Shirley MacLaine

destination. In literature, two stories can be written on completely different subjects, and still have similar themes and settings, that can help a reader to understand the stories and develop a deeper knowledge. The short stories, "The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin are tow such examples of that. These two stories are told in quite different contexts; yet their theme and setting of a single person taking on the burdens of society to…

history, cruel acts against innocent people through the abandoning of reason and disregard of forthcoming consequences has been associated with cultured traditions, where people follow a larger crowd. In the dystopian short story, “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson describes a rural society that follows an annual ceremony, where individuals blindly follow the cultured traditions, ultimately stoning an innocent person to death. These barbaric rituals and their awaiting consequences are further…

In the thrilling film, The Village, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, as well as the short story, “The Lottery”, written by American author, Shirley Jackson, symbolism appears to conquer all else. Both Shyamalan and Jackson use unconventional objects to represent a unique outlook into the lives that each of the characters in the stories live: black boxes. In the two storylines, these black boxes represent tradition that holds mystery to those that do not comprehend and even in The Village, others…

The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson, using literary elements such as imagery and repetition to convey that death is inevitable but how people act end their life early. The lottery and a social commentary on frivolous barbarity, and how people take life for granted because they don’t understand the true meaning of what death is. Death can not be avoided, but a life can be taken quicker than expected because of the need to live. Jackson use color and visual imagery to display the beautiful…

Utility and the Survival Lottery In his 1975 paper 'The Survival Lottery', Harris proposed a scheme referred to as the 'survival lottery', which, roughly speaking, consists of individuals who have volunteered to be part of the program, agreeing to the possibility of having their named drawn in a type of lottery. The person whose name is called is then sacrificed for their organs, which are transplanted into four or five others who will die without receiving healthy organs. For Harris, the point…

centuries past, and centuries to come. If you challenge rituals and have no evidence that they are wrong, then you were deemed an alienated member of the society ruled by an obscured judgement of the government. In the short stories The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Watchers by Florence Engel Randall, two women who did not follow the accustomed lifestyle of the rest of society, eventually paid for their actions with their lives. Societies whose citizens blindly follow what they believe is…

Traditions and Small-Town Values Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a shocking tale of tradition and the horrifying results when are taken to the extreme. The author’s word choice, setting, and overall tone used in conveying the story sends a powerful message to the reader. The style and diction used by Jackson to create a familiar and comforting setting and tone in her tale of senseless violence both brings the violence of human nature closer to home and reveals the darker nature of tradition,…

Symbolism and Irony, “The Lottery” The Lottery is a classic short story written in 1948 by Shirley Jackson. The story describes a small village that partakes in an annual lottery with a brutal, unexpected twist. Several literary elements are used throughout the short story to revel its symbolic meaning. In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson uses situational irony, as well as symbolism to convey a symbolic message to the reader. A major literary element found throughout The Lottery is the use of…

if he or she were actually present in the story. A setting of a story must be colorful, descriptive and inquisitive. Shirley Jackson did a tremendous job of creating such a setting in the story “The Lottery.” The setting of the village is that of what a reader might see in an old British film Starting the story as if the reader was already present within the village, Shirley Jackson began to play with the readers imaginations. For example the author gave a vibrant…

Though tattered and splintered, old and worn, the black box remains. Year after year the same old black box, with some possible minimal repairs if needed, is used in the lottery. No one wants to upset tradition by altering it in any major way or make a new one. It is not exactly the original black box but it contains pieces that were part of the original, small pieces that survived its storage and use throughout time. The villagers have no absolute knowledge of how the lottery began, yet…