Shirley Jackson describes a local tradition in “The Lottery”. After the first excitement, people became more anxious as they began the annual tradition. Jackson creates a theme called life is chaos, which he shows through a bunch of stones, a community gathering, and a surprising ending. Jackson creates the theme of life is chaotic by using a collection stones. The author begins by describing the children picking stones up. She describes the children’s excitement as they select the best stones. Jackson describes energy by saying, “Very tiny children rolled on the dust.” This illustrates how chaos is created because energy flows through the children and makes them energetic. She describes the stones, and how the air is chaotic.
A town meeting develops the theme of chaos in life. The author describes the way people acted while gathered. She describes how the people acted while gathered. She continues to write, “There was much fussing before Mr. Summers announced the lottery open.” Initially calm, the people became more anxious as the date of the lottery approached. The people’s behavior changed with time and became increasingly chaotic. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, creates a theme of chaos in life. The box was opened by all the people and the result was unexpected. She says: “For one minute, everyone remained still, but then the paper slips began to be opened.” The paper was opened calmly, but the women then began shouting. Later, Hutchinson wrote, “‘It was unfair, it wasn’t just,’ she screamed. They were then upon her.” All 299 of the people who had been throwing stones had also screamed.
Mrs. Hutchinson was in chaos because of an unexpected ending. Shirley Jackson shows the children’s excitement and a sudden change in attitude. She also shows an unexpected resolution. Jackson shows the excitement in the children’s faces as they gather stones. People were calm when the lottery was approaching, but they became more agitated as it approached. There was even more excitement and chaos among the people when the women showed up and the husband screamed. It is important to keep in mind that even though this is unlikely to happen, just because it sounds interesting or exciting does not mean it will. Don’t judge by the cover of a book. You don’t always know what’s inside.
