Shirley Jackson

Symbolism of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” The short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is about a small town that has a lottery, on June 27th, every year. All the citizens seem excited and amped up for this yearly occasion that Mr. Summers is in charge of. Though as the story progresses and comes to an end, it can be seen that this lottery is not something you want to win. These events of the story closely resemble the actions that took place in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. With the way Mr. Summers and old man Warner run the show and are not in the lottery, how the citizens of the town blindly following this “ritual” to their death, and the early participation of the children can be seen as symbols of Adolf Hitler, the people of Germany, and the Hitler Youth. Adolf Hitler and Mr. Summers have numerous common characteristics. Mr. Summers, is described as a “roundfaced, jovial man” (255) who owns the coal business. He has the sympathy of the town’s people due to having no children and a…

while a complete stranger sees it as pointless and insignificant. Either way both descriptions fit the definition of tradition, therefore there shouldn’t be a difference between the two… or should there? In many situations, traditions are truly harmless, but what if there was a cycle of tradition that did cause harm? A cycle that’s impossible to break, is it still considered an innocent tradition? That’s the same predicament that the villagers are in, in Shirley Jackson’s “The…

Most readers know that there is a significant amount of evil in the world, but the real question is, “Where can you find it and how much is in everyone?” Shirley Jackson’s “The Possibility of Evil” and “The Lottery” represent evil in small town USA fluently. Jackson's stories show you cannot trust everyone, and that everything is not what it seems. Both short stories were surrounded by the idea that evil is in every person or in every town. In “The Lottery”, a small town is having a…

It is typical for people to have conspiracies about why something was written, its true meaning, and how it ties up with the life of the character. “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson that tells a story about a village who held a very unusual tradition. Every year the head of the household would pick a piece of paper from the “black box”, and whoever held the paper with the black dot had just summoned one of their family members to death by stoning. It is believed that…

Symbols in “The Lottery” What is in a name? In literature, names of characters and places often play into the meaning of the text. The characters in, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, Mr. Summers, Mr. Graves, Mr. Warner, and Tessie Hutchinson have many ironic or hidden meanings such as leadership, tradition, death, and fate. These names in the story help play into the opposition of the text and the meaning of the story and also help it fit into the deconstruction theory. First, a smaller…

actions of characters. However, in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the setting plays a major contribution in the story. The setting also influences the theme and the tone of the story. The story follows a small town’s tradition of an annual lottery. The day begins bright and sunny. Then through the story, the tone changes to rather treacherous. The villagers first gather in the town square to participate in the annual lottery. Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late. Then they begin…

In Shirley Hardie Jackson’s biography by the Dictionary of American Author, it states “Jackson was treated by a psychiatrist for some years to counteract symptoms of social withdrawal. She suffered from a sense of personal isolation, insecurities about the affection and loyalty of friends, and recurrent anxiety and depression.” All humans suffer some type of social withdrawal at some point but part of Shirley Jackson’s life was her meeting with the psychiatrist. Most of the themes of The Lottery…

is chosen for their crops to grow or, so they think. "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" (Jackson p4). Is this murder or death with a reasonable cause? In small towns or countries change is very slow to happen sometimes it does not happen at all. People chose to blindly follow tradition than to think rationally over a certain set of laws. In Puerto Rico it being a small country it's people don’t take change very well. They do anything to stick to tradition because it’s the only thing they've…

Did you know that your chances of winning the lottery is 1 in 175 million? Yeah your chances of winning the lottery are is very slim. But in this fictional town winning the lottery is not all that great, because if you win, you get the fabulous prize of death by stones. Shirley Jackson’s short story, “ The Lottery” uses the “Black box” as a symbol to convey an underlying message that society isolates those who go against society’s ideals and that death comes without warning. In Shirley…

In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the writer present one with various symbols and attributes that later donates the irony of what “The Lottery” in reality means. It is evident that what starts out as a bright and peaceful summer day later unfolds into a twisted stoning event. Each and every detail used in the short story is a clue connecting to the final eventuality of the story. Throughout this story, the writer does a great job of illustrating how objects, people, and…