The Lottery by Shirley Jackson - Essay Example

Essay on Literature Analysis Of The Lottery (1948) by Shirley Jackson Analysis of Plot of the Story: “The Lottery” is a very nice story by Shirley Jackson in which she portrayed a rural settlement of about three hundred people in which people are used to conducting a lottery each year. The story describes the whole lottery event. One of the main themes of the story is to show that this rural settlement does not treat men and women equally. The following two excerpts from the story are enough to support the claim that society did not give equal rights to females like males, "Me.

I guess," a woman said. And Mr. Summers turned to look at her. "Wife draws for her husband." Mr. Summers said. "Don't you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?" (Jackson 1948, p.3)“Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand.” (Jackson 1948 p. 7)"It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her. (Jackson, 1948, p. 7)Organization and Structure of the Story: It is true that this short story is a nice piece of writing.

The structure and organization of the story are so complex and every conversation comes unexpectedly. Many conversations are not complete and some are out of context. The structure of the story is also difficult to understand. Plot Design and its Affect Readers Responses: The plot design is not clear thereby making this story mysterious. Moreover, the end of the story is not clear. There is nothing to suggest what is going to happen with Tessie at the end of the story. As a reader, my response to the plot is neither good nor bad.

The structure of the story is complicated that’s why it is not a reader-friendly story. Chronological Order of the Story: chronological order of the story is almost right. The story moves step by step in a chronological way. It starts with the introduction of the place of the setting. Then it tells us that a lottery event was going to happen in the village. It has been told that all participate in the lottery and soon people started to arrive at the place of the lottery event. Then they started the process and about two hours later the process of the lottery ended.

Analyze the Setting of the Story: The story portrays a rural setting where a large number of people live. It is a post world war second-era village having plains and people who do not accept women’s role in every walk of life. The settlement mentioned in this story is a male-dominated society where only men play an active role in everyday matters. Time and Place of its Action: The time of action is about 10 AM. The village people are used to holding lottery events in the morning. This event lasted for approximately two hours till noon because these people were used to eating noon meals.

The place of the lottery event is an open space where all people of the village gather annually for playing the lottery. Consider Small-Scale Aspects of the Setting: Indoors of this story are very simple as they are in villages. Outdoors is also simple and people are used to gathering in open spaces to kill time. This setting is a typical urban setting of the mid-twentieth century. Significant Changes in the Setting: There are a few significant changes in the story. At the start of the story, Mr. was not present in the event when the process of the lottery started but all of a sudden he appeared on the scene of the story.