The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Analysis

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If you could murder one of your family members, would you? In the story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, a deadly tradition promotes vicious acts against one another. A man by the name Mr. Summers hosts a lottery for a small town that contains about 300 people; with the use of a special “black box”, the town draws slips of paper. However, there is one piece of paper that is marked with a black dot, and only one person will be lucky enough to acquire it. The rest of the town, through the use of stones, eliminates the selected individual. Jackson illustrates how tragic an old tradition can be to a small community with excellent word choice, and also the use of imagery, and tone. Jackson’s word choice explicitly portrays how the town feels about …show more content…
Many of the participants blindly follow the tradition of the lottery, but they know that the consequences are severe. The lottery has gone on for a great deal of time; therefore, the town has become accustomed to being ignorant about the tradition. Everyone knows that they are going to eventually murder someone, but they will do nothing to stop themselves because they have been casually participating for years. As Jackson states, “She held her breath while her husband went forward” (Jackson 219). The act of Mrs. Delacroix holding her breath suggests that she was nervous about her husband potentially acquiring the winning slip of paper; the reader can visual how Mrs. Delacroix is feeling which helps add to the overall imagery. Jackson also states, “Old Man Warner snorted” (Jackson 219). Old Man Warner feels the exact opposite of everyone else, and he shows that with aggressive gestures. As Old Man Warner “snorted”, the reader can assume that he feels strongly against everyone’s opinions. Through the use of word choice and imagery, Jackson effectively conveys her tone so the reader can understand the impact of the lottery’s …show more content…
Jackson significantly conveys her idea that the lottery is slowly coming to an end through the use of her tone; she repeatedly refers to the potential ideas of the box and how they get nowhere. Nothing changes in regards to the box or the tradition itself, and Jackson’s tone applies the idea that the lottery will slowly fade away until it is fully diminished. Also, the reader can visualize the reactions that the people have when the lottery is taking place and how it can potentially damage relationships with one another through Jackson’s tone. Furthermore, The lottery has been an ongoing event for 77 years, and that signifies that it is a very old tradition. As Jackson states, “Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything’s being done” (Jackson 217). Nobody wanted to meddle with the tradition, so any idea that Mr. Summers created were eventually forgotten. Since no significant changes were made to the box, people realized they did not care enough to change anything. Jackson also states, “There had been, also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from the box, but this also had changed with time…” (Jackson 218). Again, another part of the tradition was lost due to how long it has been
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