The Lottery Rhetorical Analysis

The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, is a compelling story about the human race and how it is affected by its surrounding traditions. When the 27th of June arrives, a village is overtaken by a two hour lottery, which includes the picking of stones, a black box and ends in a fight for the “winners” life.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short story based on a fictional village that holds a macabre ritual. Although the regularity was not stated within the tale, the story speaks of a regular gathering of the village folk to conduct some form of lottery. In a disturbing twist of the tale, the winner of the lottery doesn’t get to receive a prize, but instead, suffer the indignity of being killed by getting stoned to death by friends, family, and neighbors. Mrs. Hutchinson is the unfortunate soul, who, despite her pleas and protests has no option but accept her fate. In a similarly titled story, The Lottery by Chris Abani talks about an incident he witnessed when he went to the market with his aunt. In the story, Abani explains how he

“The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, was written in 1948, which was just a few years following World War II. Everyone was still on edge from the revelation of the mass killings at the concentration camps and the copious amounts of death that ensued in the war. The obedience of the villagers, the tradition of the lottery, and the perception of human nature play large roles in the telling of “The Lottery”.

The lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948 and was published in the New Yorker.This is not a true story. The short story took place in the square in the village. The village has a lottery every year. Villagers would say “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” The man of each household had to pick a piece of paper out of a black box. The “winner” got a black dot on the paper; the “winning” family would have to draw out of the box. Someone in the family would get the black dot, if they did they would be stoned to death. The central theme to The Lottery is the power of tradition. Somebody mentioned people are changing the tradition but he got “shot down”. They have been doing the tradition for so long they have never stopped

Accordingly the reader has had ample time to form whatever interpretations they may have about the lottery, even given the sparse information that the story provides. What is certain about the story leading up to the very end, is that everyone in the town takes place in the lottery regardless of age, that there’s been a lottery for as long as anyone can remember, that this village is not the only one that keeps this practice, and that it is a declining practice (Jackson 239). Despite whatever conceptions the reader may draw about the mystery of the lottery, the truth is so unexpected that it perfectly demonstrates how something can possess immense and startling power (May 48). The reader discovers that the lottery is actually a public stoning. The exact process is that everyone draws a piece of paper from a box, and whoever draws the paper marked with a black spot, is stoned to death. An important thing to note is that in the beginning of the story, the villagers “made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square” (Jackson 235). These stones are not mentioned until the very end, where the villagers proceed to bludgeon the unlucky winner of the lottery. This brutal image is enough to shatter any preconceived notions the reader may have formed, thus raising another mystery: what is the purpose of the lottery?

The Lottery, a short story by author Shirley Jackson, is a representation of our somewhat conformist society as a whole, within communities, not only in America, but around the world. Jackson, utilizes small town settings and symbolism through her creative writing style. The Lottery, was written in 1948, approximately three years after the liberation of the World War II concentration camp Auschwitz. Not surprisingly, some people still deny that the Holocaust ever happened. Jackson illustrates that even a small towns, tight knit population, can discount evil, and evil is still prevailing in our current society (for example: the terrorist attacks on September 11; the massacres in France.).

The lottery the setting is in a small town. Every year a lottery is held in the village. The villagers would gather early morning on a clear and bright day June 27th for this town lottery. One person is to be randomly chosen to be stoned to death by the people in the village. The lottery has been practiced for over seventy years by the townspeople. The lottery is symbolic story. Every event that occurs in the lottery represents a meaning. The symbolic ritual tradition of the lottery happens every year, an unquestioned culture event. The lottery is ongoing in the village because no one critically addresses the information or to question the tradition. In the story Shirley Jackson uses names and objects to reveal the true meanings about 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. To the surprise of the reader, the story provides a shocking twist. The story is not about someone winning a prize. Instead the story reveals

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, is a short story that goes on to tell about an annual lottery held by a small village in New England. “The Lottery” starts off happily with the talk of a “clear and sunny, with fresh warmth of a full summer day,” (Jackson 345) and then quickly unravels with a gruesome sequence of events. Each year villagers gather together to partake in the lottery, in which each person draws at random to determine who will be stoned to death by the village. Jackson uses symbols such as the “black box” (346) and the “three-legged stool” (346) to create a sense of suspense early on in the story, as well as an ironic setting in order to mask the true intentions of the lottery.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson made its first appearance in the New Yorker in 1948. Many people classify this short story as a horror story, even though there is not anything actually scary about it. “The Lottery” tells a story of a village that holds a yearly lottery to find a winner; however, the winner of this lottery does not win money like the title would insinuate. The winner of the lottery wins the right to be stoned to death by everybody in the village. Nobody in the village knows why they still participate in this lottery, but it has become a tradition to them. The theme of this short story is tradition, and it is displayed through three literary devices used throughout the story: foreshadowing, symbolism, and irony.

The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. Immediately after its publication, there ensued a strong debate on the main book’s main agenda. This is because many people never comprehended the main theme behind this story. The setup of this story was in a small town located in the US. This town normally practiced some form of rituals.

I chose to do my essay on the short story “The Lottery”. It was written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. It is a very interesting short story. I really enjoyed reading and watching this short story. This story brings a whole different meaning to the word lottery. A drawing, known as the lottery, took place in villages each year. The winner of this drawing got stoned to death by all the villagers. I am going to talk about the setting, symbolism, and themes of this short story.

The story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson is about a lottery in a small village. The lottery took place in the same time the year, and the people in the story was ready for it. In addition, the story shows the interactions between people and human nature in times of fear. Nevertheless, the people in the village has to draw one person that will die probably by stones being thrown at him/her. The setting of these story shows how tradition like the lottery in the can still take place even when people don’t want to take part of it anymore, it can be shown with the effect of a small town on people, and the power that people have on other in a small village compare to big

For over 2 hours the villagers gathered around the town’s square awaiting the results to the annual lottery. “The Lottery” was written by Shirley Jackson in 1948 and became one of America’s best and most controversial short stories. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson expressed her opinion on society’s resistance to change and how people uphold traditions passed down through generations.

“The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a lottery that takes place in a small village. The story starts off with the whole village gathering in the village square, where Mr. Summers holds the lottery. Once everyone gathers, each family draws a slip of paper out of an old black box, and the family with the black mark on their paper does it again. This time though, each individual family member older than 3 years of age re-draws a slip of paper and the person with the black mark on their paper gets picked as the “lucky winner” of the lottery. In this short story, when Tessie Hutchinson is declared “winner” of the lottery, her reward is certainly not a million dollars, but instead, being stoned to death. The whole village