Shirley Jackson Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Shirley Jackson - Research Paper Example Simultaneously, the focus Shirley Jackson made on the life theme belongs to that long American tradition of the romance, what Richard Chase refers to as "that freer, more daring, more brilliant fiction that contrasts with the solid moral inclusiveness and massive equability of the English novel" (Chase, viii). It is Chase's conviction that "the history of American novel is not only the history of the rise of realism but also of the repeated rediscovery of the uses of romance, and that this will continue to be so" (Chase, xii). Jackson's illustrations of life have been most amenable to an imagination shaped and inspired by a culture of contradiction, of disharmonies, of what Chase calls "radical disunities." From the critical perspective, it was important to list these qualities of Jackson's literature in order to see that the fiction of Shirley Jackson, specifically her focus on the themes of life and death, belong to that major stream of American literature represented by Poe, Hawth orne, Melville, James, and Faulkner. Traditionally for Shirley Jackson's fiction, her protagonists and audience are immobilized by dread and death. Indeed, author's fiction revolves around dread: what it is and what it feels like. In her work, dread is an emotion, a predicament, an existential condition. What is dreaded is a truth which seems to be the author's. As one reads, one feels the presence of Shirley Jackson in her work. In "The Lottery," something dreadful occurs from the very beginning. Regularly, once-a-year, a villager is ritually stoned to death. But this event inspires no fear. Rather, it is sanctioned by the community. From the readers' perspective, they appreciate the horror of the lottery, but their only reaction is surprise. The sense of horror comes later, after they finish reading. Like the villagers themselves, readers are dissociated emotionally from the feelings, and Jackson manages this through the delay of information. Thus a paradox emerges. Something fearful occurs, but the fearful event is not anticipated by reader or character. Nevertheless, the reader's sense of dread is increased by the story - not in the forward movement of reading, but retrospectively. The point is this that Jackson mystifies the reader in order to take the reader by surprise. In Jackson's work it is the emotion of surprise which finally gets under audience's skin and proves to readers that they have something to worry about. "The Lottery" is the tale of a town ritual, namely, the stoning of one of its citizens, chosen collectively by drawing lots. From the very beginning of the narration, Shirley Jackson displays great ability to suggest and foreshadow through her symbols and descriptions of setting and circumstances. Shirley Jackson masterfully and not accidentally put the most important symbol of her short story in its title. The lottery symbolizes death, meaningless, insensible and evident. Critically speaking, insensibility and meaninglessness are the elements of author's narrational emphasis, and these themes find their place in all Jackson fiction. In this particular short story, the cruelty of the