Essay about Lottery: Village and Sacrifice

Submitted By dsaiz504

Words: 338

Pages: 2

Open Document

Thematic analysis on
The Lottery

In the story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, a dieing tradition of death an sacrifice is the only sense of stability that is keeping a small village of three hundred together, and preventing it from advancing as a modern society. The fear of sacrifice does not even scare the smallest of children of this small village, it is all but a big game to them. Adults strut in pride as they advance the decrepit black box and withdraw a slip of paper that could potentially induce them into being the next sacrifice of the town. Not a cry or a tear nor a whimper is shown on the faces of the people of the village knowing the sacrifice could bring them a bountiful crop the new year. The town has used the tradition of sacrifice for decades, proving how far behind on the times they are compared to other villages. Tradition is preventing the village in advancing as a society. It is a mental block that has kept them from developing new ideas to grow and produce a more bountiful, fruitful crop. Besides sacrificing one of its people once a year, the tradition also brings together the town, something most modern societies now have motivational problems in doing so. It is a time for the village to get together, mingle, catch up, and swap stories, better perking up the villagers spirits for the new year. Each year a little more of the tradition is lost, due to forgetfulness, simply the a new generation that proceeds to do it there own way.

Sacrifice In The Lottery

end, then the lottery to boost the harvest season is worthless. In a small village on a clear and sunny day, an unusual draw is held: one in which nobody wants to win. The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is written about sacrificing a member of the village to receive a heavy harvest that season. It is said that “human sacrifice is not just… designed to appease the gods… or bring luck and prosperity” (Parker-Pearson, 2011, p. 4, P. 6). The article “The Practice of Human Sacrifice” reads about…

Words 610 - Pages 3

English: Short Story and Mr. Adams Essay

2014 “The Lottery” and “The Rocking-Horse Winner” The theme of “sacrifice” is integral to the author’s purpose in both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D. H. Lawrence. While the two authors use the idea of sacrifice in very different ways, the importance of sacrifice is clearly delineated. However, Jackson and Lawrence approach the theme from separate angles and with two very unique purposes in mind. This paper will examine the theme of “sacrifice” in each short…

Words 1081 - Pages 5

Summary Of Symbolic Connotation In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

A number of symbolic connotation can be located in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. for example Mr.graves his symbolic connotation is that he is the bringer of death. in one of the articles it states “ Mr.graves helps Joe Summers prepare the slips of paper that will send one of the residents to his or her graves. “ it describes that Mr. Graves is the one that sets up the lottery so someone could be sent to their grave. Symbolism Is like something that describes someone or something. For…

Words 933 - Pages 4

Essay about The Lottery

Jerry Pan Composition 2, 30232 Character/Conflict Paper 1 June 2013 Human Weakness In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson tells people follow the tradition no matter how ridiculous the tradition can be, and they can even give up their own family and friends to complete the tradition. Later on, people starts to realize the lottery is meaningless, unfair event that needs to sacrifice people and cannot even grow their corns better. We can have more understanding through characters and conflicts. Tessie…

Words 510 - Pages 3

Spartacus: The Lottery and Mrs. Hutchinson Essay

The Lottery The short story called The Lottery by Shirley Jackson incorporates many symbols to emphasize the theme throughout the story. One of the symbols that is mentioned in the short story is the lottery, which represents tradition and how a group uses violence to conform to society. The author also utilizes the names of the villagers as symbols to depict contradictory characteristics of each personage. In addition to these symbols, Jackson also uses the black box, the three-legged stool,…

Words 1687 - Pages 7

Omelas Vs Lottery

The story the Lottery Is about The act of stoning someone to death yearly purges the town of the bad and allows for the good. This is hinted in the references to agriculture.The story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas is about One child is chosen from the population to serve as a sacrifice that will allow the rest of the city to live in peace and plenty. The child is placed in a small, windowless room. I disagree with both the stories. They have a evil way of celebrating a festival or tradition…

Words 398 - Pages 2

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Tradition Analysis

In The Lottery, Mr. Summers, who can be represented as progress, frequently spoke “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.” Summers was successful about using slips of paper instead of chips because the box was small and the town was growing but the village still haven’t eliminated the ritual all together like the north village. Old Man Warner, who represents tradition, says…

Words 1088 - Pages 5

Character Analysis: The Lottery

The Lottery In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the characters have different feelings about the lottery. In the story “The Lottery” Tessie Hutchinson thinks the lottery isn’t fair. She said it isn’t fair because they didn’t give them time to pick a paper. The author makes the readers think that the lottery is a bad thing to do to people, because doing a sacrifice to an innocent person is not the right thing to do. The readers will probably say the same thing because even readers…

Words 381 - Pages 2

How Did The Hutchinson Change In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

someone thinks of winning the lottery he or she imagines changing to a luxurious life style. In the short story “The Lottery” the lottery is an annual tradition. The lottery, the tradition of the people, is an annual sacrifice chosen at random from the black box. The two characters Old Man Warner and Bill Hutchinson do not change throughout the story they are the same men through the entire story and very static characters. In this story the oldest man in the village is Old Man Warner. He has been…

Words 468 - Pages 2

Essay on The Lottery

“The Lottery” (1948) Why would a civilized and peaceful town would ever suggest the horrifying acts of violence can take place anywhere at any time and the most ordinary people can commit them. Jackson's fiction is noted for exploring incongruities in everyday life, and “The Lottery”, perhaps her most exemplary work in this respect, examines humanity's capacity for evil within a contemporary, familiar, American setting. Noting that the story’s characters, physical environment, and even its climactic…

Words 822 - Pages 4