Essay Sample on The Main Themes in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

Shirley Jackson's story, "The Lottery," is a rich source of information and morals. It mainly talks of a community that takes part in a lottery. This rite was a particularly dangerous practice. The story is about a small town in America. The members of this town usually performed a rite known as the "lottery," which it was a game of chance. One member of the community is selected by chance, and he is stoned to death. Shirley's story highlights the dangers of following some community activities and practices blindly. The essay will focus on how Jackson uses symbolism, setting, irony, and character to illustrate the main themes, which are; mob mentality, the vulnerability of an individual, violence, and the importance of questioning tradition.

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Jackson (2019) efficiently uses "The Black Box" and "The Lottery" as powerful symbols to achieve the theme of the importance of questioning tradition. In the story, Jackson uses the "Black Box" to represent the illogical villagers' loyalty to it and the lottery tradition (Jackson, 2019). Their link is based on nothing but a legend that suggests it was built of pieces of another dusty black box. The lottery is full of traditional historical items recorded to have been passed down from past ages, including the creation of family lists and the usage of stones (Jackson, 2019). The lottery itself is a symbol, and it represents any event, activity, or concept that, irrespective of how illogical, weird or cruel, is passed from one generation to the next (Jackson, 2019). The lottery took place as long as anyone in the city could recall. It's an annual event that nobody even thinks of asking. The two symbols adequately illustrate the theme of the importance of questioning tradition since it was a practice that a large number of people followed blindly.

Characters and settings in the story exemplify the theme of mob mentality. The characters correctly fit the roles required to portray the above theme. The main characters in this story are the boys (Bobby Martin, Dickie Delacroix, Harry, and Bobby Jones), Mr. (Joe) summers, Mr. (Harry) Graves, Old Man Warner, Tess Hutchinson, the Delacroix Family, the Watsons, and the Dunbar. They all play their roles to achieve the story's plot and themes. Shirley Jackson's short "Lottery" story takes place in a small, unscreened village in rural America on the morning of June 27(Mussey, 2017). Jackson defines the weather on the lottery day as being healthy, bright, and calm, giving the reader a feeling of harmony and hope. At about 10 a.m., the residents of the city continue to assemble and register for the annual lottery on the square. Jackson does not explicitly identify or position a location that contributes to the appeal of the story and emphasizes those violent traditional practices that exist everywhere (Mussey, 2017). The setting of this story fits the theme of the vulnerability of an individual because it sets the stage for such occurrences

The story is an ironic one, and the ambiguous nature helps in making the theme of the importance of questioning tradition to be relevant. The mood portrayed is a "hot, light" day, but it ends with the murder of a housewife. Mr. Graves and Mr. Summers also have ironic names for the two people who rule the town. Besides, the character and the narrator make ironic comments in the plot (Jackson, 2020). The whole plot is full of unexpected twists in 'The Lottery.' The entire purpose of a draw is to win, and a person is led to assume that the winner would be rewarded while the majority of the villagers are simply stoned to death (Jackson, 2020). Winning yourself a ticket to end is quite an ironic phenomenon. Irony can also be an underlying theme in the story.

In the lottery story, we see a lot of events taking place. With a lot of irony and drama, the writer tries to warn people not to follow the practices of our communities blindly. Some could be a disadvantage to us, just like the practice in the lottery story. Shirley Jackson portrays the theme of mob mentality, the vulnerability of an individual, violence, and the importance of questioning tradition by using the setting of the story, the characters, symbolism, and irony in the story. The characters help achieve this by performing actions in the described environment.

References

Jackson. (2020). Irony in the story, the lottery by Shirley Jackson essay. Homework Help and Textbook Solutions | Bartleby. https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Irony-in-the-Story-The-Lottery-by-P3CAFVYZVC

Jackson, S. (1948, June 26). Fiction by Shirley Jackson: The Lottery. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/06/26/the-lotteryJ

ackson, S. (2019). Spark Notes: The Lottery: Symbols. Spark Notes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. https://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-lottery/symbols/

Mussey, F. (2017). What is the setting of the story "The Lottery?" eNotes? https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-main-characters-plot-setting-conflict-story-299130