criticism that places emphasis on the literary tools and techniques in a text‚ apart from a text’s or authors historical context. The key to
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reading “The Lottery‚” by Shirley Jackson. Jackson uses irony to suggest an underlying evil‚ hypocrisy‚ and weakness of human kind. Jackson shows many important lessons about human nature in this short story including barbaric traditions in a supposedly civilized village‚ the community’s hypocrisy‚ and how violence and cruelty take place. "The Lottery" tells the story of an annual tradition in a small village‚ where the people are close and tradition is paramount. The Lottery is a yearly event
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“The Lottery” to convey how people blindly follow a tradition that‚ in reality‚ is morally brutal. She uses Old Man Warner’s commentary to help portray this issue. For instance‚ Old Man Warner states‚ “‘It’s not the way it used to be‚’ Old Man Warner said clearly. ‘People ain’t the way they used to be”’ (Jackson 7). Old Man Warner comments on everyone’s sympathy for Tessie’s family. He has participated in the lottery for 77 years and based on that experience‚ he comments on how the lottery has changed
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An Imperfect Society Shirley Jackson wrote “The Lottery” in 1948 with a purpose in mind. Upon hearing the title‚ many readers think about a lottery in people want to win due to the fact that they could win millions of dollars. However‚ this is not the case in Jackson’s version where the lottery is one in which the winner is stoned to death. Jackson’s focus in this story is that society is flawed‚ imperfect‚ and sometimes stuck in the past. She declared that her purpose was “to shock
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“The Lottery” Response Paper Shirley Jackson’s very intriguing short story‚ “The Lottery‚” was evidently quite the controversy when it first appeared in The New Yorker (Jackson 208). One can easily guess that the reason for such mass unrest was the story’s violent content. However‚ humanity is not always extremely kind; humans can be brutal creatures. In Ms. Jackson’s story‚ this theme of violence and cruelty is revealed‚ and one cannot help but wonder if all those New Yorker reviewers gave her
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