shirley jackson's relevance

Shirley Jackson: An Acclaimed American Writer


Shirley Jackson was an acclaimed American and professional writer best known for her amazing works of short stories and prose, all of which she enjoyed writing. Among other things, she was known for the infamous short story "the lottery." Despite the fact that her works are from a long time back, her books are still read in college classrooms because of the valuable messages they express and the students they teach.

Challenging Traditions


Jackson discusses topics relating to our diverse past cultures in some of her books, such as 'the lottery,' for which she was well known. Shirley Jackson is explicitly anti-traditions of our past history that lack the essence of people's lives today in this novel. As a writer, she challenges people by making them think what inhumane practices they engage in every day in the name of ‘tradition’. For example in her story the lottery, she addresses the stagnant state of mind that prevents our mental development and leads us to aberration (Shirley 35). This is because people continued to engage in traditions that were outdated and made no sense without questioning their essence.

Questioning Traditions


Shirley Jackson in her writings challenges our preconceptions and ideas by making us examine the role tradition had in our past culture and how inhumane and cruel we can be if we participate in these traditions without focusing on their importance. Therefore, she discourages the engagement of people in half-forgotten rituals that eventually bring out their cruel or inhumane nature (Murphy 15). She goes on to encourage people to stand up and question traditions in past culture instead of resisting change even when it’s the most preferred option. A stagnant mind that resists change, she says, prevents mental development.

Impacts of the Shirley Works on Lottery in Past Culture


Lottery comprises of the past idea, behavior, and action that have been sailing from the regime to another and followed unconditionally by members of society with no regard to how cruel and illogical it may be (Kosenko 30). Over the decades now, the inhuman activity has been taking place in villages. Precisely, the lottery is the yearly traditional ritual that has not been questioned by anyone. Thus, it takes bigger proportion of the culture in town. In the modern world, a lottery has lost its meaning although it still gains loyalty from the villagers. Nevertheless, lottery concisely gains recognition from many people. In contrast, lottery contributed to the death of many people on annual basis. Therefore, the lottery is the atypical example of what can take place if the old traditions are not critically reexamined by the contemporary regimes.

Impacts of the Shirley Works on Lottery in Modern Culture


The setting of the lottery in the contemporary generations is significant (Joshi 44). A modern town in which this activity takes place is explained as the pleasant and ordinary community. In contrast to early days where lottery resulted in annuals deaths, in modern times lottery is eagerly anticipated for since it brings children together to play hence harnessing peace and harmony ( Kittredge 10). Thus, students group together for sometime before separating into the boisterous play. They further extend this conversation in the classroom with their teachers of books and the reprimands (Kittredge 12).

The grown-up is amiable and congenial, as in this modern times, when a women greets another she is likely to extend some bits of the gossip about their men. Also, there is mutual understanding which has been brought by the lottery, for example, people provide the necessary support for one another in times of need since they are aware of the activities and illness that could result because of the lottery. For example, in the article "A Reading of Shirley Jackson's the Lottery" by Kosenko, a young man drawing for the first time elicits the following: "Don't be nervous, Jack ... Take your time, son" (30). The above details establish the setting of "The Lottery" as a pleasant, conventional town, the inhabitants of which are generally friendly and kind.

Conclusion


In summary, Shirley Jackson’s writings have a positive impact on the contemporary and past culture as it encouraged people to think beyond their actions and gave them the will to welcome change. As a result, her artworks are still read in colleges to encourage students to question the essence of certain activities even when they have been going on for a long time, in order to establish their essence. However, the lottery setting is extremely ironical in nature, the undertaking if full of brutality and hypocrisy and it inherently portrays the evil nature of humans in towns even after the long centuries of the supposed civilization. At first, people had no idea of what lottery comprised of, which is the normalized ritual in murder. The play results in the winner who is then beaten to death by the people in town.

Works Cited


Shirley Jackson. The Lottery. The New Yorker. 2014, pp. 34 – 78


Murphy, Bernice M. “Introduction: ‘Do You Know Who I Am?’ Reconsidering Shirley Jackson”. Shirley Jackson: Essays on the Literary Legacy. Jefferson: McFarland & Company. 2015, pp. 1 – 29.


Joshi, Stephen. “Shirley Jackson: Domestic Horror”. The Modern Weird Tale: A Critique of Horror Fiction. McFarland & Co, 2013, pp.34 -60.


Kittredge, Mary. “The Other Side of Magic: A Few Remarks About Shirley Jackson”, in Darrell Schweitzer ed., Discovering Modern Horror Fiction. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, July 2014, pp. 3–12.


Kosenko, Peter. “A Reading of Shirley Jackson’s the Lottery. New Orleans Review, vol. 12, no. 1 2015, pp. 27–32.

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