Theme Of Selfishness In The Lottery - 790 Words

Are You Willing to Kill Your Family to Save Yourself? Shirley Jackson’s twisted story, â€Å"The Lottery,† takes place in a small town with a measly population of about 300 people. In the story, Tessie Hutchinson, a well-known civilian in the town is one of the 300 people with their lives at risk when the annual Lottery is held. The lottery is a system of selecting a family, then selecting a member of that family to be killed. In this town, and probably everywhere else in the world, no one wants to be the one to die. The reason why the lottery is held is unknown, as the text has not explicitly stated a reason. A possible lesson that â€Å"The Lottery† promotes is that selfishness is human nature. Selfishness by itself can be so overpowering that it†¦show more content†¦Mrs. Hutchinson is selfish because she is willing to literally sacrifice and kill her darlings to save herself. The selfishness from the crowd prevents themselves from assisting Tessie in her distress, realizing that helping Tessie would put their lives at risk. For example, if the audience was unselfish, they would’ve helped Tessie and the Hutchinsons were allowed to draw a different slip, then that would put them at risk of death when they were safe before because their family member could draw the marked slip. The crowd stayed quiet so that they would stay safe. Jackson states, â€Å"The crowd was quiet†¦ the sound of the whisper reached the edges of the crowd.† If staying quiet means safety to the crowd, then the crowd would definitely stay silent. The two women’s selfishness was so strong that they even went against Tessie to keep themselves alive. Jackson adds,â€Å" ‘Be a good sport, Tessie.’ Mrs. Delacroix called, and Mrs. Graves said, ‘All of us took the same chance.’ † Jackson adding this reveals how Mrs. Delacroix and Mrs. G raves are selfish enough to completely eliminate their chances of death by guaranteeing someone else’s family member to death, which in this case, was guaranteeing one of the Hutchinsons to death. As a result from the town’s selfishness, between Tessie and the crowd, Tessie suffered the annual death by having rocks thrown at her. Children andShow MoreRelatedPsychoanalytic Criticism Of The Lottery999 Words   |  4 PagesJackson’s â€Å"The Lottery,† the story begins on a sunny day that imposes gossip and frenzy around the town. In this location, they conduct a â€Å"lottery† that involves the families of the town to go into a drawing. Once the drawing is done, the family that is chosen is forced to commence into another lottery between themselves. The winner of the lottery is used as a sacrifice for the town and is pelted by stones thrown from the community, including children. Furthermore, the basis of â€Å"The Lottery† has to doRead MoreThe Theme Of Luck In The Lottery And The Rocking Horse Winner1514 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Thesis Statement This paper will examine the theme of luck in both The Lottery and The Rocking Horse Winner and show how in both narratives good luck and bad luck are excuses for good and bad decisions. Outline Introduction The Theme of Luck How Both Stories Use the Theme of Luck to Unearth the Real Causes of Tragedy in Peoples Lives The Lottery and Institutionalized Stoning The Sinful Nature of Men The Inversion of the Golden Rule Mrs. Hutchinsons Death Whose Fault? Read MoreThe Lottery Shirley Jackson Analysis1089 Words   |  5 Pages In Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery,† the story conducts a â€Å"lottery† that involves the families of the town to go into a drawing. Once the drawing is done, the winner of the lottery is used as a sacrifice in the town and is pelted by stones thrown from the community, including children. Furthermore, the basis of â€Å"The Lottery† has to do with psychological problems and influence. Psychoanalysis is built upon Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychology, which asserts that the human mind is affected by theirRead MoreWinners Will Be Executed Short Story Analysis1085 Words   |  5 PagesWinning a lottery is a good thing, right? Someone buys a ticket, then scratches it off or waits to see if they hold the winning number in their hands. However, that is not the case in Shirley Jackson’s world of â€Å"The Lottery†. In her critically acclaimed short story, a sma ll town gathers in the village square and draws a name out of a box, and the ‘winner’ of their lottery is brutally stoned to death. All of this is done in a calm and orderly fashion, as well as without question. The lottery is a yearlyRead More21st Century Spin On Literature1463 Words   |  6 Pagesevaluating, and even interpreting the literature standpoint that you receive from picking up a good book. The three themes from the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, written by Thomas C. Foster, can be applied to pieces of literature such as Frank Stockton’s â€Å"The Lady or the Tiger?†, Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery†, and â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Several themes in How to Read Literature Like a Professor like â€Å"Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires,† â€Å"Now Where Have I SeenRead MoreTheme Of The Lottery By W D. Valgardson1499 Words   |  6 Pagesthere is a great impact on their destiny. Literature often reveals how children’s behaviour is a reflection of adult actions. This is an apparent theme in the short stories, â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson and â€Å"Celebration† by W.D. Valgardson. In Jackson’s, â€Å"The Lottery,† residents of a small village gather together for their annual drawing of the lottery. The tradition begins with the head of each household drawing a piece of paper from a black box. Once everyone has drawn, they unfold their slipsRead MoreCritical Analysis for The Lottery1205 Words   |  5 PagesCritical Analysis for â€Å"The Lottery† Shirley Jacksons short story, The Lottery, aroused much controversy and criticism in 1948, following its debut publication, in the New Yorker. Jackson uses irony and comedy to suggest an underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind. The story takes place in a small village, where the people are close and tradition is paramount. A yearly event, called the lottery, is one in which one person in the town is randomly chosen, by a drawing, to be violentlyRead MoreContagion And Gattaca Analysis1498 Words   |  6 PagesIn faces of crises, people may go to any lengths to pursue what they feel is necessary. The films Contagion, directed by Steven Soderbergh in 2010, and GATTACA, directed by Andrew Niccol in 1997, both explore themes of morality in times of crises, whether these crises are of personal nature or affect a widespread population. Both films explore ethical implications of technology as it pertains to scientific development, and in addition weaves in a narrative surrounding various moral decisions regardingRead MoreLottery Analysis Essay1514 Words   |  7 PagesThis Lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson. It was first published in the New Yorker on June 26th 1948. The story takes place on June 27th in a small American village with a population of around 300 people. June 27th is the annual celebration of the lottery, which, in the story, takes places on the same day in nearly every city, town and village. Every person in the village has to take place in the lottery. Due to the small size of the population, the takes place in less than two hoursRead More Human Consciousness Essay1789 Words   |  8 PagesHuman Consciousness Erich Fromm and Shirley Jackson have both written wonderful true-life affecting essays and should be awarded for them. I appreciate both stories and feel they both set tales to learn from and live by. As a combined theme for both I ‘ld say â€Å"human consciousness is more then a gift†. And read on to see what I mean. In Erich Fromm we notice a compassionate concern for the unfolding of life. Fromm claims that the growing process of the emergence of the individual from his original