The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

For this literary analysis essay, you may choose from any of the stories read for class up to this point EXCEPT the story you wrote about for the Lesson 5 theme journal entry. Here is a list:

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

Think of the themes in these works, such as human capacity for violence and evil, good vs. evil, appearance vs. reality, the power of choice, innocence vs. ignorance, weakness, hypocrisy, denial, guilt, role of parents, male/female relationships, gender stereotypes, social codes, faith, redemption, alienation, action vs. inaction, ethical and moral behavior, personal responsibility to others, decisions vs. and consequences…the list could go on and on!

Think about each author’s central purpose in his/her story and the ethical, emotional, and logical means used to advance that purpose. How do these means further the theme or central purpose of the story? How does the setting or the symbolism of the story further that theme? You may also consider the historical period, the social and economic conditions of the story, and/or the background of the author. While writing your essay, remember that you are trying to raise a meaningful issue using evidence from the work to support your analysis of the story pertaining to the theme you choose.

Requirements:

-500 to 600 words in length

-formatted in accurate MLA 8th edition (formatting, citations, and documentation)

-Works Cited Page must be included

-present tense and third person point-of-view

-no grammatical and sentence structure errors