Great Theme of Symbolism in the Short Story, The Lottery,...

It is often said that good things come in small packages, and short stories are a great example of that. Short stories, although not as lengthy as other forms of literature, still create a huge impact in a limited amount of time. The goal of most short stories is to convey a message or moral, but like any form of literature, some short stories are better than others. Out of all the short fictions read in the Grade 11 English curriculum, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is by far the most important story read because of the theme, the characters and the symbolism. The Lottery is a story about a community, who every year draws the lottery for someone in the village. A lottery is often associated with positive things such as prizes, and money, however, this story has a twist; whoever gets the black marked lottery ticket is stoned by the community people as it is a long tradition that has been passed down generation after generation. As bizarre and crazy as The Lottery seems, it can be compared very much to World War II. The lottery picking represents an action, the action of unjustified persecution and the danger of following traditions blindly. Having picked the black mark is not a valid excuse for execution and neither is being Jewish, they are both things that as a human beings, there is no physical control over. However, no one dared to speak up in the community because it was historical ritual. No matter how bizarre and morally incorrect it seemed, to the community it wasShow MoreRelatedLiterary Analysis Of The Lottery By Shirley Jackson910 Words   |  4 PagesLiterary Analysis of the Short Story â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson Shirley Jackson explores the subject of tradition in her short story â€Å"The Lottery†. A short story is normally evaluated based on its ability to provide a satisfying and complete presentation of its characters and themes. Shirley describes a small village that engages in an annual tradition known as â€Å"the lottery†. Narrating the story from a third person point of view, Shirley uses symbolism, foreshadowing and suspense to illustrateRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie The Lottery By Shirley Jackson1220 Words   |  5 PagesProfessor Lail April 27 2016 The Unlucky Winner â€Å"The Lottery† is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in late June of 1948. Jackson was born into a middle class family and her parents are Leslie Jackson, who was a stay at home housewife, and Geraldine Jackson, who was an employee of a lithographing company. Jackson loved to write in her early years, as a child she would always write poems and always kept a journal. Although Jackson spent her first few years in California, around her teenageRead MoreThe Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Analysis876 Words   |  4 PagesUrsula K. Le Guin and â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson address the theme of religious and traditional symbolism.† The Lottery† demonstrates how something that seems so perfect on the outside isn’t all that great on the inside. Symbolism shows the reader that there is a deeper message within the diction. â€Å"The Lottery† addresses the theme more successfully than â€Å"The Ones Who Walked Away from the Omelas† with the greater use of religious and traditional symbolism. The symbolisms in â€Å"The Ones Who Walk AwayRead MoreSymbolism : A Warn Path, And Shirley Jackson s `` The Lottery ``1636 Words   |  7 PagesSymbolism has been used for hundreds of years it has been used to help writers express different elements of their work. Katherine Mansfield the author of â€Å"Miss Brill,† Eudora Welty author of the short story â€Å"A Warn Path,† and Shirley Jackson author of â€Å"The Lottery† all use symbolism wonderfully in their work. They all use symbolism in a different way but they all use this process to help describe a deeper thought or meaning behind elements of their work. Symbolism is putting a symbolic meaning behindRead MoreCritical Criticism Of The Lottery1448 Words   |  6 PagesSherley’s Jackson short story, â€Å"The Lottery† tells the story of villagers that hold a terrible lottery tradition every year. Even though the story begins with the audiences with a bad close to the community by competing in a crisis tradition on a very important day, and at the end with a death of the â€Å"winner† by stoning the person that leads to s discussions between the people, and continued to be revise in modern days (Jackson). The â€Å"theory that based on the critical perspective of the story on theRead MoreCompare And Contrast The Lottery By Shirley Jackson1012 Words   |  5 Pages Fiction Essay Young Goodman Brown vs. The Lottery Authors: Nathaniel Hawthrone and Shirley Jackson ENGL 102 Spring Zuidema October 16, 2017 Page Break Nyasia Midgette ENGL 102 October 9, 2017 Thesis Statement: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthrone stories, Shirley Jackson encourages her readers to question their beliefs, actions, and the world by creating struggle. PageRead MoreThe Lottery, By Shirley Jackson1195 Words   |  5 PagesOn the surface, Shirley Jackson’s short story, â€Å"The Lottery,† reads as a work of horror. There is a village that holds an annual lottery where the winner is stoned to death so the village and its people could prosper. Some underlying themes include: the idea that faith and tradition are often followed blindly, and those who veer away from tradition are met with punishment, as well as the idea of a herd mentality and bystander apathy. What the author manages to do successfully is that she actuallyRead MoreSymbolism In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson879 Words   |  4 PagesShirley Jackson, the author of the short story â€Å"The Lottery† is an unusual story of a town caught in a trap of following tradition. Shirley Jackson uses many symbols in the story to relate to the theme. By doing this it helps the reader understand the story and the message she is trying to get across. Jackson uses tone, setting, and symbolism to conduct a theme for her readers. By doing this she creates connections to the theme by using the black box and old man Warner as a symbol. Old man WarnerRead MoreEssay on The Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson1192 Words   |  5 PagesThe Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to make us aware of the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. The story starts off on a beautiful summer day in a small town. The author describes the day as very euphoric but strikes a contrast between the atmosphere of the town and the atmosphere of the people gathered in the square. The atmosphere is subdued, where the children are gathered aroundRead MoreThe Lottery : Dissecting Sociological Horrors Essay1551 Words   |  7 Pages The Lottery: Dissecting Sociological Horrors When you hear the word â€Å"lottery†, what do you think? In Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, readers are presented with an ironic, dramatic, bleak tale about a small village gathering for not exactly what one would call a lottery. Born in San Francisco, California in 1916, Jackson spent much of her early life writing poetry and journal entries. After enrolling in the University of Rochester, she eventually withdrew to pursue her dreams of becoming a writer