Psychoanalytic Criticism Of The Lottery - 999 Words

In Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery,† the story begins on a sunny day that imposes gossip and frenzy around the town. In this location, they conduct a â€Å"lottery† that involves the families of the town to go into a drawing. Once the drawing is done, the family that is chosen is forced to commence into another lottery between themselves. The winner of the lottery is used as a sacrifice for the town and is pelted by stones thrown from the community, including children. Furthermore, the basis of â€Å"The Lottery† has to do with psychological problems and influence. Psychoanalysis is built upon Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychology, which asserts that the human mind is affected by their â€Å"unconscious that is driven by their desires and fears†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦Shirley Jackson writes about this social conduct in order to reflect her childhood trauma of being bullied by other kids, leading to her depression in school (Kellma n 1213). Conveying the selfishness of man through her writings, Shirley Jackson displays her consciousness within â€Å"The Lottery† and shows how society can influence the conscious at developmental stages and leading examples through psychoanalytic lens. Furthermore, influencing the conscious is not only done within the social community, but also by the traditions that the society imposes and forces upon others. In â€Å"The Lottery,† the traditions of drawing others to be stoned is done for fun and has lost its traditional meanings. Allowing others to being stoned to death for traditions reveals how selfish and torturess the nature of man is. In Freud’s studies, he made it clear that â€Å"a group cannot live in society if it not governed by organizations, codes, and laws,† supporting the argument that traditions are only used as an excuse to influence man’s mind that acts of violence are accepted (Barbosa 23). Furthermore, Shirley ties this in with the story by emphasizing how the culture is important for the identity of others, which can help them lose their real purpose of practicing traditional customs. The story reflects the argument by displaying how even though the traditional meanings are lost, people still throw stones for funShow MoreRelatedThe Lottery Shirley Jackson Analysis1089 Words   |  5 Pages In Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery,† the story conducts a â€Å"lottery† that involves the families of the town to go into a drawing. Once the drawing is done, the winner of the lottery is used as a sacrifice in the town and is pelted by stones thrown from the community, including children. Furthermore, the basis of â€Å"The Lottery† has to do with psychological problems and influence. Psychoanalysis is built upon Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychology, which asserts that the human mind is affected by theirRead MorePsychoanalysis And Marxism And 19842034 Words   |  9 Pag essociety and understand how his role in the re-writing of history affected his life. Marxist theory is based upon the writings of Karl Marx and examines social hierarchies, as well as governmental structures and capitalist ideas. â€Å"Marxist literary criticism has traditionally been concerned with studying the embeddedness of a work within its historical, social, and economic contexts† (Rivkin 711). In other words, this theory allows the reader to more clearly examine the relationships between charactersRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pagesthat Hawthorne is attempting to illustrate the failure of belief and the effects of moral skepticism. The story has also been variously interpreted as an attack on the hypocrisy of Puritan society, as an attack on Calvinistic theology, and as a psychoanalytic study of arrested sexual development that has nothing at all to do with the question of religious faith. Nor does Hawthorne’s story stand alone as an extreme of protracted (and, one might add, finally inconclusive) liter ary debates. Third, andRead MoreOcd - Symptoms, Causes, Treatment131367 Words   |  526 Pagescycle of brain dysfunction, cognitive impairment, and clinical symptoms is created. Savage’s proposal provides a good illustration of how a neuropsychological deficit may play a central role in the etiology and persistence of OCD. It addresses a criticism often leveled against neuropsychological research in OCD: that demonstrations of general cognitive deficits fail to explain how these dysfunctions relate to the clinical presentation of the disorder (Salkovskis, 1996a). It would be premature to conclude