In this
journal, I want to talk about “The Lottery”, one of my favorite short stories
which I met last semester, and handle it in terms of the context and the
meaning. In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson tells about a small village where only
about 300 people live and these people’s annual ritual known as “the lottery”. I
think that she builds a plot in a bewildering and complex way and gives
impressive messages thanks to this exaggerated story. First of all, she shapes
the story so unexpectedly that it must be read more than once in order to be
totally comprehended. For example, in the beginning of the story, she starts
with a description of the wonderful weather and how the people interact, which
is like any other small town where everyone is friendly with one another by
using a happy tone, making it impossible for us to guess the horrible ending.
In addition, she mentions “the lottery” which means one’s fortune of winning a
prize throughout the story; however, in the end, it is understood that “the
lottery” means a cruel tradition carried on by determining someone to sacrifice
for a good harvest from cultivating corn. We can infer the aim of ritual from
the old proverb stated in the story “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”.
Secondly, in my opinion, she mainly aims to draw readers’ attention to our
indifference to the violence in our lives by emphasizing on blind rituals of
mankind with such an exaggerated story. In addition, I think that she refers to
the patriarchal life patterns of existing societies by mentioning a conservative
and men-oriented community and probably implies that this situation causes most
of social unfairness. To sum up, I find “The Lottery” both astonishing because of
its unexpected plot and raising awareness because of treating of the writer by
giving impressive messages.29 Nisan 2013 Pazartesi
Second Journal of Second Term
In this
journal, I want to talk about “The Lottery”, one of my favorite short stories
which I met last semester, and handle it in terms of the context and the
meaning. In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson tells about a small village where only
about 300 people live and these people’s annual ritual known as “the lottery”. I
think that she builds a plot in a bewildering and complex way and gives
impressive messages thanks to this exaggerated story. First of all, she shapes
the story so unexpectedly that it must be read more than once in order to be
totally comprehended. For example, in the beginning of the story, she starts
with a description of the wonderful weather and how the people interact, which
is like any other small town where everyone is friendly with one another by
using a happy tone, making it impossible for us to guess the horrible ending.
In addition, she mentions “the lottery” which means one’s fortune of winning a
prize throughout the story; however, in the end, it is understood that “the
lottery” means a cruel tradition carried on by determining someone to sacrifice
for a good harvest from cultivating corn. We can infer the aim of ritual from
the old proverb stated in the story “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”.
Secondly, in my opinion, she mainly aims to draw readers’ attention to our
indifference to the violence in our lives by emphasizing on blind rituals of
mankind with such an exaggerated story. In addition, I think that she refers to
the patriarchal life patterns of existing societies by mentioning a conservative
and men-oriented community and probably implies that this situation causes most
of social unfairness. To sum up, I find “The Lottery” both astonishing because of
its unexpected plot and raising awareness because of treating of the writer by
giving impressive messages.
Dear Özge, First of all, I should say that your writing style is good. You have mentioned a short story all we learnt last semester and had some messages. You have reminded it us once more. I think your passage is like general and short summary of “The Lottery”. I can say that your writing is fluent so, it finished immediately reading your journal. I wish it would have been longer. However, it is your great ability to make an excellent summary by this short writing. You are well done. To say something about your grammar and organization, I can say that you connect the sentences very wisely and clearly, so your sentences are very understandable. Additionally, it seems that there is no grammatical mistake in your writing. Finally, thank you for this summarizing and reminder journal which is about “The Lottery”.
YanıtlaSilDear Özge,
YanıtlaSilI think it was a great topic to tell us about since we all read that story last semester. I liked your usage of the language. I liked that you started your journal with a brief summary of the story. However, like Şerif said, you could have make your personal thoughts about the story a bit longer. I also agree with you on the main message of the story. We all found the story very astonishing. I liked your grammar. You stated your ideas clearly and in a well-organized way. Thanks for your efforts!