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Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Shirley JacksonÆs (1948) The Lottery revolves around an annual rural town lottery wherein the winner is stoned to death by the other town members. Jackson uses a variety of techniques to ease us into this shock ending, including opening her story in a pastoral and peaceful tone to ease us into the horrifying shock at the end of the story, ôThe morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly greenö (Jackson 1948, 1). Jackson also provides us with a host of different characters in the story; the naming of who is an attempt to either fool us about the ending or are ironic in light of it.

The character names in ôThe Lotteryö often fool us about the graphic and murderous nature of the ending of the story. The peaceful, pastoral opening gives way to innocent schoolboys still immersed in the aftermath of a school year though free for summer. The boys are Bobby, Harry, and Dickie, names that are common and remind us of boys running free in summer in our own towns. By using such common names, we will think in the ending that such a possibility might be possible even in our own town. If it could happen to these common folks, perhaps a similar breakdown might occur in our own community. The boys ôeventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the squareö (Jackson 2004, 1). Such common activities and names are normal, so our suspicions are not aroused by these typical town activities.

We are then introduced to the conductor of the ôlotteryö, a Mr. Summers. This name fools us into complacency. The boys are free of school, the opening of the story is peaceful and pastoral, and now we have a conductor of a summer tradition named Mr. Summers. All of these peaceful images of common experiences lull us into thinking we are in for a peaceful, rural tradition, making the ending more surprising an

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Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:30, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1711380.html