Ambiguity in the Scarlet Letter In his 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s continual use of ambiguous and unclear elements allows him to “mingle the marvelous” and to give the book a certain air of mystery, permitting the reader to draw his or her own conclusions by constantly weighing the natural versus the marvelous reason for an event. To what extent can we say that the ambiguity and imagery are inextricably linked all over the story? Symbolism and allegory of particular events will be explained in a first part, and the study of Pearl’s meaning throughout the story will be done in a second part. To begin with, the prison door is described as having never known "a youthful era.” Yet, the wild rosebush that grows at the side of the portal is its saving grace. The rosebush represents kindness and forgiveness to the prisoners who must face either a prison sentence or a death sentence.
The setting is one symbol used in the story. The lottery takes place in a normal town on a beautiful day. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with a fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blooming profusely and the grass was richly green” (140). This would make readers think something good
Leonard Bernstein Ms. Vowles ENG4UV-03 7 July 2014 Essay Analysis Upon reading the essay, I believe that the overall essay was very effective. The introduction of the essay was strong, and had an interesting “hook”. By asking the reader a rhetorical question, the author was able to lead into his main idea. The examples the author used were effective; Dan Brown and Stephen King have an international following for their mystery novels. However, I felt that it was irrelevant when the author said, “Although many female writers claim to be the ‘Queen of Crime Fiction”…” I believe this phrase could be eliminated.
Alanna Stokes English 115 – TR 3pm February 13, 2014 Paper 1 Ann Boyce Compare and Contrast Force In the short stories, “The Lottery” and “The Cask of the Amontillado” the authors use characters that use force to control others. Also, both stories have victims that killed as a simple punishment that they didn’t deserve. Fortunato and Tessie Hutchinson are these two victims. The people in control, Montresor and the whole town, thought they were doing the right thing. These people were supposed to be their friends.
Traditions, Logical or Illogical Writers often use symbols to help convey underlying themes and ideas. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery is a perfect example of a story that can be so loosely interpreted or misunderstood without understanding the stories symbols and underlying themes. At a glance “The Lottery” is just a story about an unusual and morbid village whose people share the love for murder. By analyzing the short story’s symbols, the story becomes much more than a morbid village full of pointless hate. The lottery itself, the black box, family, and the lottery rules are all symbols that build the underlying theme of the story, tradition.
Question before the Procession Shirley Jackson’s use of literary techniques in The Lottery is a true work of genius. She strategically uses irony in many places such as the story’s title, the setting an even in certain character’s personality traits. Another important literary technique used by Jackson is symbolism. The black box and the story’s title seem to create a range of associations outside themselves such as the importance of questioning irrational traditions and the unexpected nature of death. With the use of these two literary techniques, (irony and Symbolism) Shirley Jackson is able to emphasize important dramatic events within the plot.
The Lottery The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a good story because of the use of literary elements that lead up to the understanding and plot of the story. “The Lottery” is about a town that has a lottery every, but the twist to the story is that the winner, who receives a black dot on a piece of paper from the black box, gets stoned to death as their reward. Shirley Jackson uses irony and motifs in the story to help explain a tradition that is old enough that the rituals involved have been partially forgotten. One literary element present in "The Lottery” is irony. The author uses irony when she makes the conductor of the lottery’s name be Mr. Summers.
Such stories as “The Lottery”, “The Necklace,” and “Jury of Her Peers,” all portray symbolism sometime throughout the story. In the short story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to give a deeper meaning to her horrifying story. In this story, we get reminded how cruel society can be, but yet we are so blinded to realize the majority of cruelty that happens around us. Usually, most people love to win the lottery, however in this story,
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Author Shirley Jackson delivers a great deal of mystery, suspense and even eeriness throughout the short story The Lottery. Imagery, symbolism and in-depth writing grants the reader visual and emotional access into the exceptionally small village of about 300 people, where the lottery takes place every year on June 27th. The formalistic critical approach can be used to develop a sense of atmosphere, time, and place all of which are shown through symbols and description. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” With the color of the grass representing growth, and the sun signifying energy
The Lottery In Shirley Jackson’s 1948 short story, “The Lottery,” she uses symbols to depict the theme of the story. In literature a symbol is a person, place, or thing that suggests more than its literal meaning. The theme of this story is the danger of blindly following a tradition. “Because there has always been a lottery, the villagers feel compelled to continue the horrifying tradition,” even though they are clueless to the true meaning (Griffin). From the setting to the characters themselves to the black box and the stones, Jackson reveals symbolism as a key component of her famous short story.