The Lottery
Shirley Jackson
In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses irony and satire to show the selfishness of one character and the idiocy of sacrifice or of blindly following tradition. The morning of June 27th was a dreadful morning. It was the day of the Lottery. The Lottery is anonymous drawing to sacrifice a villager. It could be anyone! You’d think this to be a very scary and horrifying event, but the villagers accepted their fate a long time ago and got over it. The Lottery causes many to become selfish of their own lives. Even over their own families, leading for maybe one of their offspring to die. Bill Hutchinson just so happened to draw the ticket, leading for the whole family to be in danger. Bills wife, Tessie, just so happened …show more content…
Things just become a routine. When Tessie drew the ticket, I can see why she acted the way she did, but I do not understand why she would rather her own child be killed instead of her. Little Dave was so young he had to be lifted up to get the ticket out of the box. Tessie also wanted her daughter to draw a ticket for her daughter's husband’s family so it would have to be passed on to them. That seems like something you would never see a mom do now. My own mother says she would rather die than live without her little baby’s. She would do anything for us. One thing I don’t understand the most, is why Bill was so quiet. Perhaps it was because he has accepted what this tradition is and was ready for whatever was about to come. Instead of making a big deal about it like his wife, he stood there very quiet holding Little Daves hand. Perhaps he was so calm so that is Little Dave drew the card, he wouldn’t be scared. All in all, this story made me think about all the traditions we follow because they are tradition. I thought about all the emotions that were probably going through their minds. Nervousness, anger, sadness, happiness, relief, etc. If it wasn’t your family that was chosen you would feel so much relief. There was probably anger, sadness, and nervousness that your family would be chosen. But when it was someone else's family Tessie wouldn’t say anything about it not being fair, which just proved how selfish she really
Shirley Jackson
In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses irony and satire to show the selfishness of one character and the idiocy of sacrifice or of blindly following tradition. The morning of June 27th was a dreadful morning. It was the day of the Lottery. The Lottery is anonymous drawing to sacrifice a villager. It could be anyone! You’d think this to be a very scary and horrifying event, but the villagers accepted their fate a long time ago and got over it. The Lottery causes many to become selfish of their own lives. Even over their own families, leading for maybe one of their offspring to die. Bill Hutchinson just so happened to draw the ticket, leading for the whole family to be in danger. Bills wife, Tessie, just so happened …show more content…
Things just become a routine. When Tessie drew the ticket, I can see why she acted the way she did, but I do not understand why she would rather her own child be killed instead of her. Little Dave was so young he had to be lifted up to get the ticket out of the box. Tessie also wanted her daughter to draw a ticket for her daughter's husband’s family so it would have to be passed on to them. That seems like something you would never see a mom do now. My own mother says she would rather die than live without her little baby’s. She would do anything for us. One thing I don’t understand the most, is why Bill was so quiet. Perhaps it was because he has accepted what this tradition is and was ready for whatever was about to come. Instead of making a big deal about it like his wife, he stood there very quiet holding Little Daves hand. Perhaps he was so calm so that is Little Dave drew the card, he wouldn’t be scared. All in all, this story made me think about all the traditions we follow because they are tradition. I thought about all the emotions that were probably going through their minds. Nervousness, anger, sadness, happiness, relief, etc. If it wasn’t your family that was chosen you would feel so much relief. There was probably anger, sadness, and nervousness that your family would be chosen. But when it was someone else's family Tessie wouldn’t say anything about it not being fair, which just proved how selfish she really