Running head: SHORT STORY ANALYSIS

Short Story Analysis Jenn Hodge Hondros College School of Nursing ENG 250 C October 25, 2013

SHORT STORY ANALYSIS Short Story Analysis Plot Shirley Jackson does an excellent job, in my opinion, being able to paint a vivid picture

in the readers mind about a small American town that have been brought together, to partake in, The Lottery. The story begins within a small town in America on or around June 27th, for the town lottery. With the townspeople amounting to around 300 total, the lottery in this town is relatively short as compared to other towns with larger populations. School had just been let out for the summer, so it was of no surprise the children were anxiously running around filling their pockets with stones to bring with them to the ceremony. All while the children running and playing collecting rocks and stones, the parents and families began to collect around the square waiting anxiously. As the people began to fill in, the children put the rocks in a pile in the middle and dissipated to their small family huddles. Mr. Summers, who runs the towns lottery, follows suit with the townspeople to the square, carrying the black box with him. Following Mr. Summers to the town square is Mr. Graves the postmaster. The night prior to the lottery, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves filled out the small pieces of paper, only to then lock them inside the black box securely until the next day. The black wooden box that Mr. Summers carries to the square with him shows it age and has splintered wood all throughout. The age of the box shows that this lottery has been in place for a good amount of years. This is something of tradition. Even with the current black box in almost shambles, this box is still older than the towns elder , Old Man Warner. The original black box was somewhat lost many years prior, hence making what the town now uses as their tradition. Going along with tradition for this lottery, the narrator of the story portrays that there are

SHORT STORY ANALYSIS longstanding rituals that once went along with such, even a swearing in of the officials for the lottery callings, but have long since been forgotten- or not included any longer.

As Mr. Summers anxiously awaits the people of the small town to all be in attendance, he calls out asking if everyone is in attendance. People from the crowd shout back with who is missing and also making arrangements on who will be drawing for who for the lottery if someone is unable to do so, or doesnt meet said requirements to draw from themselves. There seems to be a polite gentleness between people in the square during their vocal exchanges. Soft words are used between families. At this time, is when Mrs. Hutchinson, Tessie, makes her way to the front of the crowd pushing politely past other families to reach her husband and children at the front of the crowd. The crowd laughs gently, and pokes fun at the fact that Tessie showed up late, all in what seems to be good humor. This polite exchange between families comes to a halt once the formal name drawing begins. Mr. Summers begins with reading aloud the names of the household heads to start, and they then begin to make their way to the center of the square. Once the heads of the households are there, they soberly draw an additional slip of paper from the black wooden box. As they are pulling the slip of paper from the shanty box, the crowd is overcome with nervousness and tension. The men refuse to look at the slips of the paper as they all return to their spot with their families and hold tightly to their luck of the draw. As the men are back in their spots, tightly holding on to their papers there is much abuzz amongst the townsfolk about how other communities around have done away with their lottery. This starts to create tension between the people, creating much nervousness within their small talk. Old Man Warner catches wind of such nonsense talk within the crowd and berates them for partaking in such nonsense chatter. Old Man Warner stands firm on his disapproval saying

SHORT STORY ANALYSIS that the younger generations do not hold the respect for the lottery as the elders do, and if they want to go back living the way life was prior to, that would be nothing but disgrace. He continues on saying, Pack of crazy fools, listening to young folks, nothings good enough for them. Next thing you know, theyll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work anymore, live that way for a while. Used to be a saying about Lottery in June, corn be heavy

soon . Theres always been a lottery (Jackson, pg. 413). Even amongst the what seems to be a momentary hesitance and sour outlook towards the lottery, Old Man Warner quickly shapes the crowd back into the mindset of this being for tradition and whether is varying purpose, its value remains important and the townspeople shall at least uphold this meaning. Mr. Summers waves the okay for the crowd to open their slips of paper to let be known who the winner of the lottery is. It is quickly known that it is now the Hutchinsons, meaning that in this ritualistic lottery draw, the head of the household is to return- this time within company of the rest of the family, wife, children etc. to the box. Trailing behind Mr. Hutchinson is his wife, Tessie, and his two young children. Tessie began to exhibit behaviors consistent with anxiety and fear claiming that her husband wasnt given the proper amount of time to choose the particular piece of paper that he wanted to in the start of all of this. The crowd that once was softy spoken and had a generous approach to its fellow village members quickly turned into somewhat of an annoyed state at Tessie. Rolling their eyes, and shaking their heads at her while she was showing fear. Even her husband was quick to tell her to shut up with her fussing since the audience was ignoring her and even seeming annoyed with her. Even after Mr. Hutchinson tells his wife to be quiet, Tessie begins to shout that her husbands in laws were not included in this, and should be since they are also part of the family. Tessie who is displaying tenseness and

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seems to be in disarray, is silenced and told to be a good sport. The four of them are told to draw a slip and to not look until each one of them has a piece of paper in their hands. The winner of the lottery as revealed by a large black dot on a slip of paper indeed is Tessie. After learning that Mrs. Hutchinson was in fact the winner, Mr. Hutchinson proceeded over to his wife, plucked the slip of paper out of her hands coldly, and with no more ado- the winner is then given her prize. Tessies children and everyone else in the audience make headway to the rock-pile, seeing some opt for quite heavy and jagged rocks. Tessie had since been moved to the center of the audience, and without any display of emotion or hesitance- they all begin to throw them at Tessie who is proclaiming, it isnt fair, it isnt right (Jackson, pg.415). The plot ends abruptly here leaving no concluding factors, no sad goodbyes, no distraught townspeople that a village member, one of their own people is in fact being stoned to death. Nothing else is mentioned about Tessies family, just a focus on Tessie being stoned to death. Tessies final scream proclaiming that it isnt fair, it isnt right (Jackson, pg.415), implies her view of injustice of the said lottery. She is screaming outwardly because she in fact, does not want to die over this. Throughout the story, you are constantly at a reminder that this is tradition, and the rest of the village supports it, hence the reason that Tessie was even present to begin with. Tessie suddenly is infuriated when it is in fact her family that is chosen. Structure The story of The Lottery takes place sequentially, however inferences are made to things of the past where the items used in the lottery ceremony had been different at one point. There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a

SHORT STORY ANALYSIS village here (Jackson, pg. 410). There are several things that could be seen as overlooked throughout Jacksons story that one might be able to see as foreshadowing. An example of

foreshadowing could be where; the rocks in the start of the story that the children were gathering. This at first lead the reader to believe that this was something of the innocent sorts, until in the end these rocks were used to kill Tessie when she was being stoned to death. An additional example could be, Tessies tardiness to the lottery ceremony. Tessie stated that she must have lost track of the time and couldnt leave the dishes in her sink. The act of Tessie being tardy to the lottery- paves way to her character being different from the others in the story. Interestingly enough, Tessie did not want to leave the dishes that remained in the sink for her husband, even as if she knew already in her mind that she was going to draw her own death from the black wooden lottery box. Characters I think Jackson used Tessie Hutchinson by making her the leader or principal individual in the overall movement that she is trying to express throughout the story. Tessie is actually introduced as one of the last people in the story. As Tessies character is being introduced she is proceeding through the crowd at The Lottery making small talk, almost nervously to the people that she passes. When I think of Mrs. Hutchinson, I think of her as a lady that is favored and not ill thought of within the community. She appears to be hard working within the walls of her house; but also the main hub of the gossip from all the people in the community. Another character mentioned by Jackson is Old man Warner who is a village elder and has witnessed seventy seven lotteries. Then there is Mr. Summers who organizes the Lottery and makes the papers for the drawing. Setting

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Published in The New Yorker magazine in 1948, Jackson received a lot of criticism over the story; many found it to be pointless and gruesome. The story takes place in a village that was host to roughly 300 inhabitants. Jackson painted the village as a well-connected group who were all involved in each others lives. The villages people partook yearly in a lottery where one person was chosen to be stoned to death. The black box seemed to be a relic of the past which became a symbol within the village, and while it aged and became worn it was not replaced for it has historical importance. I would describe this story as grim and illogical in terms of their tradition, and boring in terms of their village life. Symbolism & Irony In the story the main representation as a symbol would be the black box. Passed down through generations of families within the village the black box serves as a ritual tool. They perform the Lottery because it had always been practiced as far back as anyone knows. They do not question its validity which is inherently ironic, because they kill a single person yearly no questions asked and with no real ill intention aimed at the one that will be stoned to death. In the end Tessie dies by being drawn from the black box, and only then has a problem with the process in a whole.

Point of View The story is narrated in the third person view point. I would say that third person is definitely limited for its more overview then detailed thoughts or feelings which could immerse a reader much more. I think in this story it serves the purpose well for a couple reasons. One it was meant to be a short story so getting into major details about every character would be pointless, and a waste of space considering length. Also by the story being third person it allows

SHORT STORY ANALYSIS the author to illustrate the moral of the story or more major points rather than focusing on small

and unnecessary details. Per say the story was written in first person it and was still a short story it would not have been too much information or centralized around one individuals thoughts, and possibly wouldnt have highlighted the theme where as in third person you can take an overview. Language & Style When I imagine and bring to thought how I feel at the start of summer, I immediately think of warm sunshine, and get the sense of excitement. I imagine flowing grass, an array of bright colorful flowers, and smiles. Jackson used a language that very well transcribes the towns village people from the start of the story to the end. It is interesting too that Jackson had the ability to include a great amount of details like the heavy thick heat, and the sense of excitement of the village people. The language for the audience is what I would consider light hearted, but also danced around as if it didnt matter the issue of the stoning. I believe for Jacksons intention the language was very appropriate, and was meant to be shocking. I would say her writing is cold yet flowery, and harsh to an extent. Tone In the story the mood is actually quite happy considering the looming event that happens yearly that requires them to kill one of their own. Up until the ending there isnt really any pressing emotion or opposition to the Lottery, but when Tessie then claims it to be unfair and is upset. They do say that over in the north village theyre talking of giving up the lottery (Jackson, pg. 413). By Jackson saying this, this informs the audience that the characters indeed understand what theyre doing is not right, ill-fashioned, and they should question its purpose. Id say it the author wrote it to be a more provocative piece and while he paints the people as pleasant, but has a sobering message.

SHORT STORY ANALYSIS Theme I believe one of the major themes of the story is about how tradition denotes how we run

our lives and in some cases they arent challenged. In the story they continue to do this cruel and savage stoning yet, when Tessie is faced with death her attitude is changed. What I took away from this is that its good to challenge things, and it has the possibility of making the society evolve. Morally it shows us to have a view of our own and if we oppose something whether it be a rule or tradition it should be checked into.

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Reference Jackson, S. (2008). Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. The Lottery (pg. 409-415). 2nd Ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.