The Lottery Rhetorical Analysis

“Even thought the black box lost its meaning they still remembered to use stones”(Griffin8). The villagers remembered the negative and not the positive in the ritual. The villagers don't think about others just themselves. Griffins statements can be used to state my claim about cruelty behavior. Their main arguments can be used in my essay towards authority and violence. Griffins article talks about how the villagers are being brought down by Old Man Warner and continues the tradition and converting it to violence. Instead of standing up to Warner and protesting that is not right to treat human beings as a form of assumption in sacrifice in order for crop growth to

Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery” serves as an allegory regarding humankinds inherent to be cruel and society’s ability to inure to violence. The author’s use of a third-person dramatic narrative combined with strong themes, symbols and irony clearly supports the lesson Jackson was trying to portray. Jackson’s short story shows how easy it is to be hostile when a group of villagers with a herd mentality blindly follow an outdated tradition and that evil knows no boundaries.

The Lottery is a mysterious short story about a town that holds a recurrent drawing to randomly select one townsperson to have them stoned to death. The theme of this story surrounds obsolescence, both because of an individual’s actions and because of the town ritual that stands despite a forgotten cause. Shirley Jackson details the last moments of Tessie’s life, just before being stoned, even after she stood up for herself in protest of the lottery’s ritual. Despite her willingness to discuss the possibility for change, Tessie is still killed mercilessly. Jackson writes this story carefully to ensure the lottery seems obsolete to the reader by not giving it a cause or reason. She successfully makes the reader consider it pointless and wonder why these people are continuing the tradition.

“ 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” (1). I have chosen this quote that supports my statement because it shows how devoted the village is to tradition. Some people have thought about replacing the black box, but they don’t want to upset tradition.

In "The Lottery" the fact that the Expostion id missing is add on the supenese of the story. Without the background knoweledge of the lottery it creates a misleading endung. hen we think of the lottery we think of winning a large sum of money. So when the story started off on a seemimgly perfect day and we the readers ouldnt expect that it will not expect the evil motives of that day. If the expostion was present the ending would not be as surprising or heart wretching as it is and the lottery they were partipcating in was to figure out which one of the citzens would be killed. But the absense of the expostion made us egar to read the story so that we could figure out why no one wanted to draw the lottery. Also not knowing why the wife was

It is human nature to uphold tradition. Shirley Jackson’s  “The Lottery” display’s the issue with society unquestioning approach to institutions. The shocking tale, which takes place in a fictional unnamed town in America, convey’s the dangers of clinging to tradition and not questioning the the institutions that practice them, and just how common they occur. Accordingly, these dangers manifest in the way the characters of the story accept the process of the lottery, but do not comprehend its purpose, the older generation’s disdainful view of noncompliance with tradition, and the townspeople’s callous demeanor in stoning Mrs. Hutchinson.

“The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson exemplifies a short story written in 1948. The story tells a tale of a small village in which they stone one of their own. Throughout the village, there are civilians who are opposed to the lottery and others who are for it. Shirley Jackson develops a thematic theme of Isolation and Deprivation through the setting and it’s characters.

The village is unwilling to move past their traditions because it has been a part of their society for so long. Sometimes people do things not because they agree with, or know exactly what they are doing, but for the reason that the tradition has been in tact for so long. Even though multiple surrounding towns have banished the lottery from their Almanac, Shirley Jackson’s short story village continues to hold true to their unwritten law. For no solidified reason, the village cannot move past what has been passed down by their ancestors.

In the second paragraph, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (251). The reason the boys picked up the smoothest stones was because the ones with the rough, jagged edges would kill the winner faster. The smooth rocks would grant the winner a slower, more painful death. The fact that the children picked up the stones in the first place, indicates that the children found some normalcy in the annual murderous event. The book box and the three-legged stool have religious symbolism. The black box was used to determines who would live and die for the town, and also embodies the past lotteries and the ones that have yet to come. The color of said box also symbolizes death and evil. The stool represents the holy trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The death box is held up by purity and holiness, but the box is sin and darkness. This is important because this town has manipulated their religion to justify and support the violence they’ve created and they’ve made it into a traditional event. Jackson implies/suggests that the people assumed God would have wanted them to make a sacrifice of innocent

The children are a symbol of the village people’s arrogance. Shirley Jackson implies this by stating “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest the roundest stones” (1). This is an example of ignorance because they are picking up rocks they find the most attractive for such a heinous act of violence towards an innocent woman. The children are picking up stones not realizing how horrific the actions that are going to be done with them. The tradition of stoning people has been passed on for years. Everyone in the town has done this lottery since they were kids. This hardened the people’s hearts, not caring that they are killing someone else for no one reason. This shows the arrogance that people will follow tradition blindly not carrying how it will affect others. Coulthard, A.R. deduces that “It is grim, even nihilistic, parable of the evil inherits in human nature” (226). People will do evil by their own nature. They do not see what they are doing is wrong, but do it because they think it is the right thing to do. Tradition shows them that it is the only way to do things even though they are murdering

The concept of a box is simple; usually four walls accompanied by a floor and roof to contain or hold an object. However, Shirley Jackson shows in “The Lottery” that a box can be so much more than merely its constructive description. If we chose to look at life and take everything as it appears to be then we may miss an entire world. One’s ability to revel in the deeper wonders of life can provide a truly fulfilling experience. These deeper wonders are all around us, yet, it is the fact that they are so well hidden beneath ordinary means that gives them their rich powers of enlightenment.

Why do the villagers continue to perform the tradition? The villagers continue the tradition because it has been

On a beautiful summer’s day, a town of villagers have assembled in the town’s square to conduct the lottery. It is not clear at this point why this traditional gathering has taken place. The impression that someone may win a prize or gift may be envisioned. As the story progresses, subtle hints are dropped that something is amiss. Ironically, the image of perfection no longer holds true to this small town once the “winner” is revealed and stoned to death. The mob mentality of the town is unveiled as they all partake in the barbaric tradition. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson uses aspects of the lottery to suggest how dangerous it is to blindly follow tradition.

Some characters refuse the thought of ending the tradition as other villages have. The character, Old Man Warner, complains that the other villages are, “[a] pack of crazy fools,” and that “…nothings good enough for them,” (Jackson 240). Lenemaja Friedman considers Old Man Warner to be “a frightening individual” who “believes in the lottery and is convinced that the ritual is necessary for the welfare of the corn crop” (192). The character proves this by retelling and old saying, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,” (Jackson 240). Friedman explains that the “annual sacrifice of a scapegoat” is an “ancient practice” believed to be for the “benefit of the community” (191). She claims that “sacrifices in the name of the god of vegetation were usual and necessary, the natives felt, for a fertile crop” (191). Amy A. Griffin emphasizes this by mentioning how “a good harvest has always been vital to civilizations” (44). This would have readers believe that the villagers continued the tradition because they felt they had to for survival no matter how cruel the act was. Griffin insists that the “villagers feel compelled to continue this horrifying tradition” (45) because “there’s always been a lottery” (Jackson 240). However, A. R. Coulthard declares that “it is not that the ancient custom of human sacrifice makes the villagers behave cruelly, but that their thinly veiled cruelty keeps the custom alive”

Annually traditions are something that is important to people all over the world. These traditions are certainly creating happiness amongst the people who participate. Therefore, people strive to maintain these traditions. These traditions are definitely something that the people of Shirley Jackson’s novel “The Lottery” take very seriously. In the novel there is an annual lottery draw in a tiny town. The lottery works randomly and every year a person is chosen to be stoned to death by the people in the village.