The New Yorker

In the short story “The Lottery”, the author Shirley Jackson writes of a small town presumably somewhere in the United States where an annual ceremony is held. In the lead up to the ceremony Jackson depicts the atmosphere in the town as the people prepare for this ritual that is known as the lottery. Jackson doesn’t mention throughout the exposition of the short story what the lottery exactly is but we find that there is an uncertain atmosphere surrounding the ceremony. In the preparation she…

I think the sentence sets the time of the book because it clearly displays a very outdated form of belief. Back in the fifties, it was odd to date as a teenager, even worse if the person was of another race or religion. I can tell that the community is probably conservative, because even different denominations of the same religion cannot be in a relationship. (65 words). It is obvious, from the introduction of Mrs. Clutter that she is depressed. The page after this explains her…

One of the vital character’s in this novel, includes detective Dewey, whom played a big part with the help of discovering who the murderers were. During that process, detective Dewey takes the whole situation to a new level of becoming psychologically attached to this case, and he feels like he, “know[s] Herb and the family better that they know themselves” (Capote, 92), and has an unreasonable understanding of being “ haunted by them… and always be, unit [he] knows…

invade the avenue.” She was doing what she always has: watching. She has been a spectator for her entire life, and she is now only seeing a change. The author used the word “invade” because that is exactly what Frank is doing. He was unexpected and new, and he was asking her to make a change instead of merely watching her life go by. The second sentence of the text, “Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odor of dusty cretonne.” was written in a passive…

and probably did what many readers say not to do, which is, judge a book by its cover or in this case by its title. The title alone portrays that this is a happy story about winning a lottery. The lottery sounds just like what the NHL does for their new rookies, “The Draft Lottery”. Where the whole NHL puts all the teams names in the Draft Lottery to see which team will have the first overall pick for that upcoming season. This title is the first evidence of suspense and as you read on the…

Throughout history, tradition has played a major role in everyday life. Tradition is often thought of as a social glue that holds families and communities together, but should society participate in a recurring tradition just so it can be preserved and not question the moral aspect of the tradition? In the short story “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson is able to illustrate citizens of a village to blindly participate in a barbaric tradition that turns civilized civilians into rabid animals just by…

Sammy, a 19-year-old boy, serves as a protagonist character in the A&P short Story. He initially works as a cashier in a small-town supermarket. The A&P story happens in a small community that carries a profound conservative opinion (Wheeler, 2011). At the start of the story, three young ladies walk into the store putting on bathing suits. The way how the girls go about dressing themselves makes people especially Sammy look upon them strangely, which reveals the rift within the young and the old…

In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson exemplifies how the annual stoning enables the otherwise rational humans in the town to make scapegoats out of their peers. Jackson accomplishes this through the actions and descriptions of the characters throughout the story, including the roles of the women in the community, which demonstrates how those who have less power are typically targets for scapegoating. Additionally, the village elder, Old Man Warner, serves to demonstrate how humans are capable of…

The Tradition of Pain The “The Lottery” (1948) by Shirley Jackson and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1973) by Ursula Le Guin share a setting that is both similar and different from one another. In both stories, the writers use social constructs and deep ritualistic traditions to pave a setting for both stories. Though both traditions pertain to one individual, the basis of each tradition is different from the other through life and death. The first element of comparative analysis…

Anahis Figueroa Both My Home and My Happy Place It was a bright, sunny day in Chicago. The temperature was perfect. It wasn’t too hot but hot enough that it wasn’t overwhelming. I turned my attention to Lake Michigan. I looked at the water glistening and the waves moving forward in unison. And that's when I noticed that I was blanking out. As I continued drowning in my own thoughts, I stopped when I heard my sister’s voice say, “Come on we’re leaving.” As she was dragging me along I notice my…