The Lottery: A Woman 's Gamble in a Male-Dominated Society
The idea of clearly defined gender roles has been propagated throughout many generations. Although strides have been recently made to break down the barriers between what is acceptable for one gender or another, often media – such as television, radio, internet, magazines, and literature – continue to reinforce the archaic idea of male versus female. In her short story, The Lottery, Shirley Jackson reinforced these gender roles in many ways, including description, dialogue between characters, and imagery. This literary criticism will view The Lottery through the lens of feminism and show the reader the many elements Jackson used to describe a society dominated by males.
The Lottery begins by describing a quaint …show more content…
Quotes such as, "Some of you fellows want to give me a hand," and, "Don 't you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey" (Jackson 306-307) assert male dominance. Jackson also uses a very chauvinistic quote to reinforce the servant nature of women, when crowd members state, "Glad to see your mother 's got a man to do it" (307). Tessie Hutchinson 's dialogue is used in The Lottery to challenge masculine leadership, with Jackson noting that Tessie, "...shouted to Mr. Summers..." (308) at one point during the proceedings. Tessie also yells, "It 's not fair" multiple times during the lottery, further solidifying her role as the feminist in the story (Jackson 308-310). Whittier suggests Tessie is not an image of the ideal female in the story, noting, "What will be stoned to death at the end of the account is a traditional image of the 'bad woman '" (360). Although Tessie 's dialogue and description reveal an almost revolutionary female character, her actions are not enough to change the gender roles in the village. Not only does her husband say, "Shut up," (Jackson 308), but Tessie also ends up being stoned to death in the
The idea of clearly defined gender roles has been propagated throughout many generations. Although strides have been recently made to break down the barriers between what is acceptable for one gender or another, often media – such as television, radio, internet, magazines, and literature – continue to reinforce the archaic idea of male versus female. In her short story, The Lottery, Shirley Jackson reinforced these gender roles in many ways, including description, dialogue between characters, and imagery. This literary criticism will view The Lottery through the lens of feminism and show the reader the many elements Jackson used to describe a society dominated by males.
The Lottery begins by describing a quaint …show more content…
Quotes such as, "Some of you fellows want to give me a hand," and, "Don 't you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey" (Jackson 306-307) assert male dominance. Jackson also uses a very chauvinistic quote to reinforce the servant nature of women, when crowd members state, "Glad to see your mother 's got a man to do it" (307). Tessie Hutchinson 's dialogue is used in The Lottery to challenge masculine leadership, with Jackson noting that Tessie, "...shouted to Mr. Summers..." (308) at one point during the proceedings. Tessie also yells, "It 's not fair" multiple times during the lottery, further solidifying her role as the feminist in the story (Jackson 308-310). Whittier suggests Tessie is not an image of the ideal female in the story, noting, "What will be stoned to death at the end of the account is a traditional image of the 'bad woman '" (360). Although Tessie 's dialogue and description reveal an almost revolutionary female character, her actions are not enough to change the gender roles in the village. Not only does her husband say, "Shut up," (Jackson 308), but Tessie also ends up being stoned to death in the