Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco, California on December 14, 1916. Jackson began to write poetry in her teenage years and developed from there. Around the age of 16 her family moved west and she began to write up to 1000 words daily. In 1951 Jackson began to incorporate gothic style writing into her short stories and novels. Many of her short stories have been converted to dramas because of their unexpected story lines. Years after publication, Jackson’s stories are still considered some of the greatest works in American literature. Throughout Shirley Jackson’s short stories “The Lottery”, “The Possibility of Evil”, and “Charles”, there are grim plot twists at the end of the stories that make the reader realize the real meaning of
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The story starts off in a small town with little children picking up stones, and everyone is at town square for the annual lottery. The date chosen every year for the past however many years was June 27th. Jackson chose June 27th as the date in the book because it is between summer solstice and independence day. This date makes the belief of unalienable rights negligent. (Yarmove 1) In the lottery, as well as many other stories, Jackson portrays a minor character which resembles James Harris. “Mr. Harris has always had a hold on Jackson” states Judy Oppenheimer, author of “Private Demons”. Though Jackson changes the name of Mr. Harris in the story, one can still identify him through the descriptions of the characters. In the short story, names of families are drawn at random and one member from that family is then chosen to be stoned by the community. This story was written post-WWII and many people were taken by surprise at the ending. Many people at the time of the story believed that sacrifices would only occur in barbaric countries. The time being post-WWII, the belief was in nearly every Americans head and Jackson was going to hit them close to home. All the way leading up to the finale, Jackson foreshadows what is to come by giving symbols of death to the reader. The names of some of the townspeople, such as “Mr. Graves, Mr. Summers, and The Hutchinsons”. The Hutchinsons are a specific name because they are the …show more content…
The story is about a child named Laurie whom comes home everyday and tells her parents that here is a child by the name of Charles in her class. He tells his parents that Charles is a bad kid that curses, hits, and is mean to students and teachers. Laurie’s mother begins to worry that Charles is affecting the way Laurie is acting and wants to schedule a meeting to see Charles’ parents. At the meeting the teacher tells Laurie’s mom that there is no child named Charles and that Laurie had been having a hard time getting acclimated to kindergarten. Laurie has successfully misled his parents. He has created a bad ego so that he can remain good in his parent’s eyes. Not only is the reader met with the confusion on how a child of this age could create such a monster, but also the realization that the parents are facing as they now have a child whom is “Charles”. The ending of the story is a cliffhanger as to what happens next. One can assume that Laurie is punished by his parents, but one could also say that his parents try to get him help. As stated previously, Jackson typically portrayed her family as the characters in her stories. In the Journal of Women’s History, Jessamyn Neuhaus explains how Jackson portrayed them, “Jackson mostly portrayed her children in her stories as “evil alien-like creatures”. The disturbing imagery and inexplicable activities were what characterized them through
The story starts off in a small town with little children picking up stones, and everyone is at town square for the annual lottery. The date chosen every year for the past however many years was June 27th. Jackson chose June 27th as the date in the book because it is between summer solstice and independence day. This date makes the belief of unalienable rights negligent. (Yarmove 1) In the lottery, as well as many other stories, Jackson portrays a minor character which resembles James Harris. “Mr. Harris has always had a hold on Jackson” states Judy Oppenheimer, author of “Private Demons”. Though Jackson changes the name of Mr. Harris in the story, one can still identify him through the descriptions of the characters. In the short story, names of families are drawn at random and one member from that family is then chosen to be stoned by the community. This story was written post-WWII and many people were taken by surprise at the ending. Many people at the time of the story believed that sacrifices would only occur in barbaric countries. The time being post-WWII, the belief was in nearly every Americans head and Jackson was going to hit them close to home. All the way leading up to the finale, Jackson foreshadows what is to come by giving symbols of death to the reader. The names of some of the townspeople, such as “Mr. Graves, Mr. Summers, and The Hutchinsons”. The Hutchinsons are a specific name because they are the …show more content…
The story is about a child named Laurie whom comes home everyday and tells her parents that here is a child by the name of Charles in her class. He tells his parents that Charles is a bad kid that curses, hits, and is mean to students and teachers. Laurie’s mother begins to worry that Charles is affecting the way Laurie is acting and wants to schedule a meeting to see Charles’ parents. At the meeting the teacher tells Laurie’s mom that there is no child named Charles and that Laurie had been having a hard time getting acclimated to kindergarten. Laurie has successfully misled his parents. He has created a bad ego so that he can remain good in his parent’s eyes. Not only is the reader met with the confusion on how a child of this age could create such a monster, but also the realization that the parents are facing as they now have a child whom is “Charles”. The ending of the story is a cliffhanger as to what happens next. One can assume that Laurie is punished by his parents, but one could also say that his parents try to get him help. As stated previously, Jackson typically portrayed her family as the characters in her stories. In the Journal of Women’s History, Jessamyn Neuhaus explains how Jackson portrayed them, “Jackson mostly portrayed her children in her stories as “evil alien-like creatures”. The disturbing imagery and inexplicable activities were what characterized them through