The Lottery

Imagine waking up one day with the thought of being stoned to death just for your towns good fortune and good harvest. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson describes a town tradition of human sacrifice by being stoned to death. Sacrificing a life for a tradition. Human sacrifice is the act of killing someone usually for a type of ritual, and that is exactly what “The Lottery” does. How could someone be willing to throw stones at a loved one or a fellow neighbor? These are the ones we care for and…

Shirley’s Jackson’s “The lottery shows how the upper class in the society can control the working class throught fear and psychological manipulation, and live in luxury while those around them suffer. The politics and economies in the story both show this, and the main ideas can even be linked to history. The carefree way the story is only told reinforces this idea, making it more horrifying to the reader. As for the politics, the ruling class in the short story rules both through fear and…

his presentation about Jackson is that she wrote over a thousand words a day when she was a teenager. Jackson throughout her lifetime published forty-four short stories, novels, and one play (Provozell, RT 3). One of these stories includes The Lottery, which is still very popular in the United States today (Provozell, RT 3). She won thirteen rewards, one in which was the Edgar Allen Poe award in 1961(Provozell, RT 3). Jackson died during her sleep at the age of forty-eight due to heart…

An immoral act will be carried out if no one questions it. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the community wholeheartedly takes part in the selection of one of their peers for random execution. People follow each other blindly even if the act goes against their will. Through the use of symbolism, irony, and atmosphere, Jackson portrays human beings’ unwillingness to question authority and the horrifying consequences of their actions. First, Jackson includes many examples of symbolism in her…

Jackson never overtly states that the townspeople in her story are nervous about the approaching lottery. Instead she uses subtle hints that slowly create a sense of apprehension in the reader. In the third paragraph of "The Lottery" Jackson describes men as they gather in the town square. The children have already begun stacking stones. The men are talking about everyday matters such as "planting and rain, tractors and taxes," but Jackson writes that the men "stood together, away from the pile…

The lottery puzzle stems from the same structure as the lottery paradox, which is a modern paradox credited to Professor Henry E. Kyburg Jr. The lottery puzzle, much like the lottery paradox is episodic, dealing with belief or knowledge. To understand the lottery puzzle, I will analyze the concepts of fallibilism and the principle of closure under known implications. Then I will analyze the plausibility and strength of the possible solution to the lottery puzzle: the denial of knowledge of…

short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, a peculiar ritual occurs every year. Rather than what mundanely the connotation of the lottery, which is conventionally a positive acquiring victory, this type of lottery will have detrimental consequences. By normalizing the lottery, Jackson edifications most of the citizen’s fear. To plenarily understand “The Lottery,” it avails to analyze the elements of theme, characterization, and symbolism. A reoccurring theme in “The Lottery” is the hazards…

The Lottery in Babylon is a short fantasy story wrote by Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges. It was published first time in 1941 in a literary magazine called Sur. The story is told by a narrator, who used to live in Babylon, a city which is ruled by Company. Company’s authority is based on the lottery, where the destinies of Babylonians are sealed. Company can be interpret as a God or a deity because in the end of the story, Company has all-power over the people. The human’s desire for adrenaline…

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson presents a myriad of themes that deal with the persecution of others. The fact that the chosen individual of the lottery was to be stoned to death by their peers was perhaps the most shocking and climactic moment of the story. The reader would never suspect the murderous intentions of the town’s tradition since the plot builds up in such an innocent fashion. Jackson decisively places themes in the story that satirically exploit the disadvantages of following…

story, The Lottery, Shirley Jackson shows the reader that the basis of tradition stays consistent, but the minor details adapt to the new generations. Jackson uses strong examples of motifs of family and rules, symbolism of the tattered black box, and foreshadowing of how the story will end. Jackson uses all of these examples to help her reader figure out her mysterious meaning by the end of her short story. Shirley Jackson uses several motifs including family and rules in The Lottery. Family…