Text Analysis

The Unlucky Prize

Author's Note- This essay is a text analysis on the short story "The Lottery."

"They do say," Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, "that over in the north village they`re talking of giving up the lottery."

The text above is a scene from the short story "The Lottery" in which Mr. Adams is telling the oldest man in town, Old Man Warner, that some towns are getting rid of the tradition of the lottery.  It represents a turning point in the story.  Shirley Jackson, the author, wanted to hand out clues throughout the story in which they are almost all pointing out that the lottery may be a bad thing.  Some of the turning points such as the one above represent grief, anxiety, and hope for the future of the town.

Because of the grief and anxiety in the story there were many turning points.  Such as when the men were nervously laughing it meant that they didn't really want to be there and they were obviously nervous.  They were having trouble with the lottery, possibly not understanding it.  When the "prize" is given to someone every year and the topic of other towns stopping it, it must mean something is troubling the lottery and so their is grief and anxiety.

There is anxiety in the turning points also especially in the laughing of the men.  It shows it because the men were laughing with nervousness, like they were uncertain about their fate. Anxiety also occurs in the phrase above because Old Man Warner wants to die an honorable death if he does happen to be chosen even if it is nerve racking and a painful, certain death.

Lastly the phrase represents hope.  This phrase is one of the only ones in the story that represents hope but is the strongest point.  The "Lottery" is a pointless tradition that has been going on for a long time but no one knows why.  When Mr. Adams said other towns were stopping the lottery it could also mean that one life a year could be saved.  If the lottery would be stopped there would be no grief and anxiety anymore, but there would still be hope.

"The Lottery" reminds me of the book The Hunger Games in the way of the picking of the tributes.  It is not necessarily lucky to win and fight for your district.  Plus many people did not want to be picked so that brings a great deal of grief and anxiety to not be picked or for your children not to be picked.  Also in the "career" districts (1 & 2), the volunteering tributes, if you're confident you are going to win, is in a way like Mrs. Delacroix taking the largest stone to show that they have compassion towards their district to win and their self to win and come back home, and for Mrs. Delacroix it is like to lose and get it done quicker.

The hope of the village could stop the killing of innocent people during the annual "lottery."  Hope is the strongest thing that the village could do to get over grief and anxiety.  Although according to Old Man Warner the "lottery" represents a tradition that cannot be broken even though it is pointless and strange.