Outline

Introduction of the story



This part explains what is story all about and why it became famous.

About the author

This part describes a little detail about the author and names of her other books that are famous.

Statement

I have jotted down the statement around which the rest of the assignment revolves.

Themes of “The lottery”

I have enlisted all the themes of the. This paper talks about following themes:

Life & death is a lottery

Society and class

Tradition and customs

Hypocrisy

Family

Presence of theme in various elements of the story

After describing the themes of the story, this paper reveals how these themes are reflected in the following elements of the story:

Symbolism

Settings

Characters

Tone

Writing style

Introduction of the story

The book “The lottery” is written by Shirley Jackson. It was originally published in 1948. This short story was firstly published in one of the most prestigious magazines New Yorker. This story got into the lime light because of its controversies. The number of negative letters that the magazine received in response to “The lottery” was incomparable to any other story that was published before. The nub of the story suggests the notion that evil can be so simply and easily carried out. About the author

Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco. She was an eminent American writer. She is well known for her short stories. She had written many poems, articles, novels and plays. “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” and “The Haunting of Hill House” are considered as her most famous novels. Statement

Variegated elements of the story such as characters, symbols and plot reflect the main theme of the story.

Themes of “The lottery”

Just like every other story this story also represents certain themes. The core themes of the story are as follows:

Life & death is a lottery

We all live our lives knowing that one day it would end up. In our lives some day we get lucky and enjoy the blessings of life while some times many of us have to face an uncertain event of death which eventually ends up the series of breath that we take. With the aid of lottery ritual in a village Jackson shows a concept akin to certainties and uncertainties of life.

Society and class

In "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson tells the tale of evil rituals in a small village. This story discovers mankind's evil environment hiding behind customs and rituals. Minor position of women in the hierarchy of socioeconomic of the village is shown as the major source of conflict in the story. Women in the story are portrayed as housewives rather than field workers.

Tradition and customs

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" depicts many aspects of how traditions and rituals are passed on from generation to generation. The story is about people with narrow minded and boorish behavior, who desire harshness and violence to keep gods happy. The story shows the tradition of celebrating an event of lottery every year in which the villagers indulge in cruel act of community murder.

Hypocrisy

There are many events in the story that shows unexpected alteration in the opinion and faithfulness ...