By way of her appearance, she has definitely made herself obvious to the reader at this point; she’s pretty much made herself stick out like a sore thumb amongst the townspeople and to the reader. Then we pan to the actual drawing where followed by several other townsfolk have picked their tickets, Mrs. Hutchinson encourages her husband to go up and draw his ticket as if it were some game show; this is definitely not “The price is right!” where the participants come running up stage, excited and exuberantly, to test their luck, no. It’s much worse than that, and Tessie treats the lottery as if it’s the lottery the way
The Lottery is a short story by Shirley Jackson which is about a tradition, the lottery, held in a village every year. The theme of the story is about the danger of following a baseless and illogical tradition. Throughout the story, irony is heavily used on the lottery itself. In the beginning of the story, Jackson positively described the setting of the story by stating “The flowers were blossoming and the grass was richly green.” (pg.74) and the villagers talking to each other gracefully. However, a person is about to get chosen to get stoned to death.
The family member that has chosen the slip of paper with the black dot on it has won the lottery, but the only thing that he or she has won is a cruel and unusual death by stoning. In this story Tessie Hutchinson is the one who wins the lottery. Tradition is an essential element t in any family or town. It sometimes seems as if tradition is the key factor that holds a community together, people bond over similarities such as a common tradition, but what if the very thing that is holding a community together is also destroying its people? Why would a community keep repeating the same mistake year after year and never think twice about why they were doing it in the first place?
A Look into the Black Box Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery", aroused much criticism in 1948, following its debut publication, in the New Yorker. Jackson uses irony and comedy to suggest an underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind. The story takes place in a small village, where the people are close and tradition is paramount. A yearly event, called the lottery, is one in which one person in the town is randomly chosen by a drawing, to be violently stoned by friends and family. The drawing has been around over seventy-seven years and is practiced by every member of the town.
By reading this story you begin to wonder what the lottery really I because if it was really a lottery that would be the wrong response to a good thing. The tension in the story rises as the Hutchinson family prepares to draw again within their family, presenting the second conflict. People in the crowd announce who they do not want to win and they hold their breaths when the youngest Hutchinson child draws first, hoping it is not him. It is soon revealed that Mrs. Hutchinson has been the unlucky
A second theme that Shirley Jackson displayed is that following the crowd can have dangerous consequences. It was obvious that Bill Hutchinson went to his wife and forced her to show the others that she had the slip with the “black spot” after doing so, Tessie is designated as the “winner” and the story states: “The children had stones already”. This line from the story shows that because of the actions of the community, little Davy followed the actions of the crowd and contributed to the stoning of his mother’s death. Another example was shown as, the story states, “the children were already stoning Tessie, and that someone gave little Davy some pebbles, as if it were a game in which he should participate”. This
“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.” (The Lottery, 247) Jackson begins the story describing the scenery before the lottery. The way she describes it leads the reader to believe this day is a happy day that the town folk look forward to annually. Jackson foreshadows the ending of the story in the beginning when she talks about the children collecting the smoothest and roundest stones and putting them in piles. Little do we know the stones are the “weapons” used to destroy the unlucky winner of the lottery. Ordinary folks in the society consider the lottery an ordinary ritual or tradition.
He believes they must carry on this tradition and he never has come to realized how awful it is. Old Man Warner did not show value of human life by putting crops over innocent peoples lives. In “The Lottery,” all of the towns people know each other very well due to their community of only 300. They all respect each other and feel bad for General Zaroff also takes pride in what he does, more than any other characters. He finds no harm in the actions he's choosing to make.
Reader Response #2: The Lottery “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson and published in 1948. The title of the story initially leads readers to believe the story is going to be about someone winning some kind of prize. Even the opening of the story seems to protest any foul play or cruel behavior. What the reader is introduced to is a seemingly friendly gathering of a small village community, members all gathered around anxiously awaiting their drawing for the lottery. The village members all chatter amongst one another in a tone that kind neighbors would take with one another.
The Day Tessie Hutchinson’s Luck Ran Out They say some people have all the luck. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, Tessie Hutchinson’s luck ran out on June 27th. She chose the marked paper out of the wooden box, which in this short story meant that she would be the one getting stoned. It was a warm, sunny summer day. Everyone from the village, about 300 people, were gathered around the square for the lottery drawing.