They both show me that this has been a tradition with rituals by the old Black Box as well as describing Old Man Warner as “the oldest man in town”. Clearly, this Lottery is very important to the citizens. Although I am not aware of the “Grand Prize” of winning this lottery, I can assume that it is a very good prize based on the manner of the town including the children. The author describes the boys and girls running around playfully and in “boisterous play.” As well as the women engrossed in gossip amongst each other, gives me an idea of how great this event is. I assume that they are talking about the lottery or who is going to win.
“The Lottery” conveys a darker, societal, ceremonious sacrifice in order to keep tradition, but “The Gift of the Magi” projects sacrifice through selfless love and genuine care for another rather than self. In “The Lottery’s” exposition, Jackson plants us in a seemingly average, peaceful community gathering in the square on the date of what civilians call “the lottery”. The reader perceives, by the author’s tone, that “the lottery” spoken of is similar to that of the twenty-first century in which the chosen wins something of value such as money. The reader also learns that “the lottery” is an annual event that has occurred for many years, a tradition to the people of the town. The story continues and we learn that the lottery is based from families, the head of which is the one to choose from the pot.
Another example of Jackson's use of symbolism would be the names of the townspeople. Mr. Summer's name represents the irony in the story because summer is thought to be such a joyous time, but he himself is the lottery official who has presided over this shocking, deadly ritual each and every year. Mr. Summers has to be sworn in to preside over the proceeding by Mr. Graves, “Graves” indicative of the deadly events forthcoming. Perhaps Jackson sought to create balance by using both Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves to share in the ritual's responsibilities to emphasize the allegory of life and
These stories are similar in many ways but they also have many differences; “The Lottery” seems to take place in an older New England village in 1948 when the people were a bit more barbaric than they are now whereas “Harrison Bergeron” takes place in the future, in the year 2081 somewhere in middle-America. In both stories, the main character, or what seems to be the main character, gets punished for questioning or defying the way of life in their hometown and both die while a family member(s) watch them. In both “The Lottery” and “Harrison Bergeron”, the societies the people live in may seem barbaric, but in reality, they really do not differ much from today’s societies being that everyone seems to be fighting for equality. After reading these two stories, it makes me wonder; do people really want equality? At what cost will we gain this equality?
La`Michael Boles English 101 Leah Halliday Little Black Box In the story “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, the people of the town believed in holding a lottery every year. They picked one name and then the winner would be killed. They held on to an old black box which they all knew they needed to get rid of, but didn’t. The black box in “The Lottery” represented old traditions, loyalty, and lack of knowledge. The black box represented old traditions in the community.
Annie Keene Mr. Cummings English 9H 29 October 2013 “The Lottery” In the short story, “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson focuses on a small town whose villagers conduct a yearly lottery, in which the person who draws a piece of paper containing a block spot on it gets stoned to death by the remaining villagers. Although within this tradition there involves a human sacrifice, the villagers remain obedient to the society there were raised in, and contribute to it. It is through the loyalty of characters Old Man Warner and Davy Hutchinson, the setting of an old fashioned town, as well as the symbols of the black box and black spot that display the primary theme that people born into a society follow its traditions, reluctant to change, for they
These two authors understand and realize the importance of setting in telling a story that holds the reader’s attention. “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is about a lottery done in a small town. This is not just an ordinary lottery for money or goods, the winner of this lottery is stoned by the townspeople. This is a tradition that has gone on in this town for many years and the people of the town seem happy that the lottery has come around again. The setting is set up by the author to distract the reader from the ultimate horrific ending of the story.
When people tend to hear the word tradition, without a doubt they would think of something in relation to good or positive. Yet it was a different scenario in “The Lottery” and was very shocking to many readers. People were stoned and killed year after year for apparently no reason other than it being a tradition. No one knows where it came from or how it all started, they just kept it running. Everyone in town participated in the lottery from even the youngest children to the oldest people.
Siggelkow 1 Ryan Siggelkow Dr. Kristi Eiler English 101 September 20, 2009 Personal Experience Narrative The Crandon Shooting It was homecoming week at Crandon High school. Dress up week was a blast and everyone participated. The teachers always said they'd give us extra if we dressed up. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I dressed up as The Terminator, wore our school colors, looked crazy on Wacky Wednesday, and finally dressed up like a woman. Thanks to the help of my girlfriend, I was one hot young lady.
The Analysis of the Lottery The short story “The Lottery” narrated a story about the people of a small town held an activity of lottery and the person who got the lottery would be hit to death by stones for the sake of harvest of the following year. Read through the whole story, we can know that the lottery completely show the blind obedience, less of rationality and cruel coldness of human nature of the whole town people. In the beginning of the story, the author described a quiet and peaceful, common and beautiful scene of the small town. For example, the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. These descriptions of the surrounding environment gave readers a kind of quiet and peaceful feeling so that it made readers think there would not happen anything bad.