What quotes in "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson illustrate themes of violence and cruelty?

Most often, the word "lottery" brings to mind something positive, such as winning money or a prize. However, in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," the word takes on a much different meaning. Several quotes and ideas in "The Lottery" help reveal themes of violence and cruelty.

The story begins with a description of the setting. It is summer in a small village, and the author brings to the reader's attention the flowers and green grass. The peaceful setting contrasts with the events that are about to occur. Since the village is small, it is stated that the lottery can be finished "in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner." The statement shows cruelty: it seems cold and inappropriate to consider whether or not people will be home for dinner when you know that a citizen of the community will lose his or her life.

The first to gather in the square for the lottery are the children. While it seems cruel and violent that children are present at such an event, the reader soon learns that children are participants in the lottery as well. The narrator shares that "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones." By naming the children, the story brings this cruelty to the forefront, as the reader begins to understand that a child might die—and many children will participate in the killing. When Mr. Hutchinson draws the slip with the mark on it, each member of his family must then draw to determine who will be stoned. The family has three children, one of whom needs help to draw his slip of paper. The young boy is told, "Take a paper out of the box, Davy." Davy does this willingly with the trust and naivety of a young child, making this an especially cruel event in the story.

Mr. Summers conducts the lottery, as he conducts the "square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program." Mention of these more positive and happy events serves to highlight and set apart the violence of the tradition. "In his clean white shirt and blue jeans, with one hand resting carelessly on the black box," Mr. Summers seems particularly nonchalant regarding the task with which he is charged.

Old Man Warner refers to a nearby town giving up the lottery as a "pack of crazy fools." He then compares talk of doing away with the lottery to going "back to living in caves." His statement is cruel and ironic in that he sees giving up a violent tradition as uncivilized.

A final example of the theme of cruelty and violence in "The Lottery" occurs near the end of the story after Mrs. Hutchinson is selected. The people she exchanges small talk with at the beginning of the story begin to gather their stones to participate in her death. The narrator shares that "someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles." This is perhaps the statement showing the most cruelty, as Davy will participate in killing his own mother.

How does Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" illustrate people's violent nature?

In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," violence is one of the story's themes. We find not only that the people in the story demonstrate a violent nature, but that it has been going on in this town for a very long time.

As the story begins, on a sunny morning at the end of June, we learn that the children have only recently been dismissed from school for the summer. They are playing with the wild abandon of kids freed from the restrictions of the classroom. The scene seems normal. Before the reader understands the intent of the gathering, we learn...

Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones...

In fact, with the patience and intent of youngsters, soon they have amassed an impressive pile of stones that they now defend against other marauding boys intent on taking their hoard.

One aspect of the story that shows the violent nature of people is the casual way they go about passing their time until the process—the lottery—begins. The men speak of everyday events with the casual air of men gathering anywhere, at any time: speaking of...

...planting and rain, tractors and taxes.

The only indication that this might be a gathering different from other days is that when they joke, they speak quietly and refrain from laughing. Knowing the end of the story, readers who consider themselves to be non-violent might well find this behavior repulsive: for how can people be so cool in preparing to take another person's life? And why aren't they fearful that any one of them might be chosen?

The women share gossip; they call their children to join them, who come reluctantly. And equally disturbing, the narrator notes...

The lottery was conducted—as were the square dances, the teenage clubs, the Halloween program—by Mr. Summers...

It is considered a "civic activity," but dances and clubs are hardly on the same level as death-by-lottery. When Tessie Hutchinson finally arrives, Mr. Summers wants to "get this over with so's we can go back to work." The grave contradiction here is the normalcy with which the town operates. Stoning takes place and it's "business as usual."

Bill chooses the black spot; Tessie starts to argue. Casually one neighbor calls, "Be a good sport, Tessie." Her husband straight out tells her to shut-up. At this point, they don't know who in the family will die. Tessie shows the vicious nature of people and their desire to survive at all costs, ready to give up her daughter's life to save her own (we assume), or perhaps her younger children. She yells:

There's Don and Eva...Make them take their chance!

Tessie is reminded that a married daughter draws with her husband's family. Tessie still insists, "It wasn't fair." But while she pleads and argues, the men put five pieces of paper in the box: one a piece for each parent, and one for each of their children. The violent nature of people is seen to be like that of animals: animals will attack and kill adults as well as the young. In the lottery, not even the children are spared. Little Dave isn't even old enough to open his own paper, indicating he wouldn't be old enough to understand what is being done to him if he were chosen to die.

When it's time, they all attack her with stones; we already know...

...someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.

Calmness in the face of such violence is appalling.

What adages are used in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"?

An adage is used when Mr. Adams speaks with Old Man Warner, who has participated in the lottery 77 times. Mr. Adams informs Old Man Warner that the community in the northern village is considering quitting the lottery. Old Man Warner expresses his displeasure at the remark by referring to the people in the north as a pack of crazy fools. He further warns that the people would not stop at quitting the lottery, but will also regress to primordial lifestyles. Old Man Warner adds that the people would also stop working and tells Mr. Adams of an old saying that stated "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon." The adage suggests the community associates their farms’ productivity with the events of the lottery, which is a human sacrifice conducted by the community.

How does "The Lottery"'s author use symbolism through violence and cruelty?

Stones are a recurrent symbol of violence in Jackson's short story.

After the first paragraph setting up the seemingly idyllic June event on the village green, Jackson introduces the stones in paragraph two—and chillingly associates them with children. Bobby Martin, we find, has filled his pockets with stones, and other schoolchildren have made piles of stones in preparation for what is to come. This shows how early in life a cruel tradition is internalized as normal by the villagers.

In contrast to the children, the men stand away from the stones: this symbolizes that they have a more mature understanding of the evil they are participating in and are trying to deny their association with it as long as possible.

Yet, despite the denial and the pretense that all of his normal, when the time comes, the villagers grab the stones willingly. Mrs. Delacroix picks up a stone so large she has to hold it in two hands. Mrs. Dunbar gasps for breath as she runs holding stones in both hands. The stones offer a graphic image of how quickly the townspeople turn on their friend and neighbor, a person they were talking to cheerfully just a few moments before.

The violence of a group slaughter of a person through stoning highlights the barbarism of hanging onto to a superstitious and unneeded ritual.