"The Lottery"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses whether Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery", is aptly named. The paper first outlines the story and discusses how it shows the vulnerability of people and how they react when it is their life on the line instead of the life of someone else. The paper then relates that, in "The Lottery", life is a gamble, and no one knows from year to year whether he/she will be the one who is selected or whether it will be someone else. The people live with that fear, but they seem to block it out, just like people in the rest of society block out the dangers that they face. Thus, the paper concludes that, overall, "The Lottery" is an appropriate title for the story and for the rest of society, as well.

From the Paper:

"When most people begin to read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, they really do not have a clear understanding of why she chose that particular title. They associate the lottery with winning large sums of money from a scratch-off ticket or some other type of prize drawing. The lottery that Jackson describes, though, is much more important - and much more sinister - than the assumption that individuals usually have. The story seems to be upbeat and friendly all the way up to the few ending lines. The beginning of it, "the 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 green" hardly makes a person think that anything will ever go wrong in the little utopian society that Jackson seems to have created."

More papers on "The Lottery":

• Analytical Essay # 72980 : "Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"
• Analytical Essay # 61147 : "The Lottery"by Shirley Jackson"
• Book Review # 94230 : "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson"
• Book Review # 74661 : "Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

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