Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” presents the unfolding of an annual sacrificial ritual that villagers from an unknown time and place follow unavoidably as a tradition. This classic story contains a twist ending as the victor of the drawing is destined to death by their own people, including their family and friends/5(26) Lisa Marie Shade Prof. Dunn ENG August 9, The Plot Thickens- In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. A good harvest has always been vital to civilizations. After the fields have been prepared and the seeds sown, the farmer can only wait and hope that the proper balance of rain and sun will ensure a good harvest Nov 05, · You can start your essay on The Lottery by telling your audience about the writer, her life, and her works. Talk about the initial response the work got. If you decide to go a different route, you can select a popular tradition and talk about its origins. What is the problem of the story The Lottery?
"The Lottery" Literary Analysis Essay - Words
Lisa Marie Shade Prof. A good harvest has always been vital to civilizations. After the fields have been prepared and the seeds sown, the farmer can only wait and hope that the proper balance of rain and sun will ensure a good harvest.
From this hope springs ritual. Many ancient cultures believed that growing crops represented the life cycle, beginning with what one associates with the end—death. Seeds buried, apparently without hope of germination, represent death. But with the life forces of water and the sun, the seed grows, representing rebirth. Consequently, ancient peoples began sacrificial rituals to emulate this resurrection cycle. What began as a vegetation ritual developed into a cathartic cleansing of an entire tribe or village.
Evans, Jackson weaves seasonal and life-death cycle archetypes, which coincide with vegetation rituals, into the story. The lottery takes place every year when the nature cycle peaks in midsummer, a time usually associated with cheerfulness. The villagers of a small town gather together in the square on June 27, a beautiful day, for the town lottery. In other towns, the lottery takes longer, but there are only people in this village, so the lottery takes only two hours.
Village children, who have just finished school for the summer, run around collecting stones. They put the stones in their pockets and make a pile in the square. Men gather next, followed by the women. Parents call their children over, and families stand together, literary analysis essay on the lottery.
Summers, a jovial man, who conducts the lottery ceremony, sets literary analysis essay on the lottery tone of the event with both his name and his mannerisms. But lurking literary analysis essay on the lottery him, Mr.
Graves quietly assists, his name hinting at a dark undertone. The picnic type atmosphere betrays the serious consequence of the lottery, for like the seed, a sacrificial person must also be buried to bring forth life.
Jackson creates balance by assembling Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves to share in the responsibilities of literary analysis essay on the lottery ritual: Life brings death, and death recycles life. But as time passed, the villagers began to take the ritual lightly.
Old Man Warner, the only one who seems to recall the seriousness of the occasion, complains that Mr. Summers jokes with everybody. But, even if one does not understand the meaning, the experience provides the individual a place and a meaning literary analysis essay on the lottery the life of the generations. They do focus, however, on its gruesome rather than its symbolic nature for they still remembered to use stones even after they have forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box Jackson Summers asks who will draw for Dunbar, and Mrs.
Summers asks whether the Watson boy will draw, and he answers that he will. Summers then asks to make sure that Old Man Warner is there too. No one should look at the paper until everyone has drawn. He calls all the names, greeting each person as they come up to draw a paper. Adams tells Old Man Warner that people in the north village might stop the lottery; he says that giving up the lottery could lead to a return to living in caves. When Mr. Summers finishes calling names, and everyone opens his or her papers.
Summers asks how many kids Bill has, and he answers that he has three. Her extreme moral compromise, as she tries to offer up her daughter for the slaughter instead of herself, underlines that this ritual has nothing to do with virtuous martyrdom; Tess is no saint. Her murder is exactly that: a vicious, group killing of a frightened, antiheroic woman. Graves dumps the papers out of the box onto the ground and then puts five papers in for the Hutchinsons. As Mr. Summers calls their names, literary analysis essay on the lottery, each member of the family comes up and draws a paper.
When they open their slips, they find that Tessie has drawn the paper with the black dot on it. Summers instructs everyone to hurry up. The villagers grab stones and run toward Tessie, who stands in a clearing in the middle of the crowd. Everyone begins throwing stones at her, as even her own children. Hutchinson arrives at the ceremony late, flustered because she had forgotten that today was the day of the lottery.
She chats sociably with Mrs. Nevertheless, after Mrs. Hutchinson falls victim to the lottery selection, Mrs. Whereas, on the individual level, the two women regard each other as friends, on the group level, they betray that relationship, satiating the mob mentality.
The people of the town are caught up in the ritual to such an extent that they have given up any sense of logic. Mob psychology rules their actions. Though they appear to be sane, literary analysis essay on the lottery, sensible individuals, when the time of the lottery comes, they abandon their rational nature and revert to the instincts of the herd.
This psychological phenomenon is characteristic of humans throughout history. Although Jackson portrays it in its extreme form in this story, the idea that men and women in groups are willing to forgo personal responsibility and act with great cruelty toward others is evidenced in actions such as lynch mobs, racial confrontations, and similar incidents.
Graves DeathMr. Summers Progressor Old Man Warner TraditionTess is resolutely anti-symbolic. Work Cited Evans, Robert C. Literary Reference Center.
Hall, Joan Wylie. Jackson, Shirley. Drama, and Writing Compact sixth ed. New York: Pearson Longman, Print Mazzeno, Laurence W. Yarmove, Literary analysis essay on the lottery A.
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, time: 20:08The Lottery Essay: Literary Analysis Example
This is a literary analysis essay about a short story “The Lottery” By Shirley Jackson. Jackson’s writing style is considered to be a “gothic fiction” that refers to a style of writing that is characterized by “elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom, as well as romantic elements, such as nature, individuality, and very high emotion.” (blogger.com) In this essay, I will be Lisa Marie Shade Prof. Dunn ENG August 9, The Plot Thickens- In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. A good harvest has always been vital to civilizations. After the fields have been prepared and the seeds sown, the farmer can only wait and hope that the proper balance of rain and sun will ensure a good harvest Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” presents the unfolding of an annual sacrificial ritual that villagers from an unknown time and place follow unavoidably as a tradition. This classic story contains a twist ending as the victor of the drawing is destined to death by their own people, including their family and friends/5(26)
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