The Lottery Symbolism Essay - 804 Words

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short story based on a fictional village that holds a macabre ritual. Although the regularity was not stated within the tale, the story speaks of a regular gathering of the village folk to conduct some form of lottery. In a disturbing twist of the tale, the winner of the lottery doesn’t get to receive a prize, but instead, suffer the indignity of being killed by getting stoned to death by friends, family, and neighbors. Mrs. Hutchinson is the unfortunate soul, who, despite her pleas and protests has no option but accept her fate. In a similarly titled story, The Lottery by Chris Abani talks about an incident he witnessed when he went to the market with his aunt. In the story, Abani explains how he†¦show more content†¦Despite the crudeness and evil of the Lottery, the village has established a set of elaborate rules that they follow to the letter right down to who is supposed to draw from the box and who is responsible for the famil ies responsible. The village is also based on a Patriarchal system since teenage boys are given priority over their mothers when it comes to participation. Abani Abani employs symbolism in his version of The Lottery. His Aunt symbolizes the indifference of religion when it comes to backward traditions. Abani’s aunt, despite being a religious fanatic, fails to express her religion but instead participates in the mob’s action against the thief. She slaps the thief as he runs by and forces Abani to watch the thief burn. The Council of elders represents the futility of the law when it comes to irrational actions. The thief would have had sanctuary and received a fair trial, but the mob overpowered the elders and had their way. The story by Abani is set in an African background. It may be unfair to render the people as backward automatically, but their decision to act arbitrarily and against the wishes of the elders speaks of weakness regarding civility. Like the villagers in Jackson’s story, the bloodthirsty mob carries out an illogical and crude act with no regard for the life of the man they perceive to be a thief in the hope that the children will learn a valuable lesson.Show MoreRelatedLottery Essay Symbolism1249 Words   |  5 PagesSymbolism Essay Symbolism is a sign that has been used by literary authors to represent a larger idea into another more specific concept or belief. Symbolism can be used to represent an action, an idea or a person’s archetype as well. The term symbolism is the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing in things with a symbolic meaning or character (â€Å"Symbolism†). Examples of symbolism are: an eagle representing freedom, a dove representing peace, and the color green can symbolizeRead MoreThe Lottery Symbolism Essay908 Words   |  4 PagesAll around the world today thousands of people die from murder and the numbers increase every year. Our world is filled with violence and tragedies that keep increasing, just like in, Shirley Jacksons story â€Å"The Lottery.† The characters in a small village choose someone to stone to death each year because of tradition. As this tradition continues, more and more people die as time passes. All of the towns folk grow mo re and more nervous, hoping not to get picked. They gather in the town square toRead MoreThe Lottery Symbolism Essay992 Words   |  4 Pagesof The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is simply trying to understand what the symbols in the story mean. These symbols included the lottery, the tools used in the lottery and even the people of the town. Within the first few lines of Shirley Jackson described a picture of a clear, sunny, fresh and warm summer day. She continues this sense of comfort by adding small children playing after being released from school for the summer, and the townspeople gathering calmly for the annual â€Å"Lottery†. JacksonRead MoreSymbolism in The Lottery Essay802 Words   |  4 PagesTo a first time reader, Shirley Jacksons â€Å"The Lottery† seems simply as a curious tale with a shocking ending. After repetitive reading of Jacksons tale, it is clear that each sentence is written with a unique purpose often using symbolism. Her use of symbols not only foreshadow its surprise and disturbing ending but allows the reader to evaluate the communitys pervert traditional rituals. She may be commenting on the season of the year and the grass being â€Å"richly green† or the toying with theRead More Symbolism in Jacksons The Lottery Essay1039 Words   |  5 PagesLottery: A Terrifying T rip Symbols can be used to convey a special meaning to the reader by association, especially when a material object is used to represent something abstract. Throughout the years, American writers have been using their works as a way to describe society to their broad audiences. As time periods change, writers as well as readers change their view about society. Several factors affect how readers view society in a piece of literature. To get a better understanding ofRead MoreSymbolism in The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson Essay example1173 Words   |  5 PagesWhen most people play the lottery today, they think about having wealth. Generally, people who win are happy about it whether they win one dollar or a million. The lottery in our society has grown to support education and it is often worth several million dollars. Usually, the winner of the lottery gains a lot of recognition for the money they win. But what would happen if there was a small town where people held a yearly lottery in which the â€Å"winner† was the member of the town who was not sacrificedRead MoreEssay on Symbolism and Characterization in Jackson’s The Lottery726 Words   |  3 Pagespassed on, from previous generations in Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery†. Traditions, which have been lost in time, but seemingly enough the stones have not been discarded. Set on a village in a warm summer day, the story begins with several boys gathering stones for the lottery. The rest of the villagers gather in the square. The fate of the villagers is determined by a slip of paper chosen from the black box. Symbolism and characterization, from the beginning to the end, work togetherRead MoreSymbolism in The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson Essay748 Words   |  3 PagesThe Lottery: Symbolism In her story â€Å"The Lottery†, Shirley Jackson manages to catch the readers’ attention and ultimately shock them with an unexpected ending; all of which help her emphasize her critique toward the dark side of human nature and the evil that resides, sometimes, in those who we less expect it from. Jackson uses symbolism throughout the story that helps her set the mood and also makes the readers wonder and analyze the senseless violence and cruelty in their own lives. It all startsRead More Symbolism and Setting in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Essay1118 Words   |  5 PagesSymbolism and Setting in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson ?The Lottery? by Shirley Jackson is a short story that without the symbolism of its characters, would amount to little more than an odd tale about a stoning. However, because of what each character represents and the way the setting helps to magnify those representations, it becomes a short story that is anything but short of meaning. The first character is probably the most obviously symbolic character of the story. Every wordRead More The Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Essay938 Words   |  4 PagesThe Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Within the first few lines of Shirley Jacksons The Lottery we are faced with such adjectives as clear, sunny, fresh and warmth. She goes on to paint a picture of small children just out of school for the summer, as the townspeople gather for the annual Lottery. This leads us to believe that the rest of the story is as cheery as the summer day initially described. We as the readers are virtually unaware of the horrible senseless events

Summary Of Ken Macrorie s Book Telling Writing

In the article from Ken Macrorie’s book Telling Writing we are introduced to this concept of Engfish. A language or a writing style that is developed as children grow up and are taught how to â€Å"write†. School has a way of socializing children, squishing the creative and vibrant minds they possess in an attempt to â€Å"standardize† and create â€Å"unity†. The imagination of a child knows no bounds in its earliest forms; trees can talk, colors can sing, and the most trivial of tasks can be great adventures. Macrorie states at the end of this article â€Å"But there is a way out.† the question becomes, what are those ways. A few suggestion could be free writing or even poetry classes that break the traditions norms of writing, where grammar and punctuation are almost completely meaningless. The focus of most English classes today are the grammar and the technicalities of writing that the meaning and the words are lost. Writing becomes a tedious a nd boring task when it should full of passion; it is stressful when it should be energizing. Writing just to write, writing long emails to friends, journals, or even letters are all but obsolete. The personal aspect of writing has been removed. Writing is now done out of necessity for the job or a class, the true meaning of expression has been taken away and standardized. Everyone has a strength and a voice, we are each unique and to taught to conform to writing norms create â€Å"dead† writing, paper with no voice, no passion, and no desire or hunger for

Explain why Roosevelt introduced the New Deal in America Free Essays

America was in a severe economic Depression when Franklin D. Roosevelt made his New Deal speech in June 1932. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 made the Depression in America much worse. We will write a custom essay sample on Explain why Roosevelt introduced the New Deal in America or any similar topic only for you Order Now Roosevelt had to do something to bring confidence back to the country. There was despair all around the country, 23,000 people committed suicide, the largest yearly figure of American history. Employment was a very big problem during the Depression. Over twelve million Americans were unemployed this was a quarter of the countries workforce and the number of people out of work was going up by 12,000 every day. 0,000 companies whose shares were now worthless went out of business, putting even more people out of work. There was no government system of unemployment pay in America, so most people had to rely on charity to stay alive. The unemployed lined up in queues that could be seen in every city, these queues were called ‘Breadlines’ and the people were waiting for free bread and soup just to say alive. This was very humiliating for men because they were used to providing for their family. Because people didn’t have jobs, esteem was low and this is one of the reasons why Roosevelt introduced the New Deal. Another reason why Roosevelt introduced the New Deal was for the people in agriculture. People in agricultural areas were hardest hit by the Depression, because the 1920’s had not been kind to them in any way. Huge numbers of farmers were unable to pay their mortgages. By 1932, one in twenty of all farm-owners had been evicted because they were unable to pay their mortgage. Because people were out of work the people in the cities could not all the food the farmers produced therefore their incomes dropped. Most farmers however had no choice but to pack their belongings into their trucks and live on the road. They picked up work where they could. Things couldn’t get have got any worse for farmers, over farming and drought in the central southern states turned millions of acres into a dust bowl, this badly ruined farmers and drove them off their land. Homelessness was very high during the Depression and something had to be done. Over a million of the unemployed were homeless. Without wages many people could not afford to pay rent or mortgages. 250,000 Americans stopped paying their mortgages in 1932 alone. When this happened they were evicted from their homes. This meant many had to take to the roads and they often became ‘hobos’ or tramps. The others moved onto the waste ground in the cities where they built huts with old wood, scrap metal and sacking, which they found in rubbish dumps, they often called these places ‘Hoovervilles’ after Herbert Hoover, the President of that time in the Depression. People were living horribly and there was no hope left, Roosevelt wanted to sort this problem out through the New Deal. In the Depression, many people with savings in the bank stayed alive by taking out their savings. This led to a new problem because some small banks did not have enough ready cash to pay savers their money, so the banks went bankrupt. When a bank failed this scared people so they rushed to their banks taking money out, thinking it was safer to keep it all at home. This sent people panic-stricken and savers demanded their money at once, but the banks too found they didn’t have enough ready cash, so they also had to close down. In 1932, 1616 banks had closed down for this reason, and the number of bank failure was increasing every month. Economic and social problems affected the whole country during the Depression as seen from the historical evidence. Prosperity would not return by it self and when the presidential election of 1932 the Americans were looking for hope and they hope to find this in Roosevelt’s New Deal. He believed that â€Å"the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. † This put hope into people’s hearts. Roosevelt’s over riding aim was to create confidence and help the forgotten man, this is why he introduced the New Deal. How to cite Explain why Roosevelt introduced the New Deal in America, Papers

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers free essay sample

Battling invisible aliens, waging war against evil, saving all of mankind while running around in the back yard; we were known as the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. The friendship carried by the group of Power Rangers came into my life through the television set and moved beyond to the play world. It integrated every relationship I have had with my siblings, aunt, and uncle. The values put forth in this seemingly trivial program resonated through out my childhood and have stayed with me ever since. As the Power Rangers battled evil, my family also battled our own personal struggles. The villain was cancer and the battle was my uncle’s death. Growing up was hard. My family struggled to adapt to American culture and had financial issues after emigrating from Vietnam. My parents went to work at the crack of dawn and came home sometimes past nine; I would be fortunate to see them at all. We will write a custom essay sample on Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I was not a privileged child with brand new clothes, shoes, or toys. We valued something else, something intangible. We valued the idea of family, friendship, and community. The idea of team work and friendship among the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers influenced my life at a young age. Each episode consisted of a variety of cheesy lines and ridiculous-looking villains, but the episodes also espoused the importance of friendship. The multicolored heroes were able to defeat anything in their path with the help of their friends. The significance of friendship and the notion of family carried on even after my obsession with Power Ranger waned; it inspired a new way of thinking. The Power Rangers made it look easy to defeat monsters and villains, but for my uncle it was not so simple. My uncle was only 24, yet, his medical history included depression, Osteosarcoma, with his right leg amputated below the knee, and acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. He spent two years going in and out of the hospital battling the malicious spread of cancer. Finally, the doctors said they had done their best, and with that my uncle was instructed to go home to try to live comfortably. Days passed, weeks descended, and hope rekindled. Until one night, the continuance of the evil cancer struck again and finally my uncle was defeated. After he had fought the seemingly endless symptoms of his illness, my uncle’s death devastated my family. Because of her grief, my mother went into a state of depression. Everything, even the simplest things, would remind her of her brother. Buying chocolate would then turn into a tsunami of tears inside of Wal-Mart; he loved chocolate. Unlike any other Power Ranger play, this battle seems to never end. But the values embedded in each of the Power Ranger episodes taught me that I can not fight big battles with out the support of my family and friends. The monstrous evil cancer stripped my uncle away from us, but the idea of family and friendship held us together. While my mother struggled to adjust to her brother’s death, my family and I struggled to find ourselves without the full mental state of my mother. Though we could not destroy my mother’s depression like any regular villain, we stayed close together in order to conquer all of the family enemies. After many years, even without the bright colored uniforms, my family and I are yet again the Power Rangers saving the world against evil. Each of us has our own duty. My time is spent tutoring, teaching, being a motherly figure for my younger brother and doing everything I can to help my mother and the family. After three years, we are still adjusting to my uncle’s death. I am now the role model to my brother that my uncle was to me. I am my mother’s support and my family’s friend.