Blind Obedience in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery Essay

When Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery† was first published in The New Yorker in 1948, it struck a nerve with readers. â€Å"The story was incendiary; readers acted as if a bomb had blown up in their faces . . . Shirley struck a nerve in mid-twentieth-century America . . . She had told people a painful truth about themselves† (Oppenheimer 129). Interestingly, the story strikes that same nerve with readers today. When my English class recently viewed the video, those students who had not previously read the story reacted quite strongly to the ending. I recall this same reaction when I was in high school. Our English teacher chose to show the video before any student had read the story. Almost every student in the class reacted with†¦show more content†¦In this, they were enacting a Mesoamerican tradition that originated far back in the region’s past† (Allan 19). Throughout more modern history, wars have been fought resulting in the deaths of millions. Murders and other violent crimes are inescapable. Throughout mankind’s history, it can be shown that man’s capacity for evil has no limits. But is this what troubles readers of Jackson’s story? â€Å"We cannot, in all honesty, make any serious claim that our own culture really abhors violence. . . . Modern society still feels the need to watch violent events, whether it be at a boxing match or spattered across the cinema screen† (Baker 5). Society today is bombarded with violence. There is graphic, and often gratuitous, violence in movies and video games. Most people do not give this type of violence a second thought. This may be because they know that the violence in the movies or games is not real, but â€Å"The Lottery† was just a story; it, too, was not real. So what is it about Jackson’s story that hits readers so deeply? What makes â€Å"The Lottery† so disturbing? For years, critics have been trying to answer these questions. Some have focused on the story’s symbolism, while others have focused on its relationship to the horrors of World War II. Jay Yarmove writes, â€Å"Coming after the revelation of the depths of depravity to which the Nazis sank in their eagerness to destroy other, ‘lesser’ peoples, ‘The Lottery’ upsets theShow MoreRelatedBlind Obedience in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery1059 Words   |  5 Pages The author of â€Å"The Lottery† wrote this story â€Å"to shock the story’s readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives† (Jackson 211). This story reflects human behavior in society to show how although rules, laws or traditions do not make sense, people follow them. Throughout the story the three main symbols of how people blindly follow senseless traditions were the lottery itself, the color black, and the hesitation that people had towardsRead More Essay on Shirley Jacksons The Lottery - Blind Obedience Exposed954 Words   |  4 PagesBlind Obedience Exposed in The Lottery    The annual ritualistic stoning of a villager in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery parallels tradition in American culture.   This paper will inform the reader of the effect tradition has on characters in the short story The Lottery and how traditions still strongly influence peoples lives in america.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Christian weddings hold many traditions and superstitions that seemingly defy logic.   Although most couples no longer have arrangedRead MoreThe Blind Obedience in â€Å"the Lottery†2459 Words   |  10 PagesThe Blind Obedience in â€Å"The Lottery† â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson written and published in 1948, takes place on June 27th in a small town of three hundred people. Villagers gather together at around ten o’clock for one of the main rituals called ‘the lottery‘, which takes place in the central square. â€Å"The lottery was conducted as were the square dances† (Jackson 31) illustrating the timely scheduled event. It is a normal day with â€Å"the fresh warmth of a full summer day† (Jackson 1). The menRead More Inhumanity in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find and Shirley Jacksons The Lottery1133 Words   |  5 Pages In Flannery O’Connor’s, â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† and Shirley Jacksons, â€Å"The Lottery,† both short stories deal with man’s inhumanity in different situations, and ending with a similar consequence. Jackson and OConnor both use two characters to depict man having the power to manipulate truth and objection into something people accept. In O’Connor’s’ A Good Man is Hard to Find, the Misfit is a character in need of desired assistance, troubled and confused he wanders savagely murdering strangersRead More Essays on Jacksons Lottery: Dangers of Blind Obedience Exposed684 Words   |  3 PagesDangers of Blind Obedience Exposed in The Lottery      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most of us obey every day without a thought. People follow company dress code, state and federal laws and the assumed rules of courtesy. Those who do disobey are usually frowned upon or possibly even reprimanded. But has it even occurred to you that in some cases, disobedience may be the better course to choose? In her speech Group Minds, Doris Lessing discusses these dangers of obedience, which are demonstrated in Shirley Jacksons shortRead MoreThe Lottery, By Shirley Jackson1692 Words   |  7 PagesShirley Jackson was a very popular American author in her time. Over the years Jackson s bizarre short stories have been receiving a substantial increase of criticism and attention. Jackson is most known for her short story â€Å"The Lottery†, which was first published in â€Å"The New Yorker† in June of 1948. Jackson s story had received tons of feedback, little which honored her writing, but majority that had belittled her. Jackson’s life was ve ry interesting for her time. Jackson was known as a depressedRead MoreExamples Of Humanistic Obedience In Shirley Jacksons The Lottery1105 Words   |  5 Pagesunlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience.† (362). Jackson’s short story gave examples of how humanistic conscience and obedience can affect people’s actions. Obedience in this short story is demonstrated on three different levels as well having an overall obedience to the tradition or belief they have as a community. The townspeople in â€Å"The Lottery† act the way they do because the lack of humanistic conscience. â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson is an uncanny short story about a traditionRead MoreEssay on The Lottery1873 Words   |  8 Pages When â€Å"The Lottery† was first published in 1948, it created an enormous controversy and great interest in its author, Shirley Jackson. Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco, California on December 14, 1919. When she was two years old, her family moved her to Burlingame, California, where Jackson attended high school. After high school Jackson moved away to attend college at Rochester University in upstate New York but after only a short time at Rochester and, after taking off a year from schoolRead MoreEssay on Human Nature at its Worst2540 Words   |  11 PagesWhen Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery† was first published in The New Yorker in 1948, it struck a nerve with readers. â€Å"The story was incendiary; readers acted as if a bomb had blown up in their faces . . . Shirley struck a nerve in mid-twentieth-century America . . . She had told people a painful truth about themselves† (Oppenheimer 129). Interestingly, the story strikes that same nerve with readers today. When my English class recently viewed the video, those students who had not previously read theRead MoreCharacters Of Ra y Bradburys The Lottery AndAll Summer In A Day?1094 Words   |  5 Pagesinto challenging positions. This was especially evident in Shirley Jackson’s short story â€Å"The Lottery† and Ray Bradbury’s short story â€Å"All Summer in a Day†. In both of these stories the characters raise hell for the protagonists, compelling the reader to ask themselves what the motivation behind these cruel actions was and why the characters allowed themselves to act in such an unjust manner. Protagonist Tessie Hutchinson of â€Å"The Lottery† is stoned to death by her own townspeople who looked upon