Dehumanization In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Unhindered and celebrated annually, the Lottery has long been ingrained in the village society as a normal way of life. Moreover, the entirety of the village murder Mrs. Hutchinson for the sole reason of practicing a tradition. Lastly, the villagers have flagrantly forgotten about parts of the lottery, not realizing what has changed. Using the utensil of the short story, Shirley Jackson was able to criticize those who blindly accepted their traditions and

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, a dramatic and suspenseful short story about a small town that has a strange ritual. The town pulls out papers out of a box, if you pull out a paper with a mark, you are stoned to death. The town is split on whether the lottery should take place or not. Instead of watching others while they are causing harm to people, take action to make sure it does not happen again. Unless the people who disagree with the lottery rebel, they might never be able to overcome this horrible circumstance.

Many people would die to win the lottery; in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson you would do anything NOT to win this lottery. This annual lottery reveals the negative aspects of this town’s Tradition, Savagery, Barbarism, and cold-heartedness. In this paper I will show why this town blindly follows these customs, not because it’s a tradition but because of the accepting wickedness that can be shown. Why does the town follow this foolish tradition? Throughout “The Lottery” the narrator tells that the people do not remember how the lottery began, and that some of the older people believe the lottery has changed over the years, that now people just want to get it over with as fast as possible.

The truth of the matter though is that traditions can be disastrous because they are perceived as respectable merely because they have been around for so long. In “The Lottery,” Jackson uses tone, symbolism, and irony to show the destruction that can be caused by conforming to a tradition or a custom. Just like the villagers’ annual lottery, discrimination has been around for a long time as well, but just because it has been around for so long, does not mean it should be implemented. People must learn to separate themselves from such practices so they can teach future generation’s better ethical

Friends and family show extreme callousness as they join the bloodthirsty crowd to stone one of their own. Moments before the lottery began; Mrs. Hutchinson had a friendly chat with Mrs. Delacroix. However, when Mrs. Hutchinson had been declared winner of the lottery, all previous illusions of friendship between the two had been erased. Mrs. Delacroix was sprinting towards her with the largest stone she could find, excited to have the chance to slaughter one who, just the day before, she would have called friend. As disturbing as this may be, it is not nearly as unnerving as the betrayal among family members.

The Lottery itself represents a primal example of loss of innocence; portrayed through the young boys who gather at the town square to collect rocks for the horrors soon to follow. An illustration of how traditions can lose their true meanings and come to represent violence and warfare. Furthermore, “The Lottery” also represents the decaying characteristics of traditions, as symbolized by the town’s black box, in this case where every year, someone’s name is drawn out of the black box and they are stoned to death, by other members who may or may not end up to be family. Nonetheless, it ends up to be the villagers who

People seek to make their beliefs seem real when they are false. “The Lottery” is classic horror story with symbolism and foreshadowing. Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing and dark themes to reveal the evil nature of the lottery, which is revealed at the end of the story. The main conflict is between Tessie Hutchinson and the rest of the town between the character’s dark actions and the picture-perfect setting and the reader’s skepticism and acceptance of a violent tradition. Mrs. Delacroix’s choice of large stone, home symbolizes the cross, and Tessie’s willingness to participate until Bill draws the black dot that her all show examples of irony.

Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery was published in the 1940’s, yet its’ take on blind faith and tradition has relevance today. The short story opens with what the narrator describes as a “sunny and clear” day, June 27th to be exact. The citizens of a small village begin to gather in the village square to partake in a tradition of what is called the “lottery.” Some show excitement for the day’s events, others seemingly go about the motions; one character is stated to nearly have forgotten the day altogether. We first notice signs of hesitation toward the lottery when Mr. Martin and his son, Baxtar hesitate to step forward to help Mr. Summers, the leader of the ceremony, steady the stool the black box holding the lottery remains on.

Conformity is a powerful and influential behavior that can drastically affect a society’s circumstances. The morality and wellbeing of the individuals’ in a society are shaped by the everyday traditions and customs of that culture. Shirley Jackson, an award-winning author for her works in horror and mystery, unveils the perturbing effect of conformity on a society and its people in her short story “The Lottery.” In her thought-provoking story, a village situated in a warm area of England prepares to partake in a traditional crop fertility ritual that involves a paper drawing to elect a ‘winner’ who will be stoned to death. The societal conformity to continue this brutal tradition causes the life of a person to be insensitively taken away each

The purpose of the lottery is to continue the old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order for a harvest. The scapegoat is chosen at random and then stoned to death by his/her companions. Although “The Lottery” reflects an event from the past, Jackson shows that many of the actions of the town resemble the tribulations that ensue in today’s society. To begin with, like the villagers in the story, our society also partakes in valuing tradition.

Although many who read Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” believe it to be about a crazy town viciously slaughtering an innocent woman for the ritualized sacrifice to bring them a feastful harvest of corn, it very clearly demonstrates Jackson’s hope to educate readers of the horrors of society’s blind following using social conformity, tradition, and general acceptance. The story starts at around 10 o’clock a.m. on June 27, and children are stacking rocks. The whole town gathers around and picks one piece of paper per family, out of an old black box.

“The Lottery” is an realism/horror story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about some villagers of a small New England town who follow the tradition of making a lottery every year. When it comes, they like to celebrate it with the correct rules and the correct objects so they can feel more comfortable. Everyone need to take a slip of paper from a small black box, and the paper with a black dot in it means that the family is the winner, then they raffle again; Bill Hutchinson, who was the husband of the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson picked a paper with a black dot in it, that meant that Tessie was the winner of the lottery, then she starts complaining because the drawing was not conducted properly. At the end, the townspeople moved off to a cleared spot outside the town and they begin stoning her to death (Jackson).

Coldly seizing the paper to reveal that she possessed the marked ticket indicates a lack of empathy, not of a friend and a spouse, but as a participant removed from any loyalty to family, instead loyal to the lottery tradition. By holding the slip of paper Mrs. Hutchinson had drawn, Mr. Hutchinson seals his wife’s fate knowing full well what will come next. Mr. Hutchinson had made the choice to essentially betray his

The short story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, the plot in the story that it only gives people an account of drawing lots to determine the winner who shall be stoned to death for harvest. However, we get a deep impression of the characters and their fate after reading the story. Jackson indicated a prevalent theme, the indirect of characterization and using symbolism and irony to modify this horror story. The Allegorical story of “ The Lottery” is often regarded as a satire of human behavior and social institutions, and exemplifies some of the central themes of Jackson’s fiction, including the victimization of the individual by society, the tendency of people to be cruel, and the presence of evil in everyday life.

It is a place everyone knows, where nothing whatsoever happens. This is part of the chilling aspect of the story, as one considers that just such a thing can happen in any neighborhood at any time. However, the story is at its most creative with its shifting point of view, exploring the inner monologue of each of the characters. The reader is first introduced to the intended victim, a young girl named Alison.