This is a story about a small rural village that holds its annual lottery. Families in the village participate and the lottery starts by one representative from each family pulling a piece of paper from the black box the one who gets the paper with the black spot is stoned to death as per tradition of the lottery. This world that is created by Shirley Jackson in “The Lottery” is a dystopia. When Bill Hutchinson pulled the paper with the black dot‚ his wife‚ Tessi‚ objects‚ saying that he didn’t have
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Final Paper The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a seemingly normal day in a small village. The town has gathered together on a beautiful summers day to socialize and to support the local businesses. Typically‚ when one thinks of a lottery‚ they think of winning something pleasant‚ such as money or baked goods. However‚ after a few pages this is clearly not the case. In the beginning of the story‚ all the villagers are gathering while the children collect stones joyfully. Each
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The Ritual of “The Lottery” It is often said that there is strength in numbers. While it is true that a large group of people has more power than an individual‚ a single person within a large group will almost always conform in some way. This weakens the individual and leads to fewer new ideas in order to maintain group status and agreement. Many times‚ rituals or ideas are allowed and accepted just because they are favored by a majority or have been part of that society for so long that they
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story “The Lottery”‚ is famous because it is an unexpected macabre ironic story written by Shirley Jackson‚ who suffered from mental and physical illness. The lottery is famous activity of the town. Like a normal lottery‚ the community gets together and participate once a year. Although it sounds nice‚ the winner of that lottery is murdered. With the use of irony‚ Jackson gives a fine and happy story‚ a horrific twisted end. Irony begins before we begin to read‚ because we associate lottery with something
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Analysis of by Shirley Jackson "The Lottery" Jackson’s visions about man and civilization are shown in her short story “The Lottery”. Numerous of her readers have found this story shocking and troubling. She creates a story filled with symbolisms‚ ugly reality‚ ridicule‚ and characters which reflect on the horror of the cruel tradition’s and that the townspeople are afraid of change. The three most important literary elements used to help form this story are plot‚ characterization‚ and theme. The
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“The Lottery” is a short story written by a woman named Shirley Jackson. The story takes place on the 27th of June in a small nameless town. The lottery is a tradition in this small town and has taken place longer than any of the townspeople can remember. In fact none even remember why there is a lottery‚ but take part in it because there has always been one. Part of this tradition is an old black box. Of course it is not the original box but some in the story say that it was
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the story in completely new light‚ an awful one. This contrast between the relive happiness of the beginning‚ and the grimness at the end heightens the aspect of horror. Jokes and idle conversation is made just as the ceremony begins‚ making The Lottery seem run-of-the-mill‚ a chore. That is when the horror began. The annual slaying of a human being was turned into a chore for these people‚ that disgusted me‚ filled me with a rampant sense of injustice. Life is not valued in that society‚ it can’t
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the fabric of their lives. This one sentence really exemplifies how society fails to learn and understand why they repeat a pattern of behavior. In the story‚ one generation after another neglected to take care of the “paraphernalia” (138)‚ of the lottery and as the years passed “the ritual had been allowed to lapse.”(138) It also appears that over time the reasoning behind the annual gathering of the villagers was
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“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story that depicts the blind following of tradition. Just because something has been done a certain way for as long as you can remember‚ does not mean that way is the best way. “The Lottery” also highlights the cruelty of human nature. The willingness of ritualistic murder of colleagues‚ friends or family. The tradition to stone someone in your community to death annually is truly cruel. It blows my mind how so many people can knowingly partake in the action
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THE LOTTERY A short fictional story published by Shirley Jackson The Lottery was originally published in the magazine The New Yorker in 1948. On one clear sunny morning in a village of 300 it was the day of June 27‚ The Lottery Day. It was held at the town square by the post office and the bank. This village was a farming village. The time they held this was anytime they wanted. On this special day people gather around the town square and the kids collect rocks. During this day Graves and Summers
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