The Lottery Dissecting Sociological Horrors Essay

The Lottery: Dissecting Sociological Horrors When you hear the word â€Å"lottery†, what do you think? In Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, readers are presented with an ironic, dramatic, bleak tale about a small village gathering for not exactly what one would call a lottery. Born in San Francisco, California in 1916, Jackson spent much of her early life writing poetry and journal entries. After enrolling in the University of Rochester, she eventually withdrew to pursue her dreams of becoming a writer. Jackson later decided to attend Syracuse University, where she published a variety of fiction and nonfiction campus magazines. After graduating and getting married in 1940, Jackson then moved to New York City, where she printed her first national short story. In 1948, The Lottery, one of her most famous short stories of all time was published. The story had its first of several television adaptations in 1952. While most of Jackson’s work is credited to her horrendous and comedic tales, she seems to master the m orality theme as well (Hrebik). Many authors claim to have been influenced by her works: Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Nigel Kneale, and Richard Matheson. Although Jackson’s stories often confuse many critics, that is what makes her tales so popular today. Years later, she is still regarded as one of the most remarkable and influential authors of the twentieth century. The idiosyncratic and engaging techniques allow readers develop their own idea of what they are reading. In