A Literary Analysis of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery", ironically gives the lottery a bad meaning. The lottery in this story is used for a public stoning, contrary to the first thing that comes to a reader's mind when they think of winning the lottery; a big sum of money. The reader sees both literal and metaphorical meaning of this story because for one it shows for face value what the entire story is about, and hidden behind it is the notion of the scapegoat being picked like a lottery number.
The setting of the story in respects to the story's environment served to illustrate the mood of that particular time in the story. It serves a small role in words, but adds detail to enhance the feeling the reader gets when reading the story. The setting takes place in the town square, where the story starts out with "the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green." An ambience of cheerfulness and buoyancy fills the air. Also, some foreshadowing is being used because the town square is a clue that the lottery must hold some kind of importance. Another piece of foreshadowing is when "Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie... eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square...," which hints at the impending doom of the lottery winner. The only place where setting is a factor is the beginning, because the setting stays the same, and the environment does not change in the two hours that the story took place in.
Essentially, this story is told in the limited omniscient point of view. The histories of selected characters were told, but the thoughts of the characters were omitted from any part of the story. The point of view is used to conceal what is going to happen next. By using limited, the thoughts of the characters are left out, and therefore, since they know what the lottery is, they surely think about it. If the author was to put the thoughts of the character in the story, then the ending would have been given away at the start of lottery ritual, because the dreadful consequences of drawing the black dot would be all the people are thinking about.
Many Characters are introduced into this story. Flat characters are introduced in the beginning of the story, either setting up stones or adding to the mood of the story. "The men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes" This is both a flat and stereotypical group of people, just to add to the casualness of the scene at the start of the story. Flat characters were also used to say things pertaining to the events of the story. When the Hutchinsons were being called up to the box, some women say things like this: ""Be a good sport, Tessie." Mrs. Delacroix called, and Mrs. Graves said, "All of us took the same chance."" The author also balanced the flat characters with round characters. The round, developing protagonist, Tessie Hutchinson, is presented indirectly throughout the story, and is motivated by the choosing of her family to change her style of thinking to opposing the lottery and its injustices.
A round static character who officiates the lottery is Mr. Summers. He has "time and energy to devote to civic activities" and is a "...round-faced, jovial man ... and people were sorry for him, because he had no children and his wife was a scold." His position is to carry out the idea of the lottery, and to see through that the operation runs smoothly. He is the personification of the antagonist, while the real antagonist is the box, which represents the institution of the lottery.
The struggle between the protagonist and antagonist was a physical struggle for Mrs. Hutchinson to protest the fairness of this lottery. The lottery struggles against the protest, by staying resolute. "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones." The ending of the story came as quite a surprise. The conflict is resolved with Tessie being stoned. It is fairly achieved because the lottery's purpose was unknown until the time when Mrs. Hutchinson is stoned by the villagers. That is when the reason for the lottery and the protest against it by Mrs. Hutchinson is revealed to the reader directly. The device of suspense is utilized when the people of the village must open their papers and see who is the one picked for the lottery. There is no telling who was picked, and the reader at that point does not even know why they are picked, but the possibilities for what the lottery may be keep the reader in suspense to see who the winner is, and what happens to them.
Chance in the story is used as the basis of the entire plot. Everyone gathers in the town square to partake in this event of chance, and whoever gets picked will have to pay the price. The author uses chance to initiate the story and to send the message of her theme, that in life scapegoats for anything are chosen seemingly randomly, and are not fair at all. The explicit theme opposes popular notions of life because people want to live in a perfect world. Jackson uses the institution of the lottery to give the audience a reality check of what is going on in the real world. Tessie Hutchinson sums up the moral of the story that her use as a scapegoat "...isn't fair, it isn't right,"" right before she gets stoned.
The author's use of symbolism reinforces the meaning of the story in showing that the scapegoat problem of society is wrong. The lottery and the stones symbolize the way and the fashion in which people today are used as scapegoats. Other minor uses of symbolism are shown through characters of different generations. There are the children, the adults, and Old Man Warner, who represent the past, present, and future respectively. For the children "School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play." There really isn't much to worry about for them, and they do not understand much about this stoning, they seemingly do what they are taught by the adults, but some children do not like to see this, showing a slight longing for change in the future when little Nancy's "school friends breathed heavily as she went forward switching her skirt." Another time later in the crowed someone yells they hope it is not Nancy. There is a longing to preserve the youth so they can go on in the future. The present, in Mrs. Hutchinson is shown as a state of protest, wanting change from the past, and lastly, Old Man Warner's static attitude stays throughout the story, an attitude to keep things the same. In response to the lottery being removed in some places he says ""Nothing but trouble in that,"..."Pack of young fools."" The use of past present and future shows some hope for the future because the present is working to break away from the bonds of the past, and slowly attempt to phase out the bad institution. However, it is up to the reader to determine to what extent it will be phased out since the ending shows the present being chastised.
My estimate of this story is that the message of the story teaches about life, and the reality of life. The ending of the story is quite unfair since Tessie is chosen by a complete random drawing to get stoned, and it shows the position of many scapegoats today. Corporations that fail most always find one person to blame for the entire failure of the company. It shows that in the future, blaming people without any basis should not be done, after seeing how many people today are being targeted.
This story does not show any type of formula, since it ends up surprising the reader with the protagonist losing in the end. She does not get what she wants, so she ends up being beaten by the system. This type of story would not be for the immature reader as the reader expects for the winner to get something good, but the author pulls the rug from under them and gives them an ending other than expected. The mature reader reads this as a fact of life, and recognizes the faults of society
Character Analysis Based on “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner
Perhaps, the most enticing word for Emily isn't “sick”. Demented and perpetually disturbed appears more appealing to a novice that does not understand the true depth of Emily's nature. The narrator that speaks of this story has a personality that of the old with an age of the young. Whether it may be girl or boy, the rose symbolizes kudos to Emily as a maverick in early women's movement. The type of person Emily is wholly due to the men that have left a drastic yet resonating impact on her life; them being her father and Homer Barron. And with their coexistence in her life, she became the women that she is at the end from their impact and the town’s comments.
Borne into a family of great wealth with a well pronounced rich lineage; a duty of any woman of her age was supposed to follow, was expected to be followed and with exact precision. But with Emily being highly concealed by her father, she had to live with many restrictions of life, resulting in a pronounced backlash and profuse alteration of her personality. Giving the reader a limited impression that as a character, she is shown with excessive pride, leaving an enduring imagination to readers, as to what she was as an adolescent; but imagination does permit us to consider her as any young child; easily manipulative. Yet as a person Emily reacts to her situation in her youth filled years like any child would during this time; reserved, complacent and with the utmost respect, as could be seen in the following excerpt “So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly…”; although this does not state and show her obedience it bluntly, as it does imply that although she had wonderful suitors and her father sent them away she did nothing to stop it; clearly sending the message that she is a acquiescent child.
Her father however there is no imagination needed for; from context we can plainly see that he is a powerful man with much character. Nevertheless his impressionable nature has been left to us in the very beginning of the story where it is shown to the reader from the thoughts of the town as such “Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette with foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip…” It is this image that offers this lingering image of a demonizing man with intimidation as his most favored pass time. We can tell he is clearly successful with such a trait for when he died “Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead…Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly.”
Yet the damage had been done; she quickly grew into the one that she is late in life after her father’s death. And having been a women of immense prestigious lineage; she began to look at the world in a condescending manner. To her those in the "ordinary" or "lower class" men were something she was not only used to but abhorred. After some time she reemerged as what the people of the town would say "a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows-- sort of tragic and serene." It is this image that shows the reader that her father’s death was a catalyst in changing her yet again-- this time into an independent woman dependent on past actions and future values.
However she would not let the 'tragic' fact that she was a woman bring her down into the world of the 'poor'; she would hold her head up high, work to make a living and not live by the support of another. However much she did try she was still considered as "Poor Emily" in the eyes of her fellow townsmen. With her growing interests in Homer Barron, so did the pitiful remarks that the townspeople. This did not discourage her at all; but instead allowed her to hold her head up higher and look at them with the eye of a sort of "noblesse oblige". Plainly we can tell she obviously heard the comments made by those in the “lower classes” about her and she didn’t care. She was going to live her life the way in which she wanted to and they would have to like it. That is why when they stated that “Homer himself had remarked—he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks’ Club—that he was not a marrying man”. Later we said, “Poor Emily”” she kept her head up high; like a rebel intended on doing what she felt even if the towns people didn’t approve it. Clearly she knew that he didn’t want to commit; of course not at first but later into their relationship. This was another catalyst in changing Emily; knowing previously that Homer Barron was not intending to stay pushed her into going into the drug store demanding in the most noble and dignified manner “I want arsenic”. At this point it appears that Emily was fighting against the town. As though, if she wanted to be happy she was going to have to fight for her right. But yet, it almost seems that to show the town that even though she was the last Grierson, she was going to keep her head up high and act like a true noble woman, which was getting what she wanted.
Emily is clearly not a sick or twisted woman; she is a woman that is fighting for her right to live and be happy as much as she can. It’s the damage that was inflicted upon her that coexists within her from the moment her father dies till the moment Homer Barron leaves that makes her a woman of strong wits and beliefs. And fighting for the right that women deserve to have, which is happiness be it if the man likes it or not. It is this influence that her father leaves on her that remains throughout the rest of her life-- a firm able impression that continuously molds her into the woman she eventually becomes at the end, which is a woman at “seventy four…vigorous iron-gray, like the hair of an active man