How Does Shirley Jackson Use Tradition In The Short Story The Lottery

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In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the people of a small town congregate to hold a gathering that makes up the lottery. As the children gather stones, families are called alphabetically to pull a paper out of a box. When Bill Hutchinson draws the dreaded marked paper, each of his family members have to draw to see who gets chosen. Bill’s wife, Tessie, had the paper with the black dot on it. Her friends and family are to stone her to death, as tradition dictates. “A stone hit her on the side of the head” (Jackson 30).
Shirley Jackson, in the story “The Lottery”, startles readers by giving a chilling account of tradition in a small town. The people of the town are fearful of rebelling against the tradition of stoning a member to death by lottery drawing. This old custom was held onto by the elders of the town like Old Man Warner when he refers to the “pack of young fools” who have quit doing lotteries (Jackson 28). They need to look at the traditions that are still thriving and evaluate their usefulness. The townspeople have gotten used to this practice and do not appear to be …show more content…
She repeatedly uses her lies to try to sway characters to do as she would have them do. Although she is portrayed as a Christian, she is constantly influencing through telling made up stories. The Misfit finally calls her bluff when the family is heading to vacation and they meet up with him through a car accident. They think he may be stopping to help but he ends up having the family taken into the woods and shot. All the while, the grandmother is trying to convince him to spare them by telling him he can be forgiven and sharing the gospel with him. “If you would pray, Jesus would help you”, she said to the Misfit (O’Connor 38). In the end, she was killed anyway and dies with a smile upon her

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Essay on TheLotteryDecember5th

idea is seen in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Ms. Jackson develops her short story using symbols, such as names, objects, numbers and specific times in the setting to further the idea that superstitions overtime become rituals. Ms. Jackson uses a network of allegorical symbolism in “The Lottery” to build around a severe commentary of how tradition works in American culture. Tradition both as a means of everyday routine, and also the larger kinds of religious traditions and superstitions that…

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Similarities Between The Destructors And The Lottery

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Controversy In The Lottery

In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson In “ The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, there are many reference to history along with controversial topics and actions. The topics addressed in the story involve conformity, tradition, rituals, and horror. The short story incorporates morbid history and showcases conformity between other people. By exploring other references we can better understand the work as a whole and how the author pieced the story together. When analysing “ The Lottery” the story is found…

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102 May 29th, 2013 Shirley Jackson was born on December 14, 1916, in San Francisco to a family with somewhat of a social position. She was not really the daughter that her parents wanted especially for her mother. Her mother thought of her as ugly, she wanted a daughter that was beautiful and a fool, unfortunately Shirley was neither of those things. It was said that she looked like her father with reddish-blonde hair, light eyes and fair complexion. Shirley was one that had the ability…

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Irony In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

"The Lottery" is a short story written by author Shirley Jackson. "The Lottery" is about a yearly annual lottery that is held each summer. In this story the winner of the lottery is to be stoned to death by the remanding people of the town. The lottery is a tradition that has occurred for well over seventy years and is believed to bring good fortunes for the upcoming harvest season. Jackson does not reveal the consequences of winning the lottery until the end of the story making the reader search…

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Mending Wall And The Lottery

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Essay on Lottery Response Paragraph

Tradition vs. Change and Modern Society In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, Jackson is able to express his view on the world by writing a short story on topics such as tradition, change, and age. To give an example of tradition, Jackson writes, “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box” (Jackson 1). This quote most nearly means that some of the townsfolk do not want to change the tradition…

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How Does Shirley Jackson Use Symbols In The Lottery

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a story of a surprising town got in a trap of continually following tradition, notwithstanding when it is not to their greatest advantage. Jackson utilizes symbols all through the story that relate with the theme. Shirley Jacksons clearly communicates her emotions concerning traditional customs through her story. It opens the eyes of readers to legitimately arrange and address some of today’s customs as cruel, and permits space to anticipate the result of these…

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