Traditions and rituals that are upheld by the people of a small village surround Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery". Throughout the story, traditions are constantly mentioned and the people of the village strongly believe in having the lottery every year on June 27th. Oddly enough the villagers do not think it is abnormal or strange to hold a lottery to decide who is going to be beat to death with rocks being thrown at them, and eventually killed. The villagers hold the lottery civilly and consider the death of one of their own people as a common ritual, which can be easily compared to our society today.
The villagers of Shirley Jackson's story uphold many traditions and remember those that are no longer used. For example, a black box is always used to hold the slips of papers containing the families" names. Interestingly enough, one part of the ritual was discarded by using slips of paper instead of chips of wood. Also, when the lottery first begins, "the official of the lottery", Mr. Summer, must be sworn in before the lottery can officially start. Some villagers in the story also remember other past parts to the beginning of the ritual such as a chant that was recited by the lottery official. Others believe that the official is supposed to walk through the crowd of people. Through many generations that attended the lottery though, this part of the ritual was somehow lost. This is surprising since many of the villagers take the ritual very seriously and some people, such as old man Warner, firmly believe that the lottery will last forever and that everyone should treat the ritual very seriously, including Joe Summers, who like to laugh and talk with everyone during the lottery. Next, the villagers then continue their tradition of the lottery by then drawing their families" names to see which family won the drawing. In the story, the Hutchinson family then won the drawing. It is then, when the villagers find out who won the lottery, that the reader is exposed to what the lottery is really all about.
There's always been a lottery." ... Nevertheless, the lottery continues because there has always been a lottery in the past. ... " The villagers' treatment of the box represents their thinking on the subject of the lottery as a whole because both the box and the lottery frighten them. ... Summer's name highlights his central role of the lottery. He is the most important of all those who manage the lottery. ...
"The Lottery, " by Shirley Jackson is a story about a small town that participates in an annual untraditional lottery event. Traditionally, the word "lottery" usually involves winning something like money or prizes, but in this particular story, the untraditional lottery winning means someone will lose their life. ... Hutchinson supports the lottery, and also encourages her husband Bill to pick a paper. ... During the gathering for the lottery drawing, some of the neighbors discusses the origin of the lottery and suggests that they stop the tradition. ... The central confli...
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery,"" is a short story about an annual lottery drawing in a small rural town that has been held for over seventy-seven years. ... The name Summers is the sir name of the lottery officiate. His name symbolizes the time the lottery is conducted; summer time on June 27. ... Warner is the person who warns the villagers of the danger of giving up the lottery. ... They are used to brutally stone the villager who has won the lottery. ...
Symbolism The Lottery In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," set in a small fictional town on June 27, the townspeople gather to conduct a lottery. ... Old Man Warner is the oldest man in the town and he states in the story, "seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery"; he is the only person to survive the lottery for seventy-seven years. We can look at Old Man Warner as a legend in that town for surviving so many lotteries. He has been in the lottery so long that he can tell how the lottery and the townspeople have changed, from the first time he was in it; he says "It's not...
THE PRIVATIZATION OF STATE LOTTERY (PFM) ISRAEL JIMOH "Early in American history, lotteries were quite common but also were generally operated by private organizations, not by state governments. ... Prominent American leaders also lent their support to lotteries designed to raise funds for public works. John Hancock's signature appears on lottery tickets sold to fund the construction of Faneuil Hall while George Washington administered the unsuccessful 1768 Mountain Road Lottery in Virginia, and Ben Franklin organized a lottery during the American Revolution to finance the purcha...
A Close Encounter with Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a story in which the setting sets up the reader to think of positive outcomes. ... The men in "The Lottery" are "speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes". ... The abundance of their harvest supposedly depended upon their performing the ritual of the lottery. The gender status in "The Lottery" is women are treated at a lower status than men. ... Children are an important focus in "The Lottery". ...
Garrison 25 October 2002 A Close Encounter with Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a story in which the setting sets up the reader to think of positive outcomes. ... The men in "The Lottery" are "speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes". ... The abundance of their harvest supposedly depended upon their performing the ritual of the lottery. The gender status in "The Lottery" is women are treated at a lower status than men. ... Children are an important focus in "The Lottery". ...
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a deceptively simple story about a small town community that holds an annual lottery. ... Although tradition is often considered to be something positive, in "The Lottery," tradition is something undesirable and even deadly. ... She describes the box as "growing shabbier every year" (565), showing that many years has passed since the lottery's initiation. ... The fact that she draws a slip of paper with a black spot out of the lottery box instead of a wood chip makes no material difference. ... In other words, village lif...
In The Lottery and the play Antigone two completely different perspectives of freedom are depicted. ... The rite in The Lottery was not religious, but still ceremonial because it was believed The Lottery would bring a greater harvest of the crops for the villagers. ... Summers by the postmaster, as the official of The Lottery"(248) Although conducting The Lottery was believe to bring a better crop the villagers did not take into consideration that they where killing innocent people. ... "(248) No one in the village questioned The Lottery, because to them The Lottery had such strong t...
The term "the lottery"" gives the reader an idea that it is a democracy. ... Summers is the leader of the lottery and everyone obeys him. ... The lottery had been an annual tradition for as far as we know longer than 77 years. ... The ending of The Lottery was a shocking surprise for us readers. ... Tessie shows a sufficient amount of irony in the lottery. ...
