“The Lottery” Review Nothing feels worse than being stoned to death by family members and friends when one does absolutely nothing wrong. Such is the fate of Tessie Hutchinson, the protagonist of Shirley Jackson’s renowned short story, “The Lottery”. Known for its twisted and macabre conclusion, “The Lottery” contains perfectly executed writing techniques by Ms. Jackson-specifically the narrator’s mysterious, apathetic tone; the story’s transformation from realism to symbolism, and the sudden personality change in Tessie-which all greatly augment the effect of the story’s ending.
It is a part of human nature to want to fully grasp the meaning or ending of something. Ms. Jackson effectively exploits this characteristic with the narrator’s …show more content…
The narrator secures a sense of reality through the first few pages in readers, using details such as, “The morning…grass was richly green” (1), and, “School was recently over…of books and reprimands”(1) to create a setting in the story that is not too different from the world people live in today. Many readers might believe that the multiple, specific details are irrelevant to the plot, but in fact, they only bolster the horror and bizarre nature of the ending. One particular detail can be used to prove this statement. In the first paragraph, Ms. Jackson writes, “But in this village…the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could…still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner”(1), which is a detail some readers disregard. However, once the true nature of the lottery is revealed, readers return to the sentence and gag with disgust upon their realization that the villagers like to finish the execution just in time for lunch. When the stoning begins, the reality in “The Lottery” is shattered as it is suddenly transformed from a realistic fiction story to an allegory, where the villagers are symbols that represent the barbaric nature that lurks inside all humans. “The Lottery” contains no such things as extraneous details, as each description secures the sense of reality in readers, and then breaks that security with a powerful impact at the ending, making the story’s conclusion one no reader can
It is a part of human nature to want to fully grasp the meaning or ending of something. Ms. Jackson effectively exploits this characteristic with the narrator’s …show more content…
The narrator secures a sense of reality through the first few pages in readers, using details such as, “The morning…grass was richly green” (1), and, “School was recently over…of books and reprimands”(1) to create a setting in the story that is not too different from the world people live in today. Many readers might believe that the multiple, specific details are irrelevant to the plot, but in fact, they only bolster the horror and bizarre nature of the ending. One particular detail can be used to prove this statement. In the first paragraph, Ms. Jackson writes, “But in this village…the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could…still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner”(1), which is a detail some readers disregard. However, once the true nature of the lottery is revealed, readers return to the sentence and gag with disgust upon their realization that the villagers like to finish the execution just in time for lunch. When the stoning begins, the reality in “The Lottery” is shattered as it is suddenly transformed from a realistic fiction story to an allegory, where the villagers are symbols that represent the barbaric nature that lurks inside all humans. “The Lottery” contains no such things as extraneous details, as each description secures the sense of reality in readers, and then breaks that security with a powerful impact at the ending, making the story’s conclusion one no reader can