Outline Thesis: In Shirley Jackson ’s controversial short story‚ "The Lottery"‚ the usage of symbolism stands strong when she manages to relate the feebleness of life with pieces of paper‚ mystery and fear with an eerie black box‚ and society ’s prevailing ability to blindly follow tradition with the overall aspect of a "lottery". I. The pieces of paper that the villagers had to draw contained inside the black box symbolized the feebleness of life. A. “He dropped all the paper but those
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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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1102 14 February 2013 Mindless Tradition “The Lottery” (1948) by Shirley Jackson has provoked controversy and condemnation since its release. The short story takes place in a village where tradition is vital. The lottery is an annual event in which one individual is chosen by random to be viciously stoned by family and friends. All town members practice the ritual. The short story portrays how human nature engages in behaviors mindlessly. “The lottery was conducted—as were the square dances‚ the
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Artistic Text Written and published in 1948‚ “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is today ranked as “one of the most famous short stories in the history of American Literature” according to author Laurie Harris. This short story focuses on a village that every year has a lottery to determine which of the towns’ people will be sacrificed in order to guarantee a good harvest for the coming year. The readers are deceptively led to believe that the lottery is a normal‚ casual event when in actuality it is
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One of the Lemmings Tradition is the backbone of every established country in the world. Family‚ community‚ and even country wide traditions are extremely common. Though popular culture may change‚ traditions always stay the same. Why is 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
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The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a small town and their unique summer tradition. This stories thematic element is conformity and rebellion‚ showing “a clash between two well-articulated positions in which a rebel‚ on principle‚ confronts and struggles with established authority” (Abacarian and Klotz‚ 289). Jackson’s short story caught my attention through her suspenseful structural technique‚ and incorporation of a serious‚ seemingly absurd‚ event in a nonchalant manner.
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significance in society‚ most traditions are passed down overtime because certain individuals are afraid of the consequences. In a small village‚ there is a yearly tradition that randomly selects one individual to be stoned by the entire village. This tradition is known as “The Lottery.” In “The Lottery‚” Shirley Jackson combines foreshadowing with a comforting tone thus both concealing and revealing the shocking ending. Shirley Jackson’s use of a benevolent tone leaves readers unsuspecting
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The lottery is a short story that cruelly documents the annual sacrifice of an unlucky townsperson. The majory of the story is the process of selecting the townsperson being sacrificed. This process is called the lottery. Jackson uses an abundant amount of symbols throught her story which perfectly convey the inhuman tradition that is the lottery. The two main symbols Jackson uses are the townspeople’s names‚ and the objects used to conduct the lottery. The names assigned to the townspeople play
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Margot. A large group is required to do this‚ because one individual couldn’t simply block out another‚ which is why the children felt so confident doing it‚ not truly realizing what they were doing to her. Feeling overpowered‚ they weren’t expecting the sun to actually come out. After they remembered Margot was in the closet‚ "they stood as if someone had driven them‚ like so many stakes‚ into the foor. They looked at each other and looked away.... their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at
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Engl151C-17 September 16‚ 2011 “The Lottery” Traditions The main theme of “The Lottery‚” by Shirley Jackson‚ is tradition. Traditions are beliefs‚ legends‚ customs‚ information and other things that are passed down from generation to generation. This theme is shown in many different ways throughout the story. The first way tradition is shown in the story is with the ritual that the town people call the lottery. The second way tradition is shown is by the character Mrs. Hutchinson. Another character
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