“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is filled with language and phrases that added mystery and wonder to my mind as I read. What is this lottery all about? It did not appear to be a happy event as “the villagers kept their distance” (Jackson 406) and “the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them” (Jackson 405). As the story developed and the drawing was going on, it became evident that this was no fun village get together. “Most of them were quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around” (408). As I read on the people were described as nervous, one woman held her breath, and another was wishing they would hurry up. The story clearly implied that something very important would result from the lottery drawing, yet I still had no idea it would amount to the terrible act of stoning.

WAYG

After reading “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” I was left with a bunch of questions all bundled up in frustration. The character of Arnold Friend gave me mixed feelings at first, but by the end I felt I hated him with a passion. His tricks of manipulation toward the young girl and his age, being at least thirty, transformed his character from being some cool guy into some sort of creepy rapist. Take for example when Arnold tries to persuade Connie with “Yes, I am your lover. You don’t know what that is but you will” (Oates 516). It is here he blatantly makes his intentions known.
What really put me on edge was just how accepting this beautiful teenager was of his behavior. She had numerous chances to shut and lock the door and then time to call the cops. There was little proof of her looking for a chance to escape, even something as simple as running to the neighbors could have been a successful and practical escape. This passiveness or Connie simply not knowing what to do made my skin crawl and by the end of the story I was ready to get rid of this crazy Arnold character. Connie herself even knew he was crazy as she repeated several times “You’re crazy!” (Oates 517), yet nothing was done.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

This is a creepy story of a young girl growing up in a hurry. This story was one of absolute horror. Fifteen year old Connie seems to be not unlike any other teenage girl. She is consumed by her vanity. This character is vain and thinks of nothing but her own needs. "to glance into mirrors, or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right" page 509. Connie's mother was hard on her it is understood from this story. "You think you're so pretty?" page 509. I sense Connie's mother was just overly worried about her daughter's well being. Unfortunately all the negative feed back and no positive feed back leads Connie to have horrible wishes regarding her mother "Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over" page 511. Be careful for what you wish for. Connie being young and naive thought her looks would be her life "she knew she was pretty and that was everything" page 509.
The first sense of horror in this story is on page 511 with the line "Gonna get you, baby". This first introduction of the devil in disguise, Arnold Friend, is hair raising. The character Connie seemed to blow it off but the reader feels something chilling in the air. I could somehow sense once Connie's family left for the barbecue that something awful was going to happen. I could hear myself telling Connie she should have gone with her family. Arnold Friend the evil tries so hard to get Connie to come out of the house. The more he tries and the more impatient he becomes the more horrified Connie becomes in her realization of what is happening. I as the reader almost feel as if she is being punished for something. I feel as though the character may be stuck in a bad dream and can't wake up. The ending left me as the reader wondering what truly happens to poor young Connie? Maybe she wakes up from the horrible nightmare a new person. I would much rather imagine that way.

JenN

Where are you going, where have you been?

When I first started reading this story I thought it would just be a typical story about a teenage girl that doesn’t get along with her family. Which it pretty much what it is, until you find out that she is going places that she shouldn’t be with unidentified guys. She hangs out with her best girl friend either at the mall or across the street at a restaurant. Then the girls separate and we meet Arnold for the first time.
As soon as Arnold drives up the road and calls for her to go for a ride with him and his buddy I knew something was wrong. I think that it maybe because I watch a lot of mystery and CSI shows that I always expect the worst from people. When the girls separated I knew something was up and when Arnold and Connie are talking you just get the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Then Arnold comes right out and tells her what he wants to do and I was yelling at Connie in my head to get as far away as she could, “NOW”. But she doesn’t.
This story left me wanting more. I don’t like to leave things hanging in the middle. I was looking for an ending, either she gets away or she is killed at the end of the car ride. We will never know and my imagination keeps going back and forth as to what should happen. TearaH

Doe Season

I found this story very interesting. A nine year old girl not quite ready it seems to choose between femininity and masculinity. Andy's father seems to want a son or boy to do masculine things like hunting together. Andy remembers going to see the ocean with her mother and father and how her father was not as consumed by the ocean as her mother was. I think in this story the ocean may symbolize her mother and femininity and the forest and hunting may symbolize masculinity and her father. On page 459 Andy remembers her trip to Jersey and the ocean as being awkward. This is maybe to say she is too young and awkward to find comfort in womanhood yet. Andy trying to find her way finds herself on a hunting trip with her proud father. Andy is fine with the trip for the most part until she shoots a doe but the supposed dead doe gets up and runs. This causes Andy to dream in a way that allows her to feel the pain the deer feels. On page 466 where it is said that Andy's arm is engulfed by the shot gun wound of the deer. And later when the gutting of the deer begins Andy runs. I believe Andy is being pulled by her parents to choose their desires but in the end Andy finds that she does not like the Jersey ocean side nor does she like hunting. Maybe all Andy would like is the approval of both her parents and to fit in. Not because she is a girl but because she is human; male or female. On page 467 it is stated that she would no longer be called Andy. I think this is of her choosing. It could be that the hunting trip had obscured her from trying to be her dad's son and instead to be herself.

The Lottery

I as well as many others I am sure have heard this story before. I believe I may have even seen short movies on television inspired by this story. I have not however before read the original story. This is a story of unfortunate beliefs. A community believing that if they don't sacrifice one of their own, the crops won't grow, is to me horrific. I think that Warner is so tied up in tradition he never allows himself to once think about getting rid of the Lottery. When the fact that another community has dropped the Lottery, Warner argues on page 408 that that village is a "pack of crazy fools". Mr. Warner continues to state that quitting the lottery would cause trouble. Mr. Warner has too much say maybe because he is one of the older town folk. This story is sickening in a way. When you begin to read it, it describes a happy little growing community, yet in little pieces begins to warn what is coming such as on page 405 when it is mentioned that some of the children are already gathering stones. You have happiness and warning or foreshadowing at the same interval. Strange to me is the way the adults make small talk and joke with one another knowing what is about to come. Another strange and uneasy piece of this story is the black box. It is describes in detail of the wear and tear this box has endured. Describing that the box really did need to be fixed or replaced and every year there was talk of doing so. Every year the box was left alone as if to touch it would cause a change of tradition which this community seemed to feel was evil. I cannot stop thinking about the woman to be stoned Mrs. Hutchinson. Instead of telling the town she would not subject herself or her family to such a display of ignorance, she kept stating how unfair the drawing was and how her husband did not have enough time to draw. Why would these families subject themselves to such horror? All in the name of tradition and superstition.

The Lottery

Dear Shirley Jackson,
I really enjoyed reading The Lottery. At first I didn't understand it, but after a second glance I read between the lines. I think it was an eye opener at the time it was written. It is amazing how cultures continue a tradition even though it is harmful to others. It reflects the time of the holocaust when Jews were being murdered by the Nazi's. Often times Jews would be turned in by their own neighbors. It would seem that the people didn't want to, yet people were afraid not to. In the story the villagers started a tradition that keeps going on every June 27Th a random person gets drawn and they are stoned to death. It doesn't matter that everybody is scared that it may happen to them. The tradition of the Lottery continues year after year for the simple fact that it is a tradition. Why do we do things to harm others simply because or ancestors did before us? Shirley I agree that the country needed an eye opener because so many people died in the holocaust and it could have stopped sooner if the people would have ended it and stood up for what is right and not what everybody else is doing. The lottery also expresses that discrimination and cruelty can happen to any person as randomly as drawing a black dot from a black box. The Jews were ordinary people living their lives and one person started to discriminate them and others followed like a flow of sheep. We need to realize that we move forward and learn from our ancestors past mistakes and do what is right not what our ancestors teach us.

I Stand Here Ironing

In this story I really felt as though I can relate with Emily in many ways. On page 284 in paragraph 15 it says that, "She always had a reason why we should stay home", is a trick I tried many times when I was young as well. Emily felt out of place no matter where she went, I think that many people just didn't understand her. I too had problems with people understanding me as a child and even now my family just doesn't "get" me or even try to. I think that her mother felt very bad for leaving her with family when she was working, but it is very hard to try raise your children and work. I work, raise my children all week by myself, and go to school at the campus and take online classes which is really hard. I think that it would be easier if my children had a place to stay sometimes, but I would never be able to let them go live with someone else. I think that Emily feels as though her younger sister gets all of the attention and she falls in the shadows of everyone else. "Now go to sleep, Emily, there's noting to hurt you", is what she would hear from her mother when she would wake at night with bad dreams but her mom could not comfort her. Emily's sister was sick and her mother could not spend time with Emily until she got better. I think that this was really hard on her because she didn't get the special one on one time with her mother that children so greatly need. She seems to be shoved from pillar to post in order to make her mother's life easier, which would help Emily if her mother were able to work more. This is a double edged sword though because Emily can have a roof over her head but she is not always under that roof to feel the security of having her mother with her. I know how hard it is to work and be a single parent and want what is best for your child, but sometimes something has to give. I will not my children go through what I went through as a child, so I try to spend as much time with them as possible. My mother and father both worked full-time and were not home very much. They missed many school events and activities that I was in because of work. I know that they had to work so we could eat and have a house, but it would have been nice to have them around more.

Raising children is a real struggle, especially if you have work, school, activities, etc. to work around and I think that Emily is another child who suffers from a lack of attention. I am sure when she has a family of her own she will realize a little better what it is like, but you don't always understand at the time. I just wish for Emily that someone would have taken the time to get to know her better and realize what she was going through. She must have felt lonely and scared when she wasn't at home and at the school for children. I can't imagine what she must have thought and the emotions that went through her head.

The Lottery

I figured out the story as soon as I read the part about the kids collecting the rocks. I could see someone getting stoned at the end which was what it was at the end. What was funny was that Mrs. Hutchinson was late her excuse was that she was doing the dishes and realized that no one was outside and took of to the town square. It was ironic how she ended up being the one who was chosen to be stoned for choosing the wrong piece of paper. As the lottery was going on people where talking about that the village next to them stopped doing the lottery and things are still the same. Which the oldest person their said nonsense because he said the lottery In June makes your crops grow. She was trying to make excuses which I don't blame her dong. It was unjust of being stoned due to people thinking that it was what makes people obedient so that things do not get out of hand. It was short and to the point type of a story of what was going on in this village assuming it was in the early 1800’s or so. I think that it was cruel to stone someone out of what they believed when the village was first settled. Though at least her children were not picked. The other eerie part was that her kids I don't think understood what was actually going on because they pick up a stone as well and the lady who picked a large rock took to hand to hold she must get in to the throwing of the rocks.

I stand Here Ironing

I stand here ironing
I thought that this story was good because it shows that a mother with a child in the era of the great depression of the 1930's was difficult to have a child rasing her alone, and have to send her to a woman who was not the nicest person in the world. She had to work because the father was not around. The mother did not give her the attention that she needed to show love or a smile. She begged her mother at a young age to not go to work and made excuses so she didn't have to go to the babysitters. She was a first time mom that ironed all the time. This was a story that went smoothly well and of what was going on and what her actions were. It was a very moving story of being the oldest child and having her mother have more children. She seemed left alone loosing weight. I thought it was for the lack of love and attention. It has a good ending that shows that she did have a place in the world and that no matter, she become happy with what was handed to her her talent to make people laugh. I think that her mother tried the best she could because of the situations but, I also think that she could have found her another babysitter. Also if her mother showed her more emotion it would have helped a lot. This would had made her more outgoing instead of retreating inside, not showing emotion and along with not having her babysitter that she had when she was younger. This is just what I got out of the story and my opinions.

The Storm

Dear Kate Chopin,

I am writing to express my thoughts on your short story that I recently read, "The Storm". I think that this is a very interesting story with an unexpected turn. I found Bobinot to be a very nice gentleman and a seemingly good father. He seems to be the kind of man that most women of that time would love to marry and be very happy in their choosing to do so. Bibi is an adorable little guy who listens to his father very well and has respect for his mother too. These traits are hard to come by now days, so this was a refreshing change of pace to see a child with respect and love to share.

I was quite taken back when the story started to progress like the storm did, your choice of words that also depict what is taking place with the characters is great literature! It took me a little while to understand the meaning behind the importance of the storm in the story, but it plays an intricate part of the plot. You really caught me off guard with Alcee and Calixta, but the slight foreshadowing when she first saw him lead me to think something happened between them before. I wasn't shocked what happened between the two of them after the descriptions, but I am unsure about the ending of the story. What did you want to have the readers think at the end when Calixta acted as though nothing happened when the boys came home? I think that Calixta and Alcee should be ashamed of what they did, and I would have maybe liked to see Bobinot find out what she did. Even though he is a good man, maybe it would have been interesting to see the two of them struggle with what Calixta did and where the story would go from there. Although that makes me wonder a little, it was a great story and I will look forward to reading more of your work.

Sincerely,
Jackie Lunneborg

Doe Season

Who is this young girl named Andy? Andy has several characteristics that help her transitions into adulthood. Andy is a unique girl. She is a very mature nine-year-old. I believe her maturity is a product of her father spending time with her. The story explains how they spend time together shooting. This is how she became a good shot and her dad believes in her. “Do you want to shoot it, punkin?” (464) Andy’s father asks, displaying every bit of confidence in his young daughter. Andy is tough. Not once does she complain, instead she tries to impress her dad through her actions and words. Her ability to stick with it shows that Andy is able to pull through adversity, especially when most nine year old girls would not be able to. She is now ready to face this fear of the grand unknown ocean as it calls to her “Come in, Come in” (467).