Common Threads In Shirley Jackson Essay Research

Common Threads In Shirley Jackson Essay, Research Paper

Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco, California

on December 14, 1916. Jackson began writing in journals at a

very young age. She took an interest in the supernatural at as a

child as this 1933 New Year.s Resolution shows; .seek out the

good in others rather than explore the evil. (Ragland). Jackson

started college at the University of Rochester. She dropped out

of school, and transferred to Syracuse University, in the fall.

At Syracuse University, she met her husband Stanley Edgar Hyman.

After graduation Jackson and Hyman moved to North Bennington,

Vermont. Jackson and Hyman had four children; two boys and two

girls. Hyman began teaching classes at the local college, while

Jackson was busily writing stories for various magazines and

newspapers.

Shirley Jackson was one of the most notorious American

cryptic writers of the twentieth century. Jackson could weave a

story using themes of evil, violence, and victimization and make

it all seem somehow normal. It was with these themes that

Jackson wrote such shocking tales as The Lottery, The Haunting of

Hill House, The Hangsaman, Louisa, Please Come Home, and The

Bird.s Nest. Not only did Jackson have the ability to write of

terror but of the trial and tribulations of everyday life. She

wrote Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons about her daily

life with her children. Jackson.s most famed publication was and

today still is The Lottery. It was neither her first nor her

last published story, but certainly the one that gave her a name.

The Lottery first appeared in The New Yorker on June 28, 1948.

The Lottery caused a lot of commotion for both Jackson and The

New Yorker. This was partly due to the fact that Jackson never

gave an explanation or reasoning behind the story. Jackson

herself felt the story needed no explanation ...it was just a

story I wrote…. (Jackson, page 212). Although The Lottery

gave Jackson a name it was not the only story to become famous.

Many of her other books and stories became best sellers as well.

Jackson.s reoccurring themes of evil, violence, and victimization

are present in almost all of her gothic and horrific writings.

Evil in Jackson.s works takes on many forms. In The

Lottery, the evil is .destroyed. through the lottery. Tessie

Hutchinson is the main character. She is killed for the town.s

annual lottery. She has done nothing wrong except for drawing

the wrong piece of paper. The town.s people stone her to death;

no one tries to save her or give any help to keep her from being

stoned. The so called heart of The Lottery has been called a

scapegoat which goes back to ancient times of banishing the evil

of all the people by destroying one (Magill, page 1406). Another

evil was expressed in the short story I Know Who I Love. In this

story the main character Catharine despises her father very much.

She often talks badly about him. .My poor father can.t hear

anything and I.m happy about it. was the line Catharine used to

talk of her father being dead (Jackson, page 52). This may not

be as a severe evil as in The Lottery but even so it was evil.

In the short story The Beautiful Stranger, Margaret the main

character.s husband does not return from a business trip instead

an imposter returns. She lives and acts as if this man is her

husband. This is an example of moral evil. Jackson.s novel The

Bird.s Nest is often considered to be a twentieth century play on

evil and morality (Commire, page 153). Not all the evils

presented in Jackson.s stories or novels were natural; some took

on the evil of the supernatural. Jackson.s novel the Haunting of

Hill House is a basis for these types of evils. This novel

talks of poltergeists and other evils of the supernatural. In

the short story The Summer People the evil that is presented is

not at first easily recognizable. In this story a retired couple

(Mr. and Mrs. Allison) stay at a summer cottage. This time they

decide to stay after Labor Day. After they make this decision

everything that can go wrong does. First, the Allison.s cannot

get any kerosene for the cottage. Next, their car had been

tampered with and could not be used. Soon after that their phone

lines were cut. As evening approached an awful storm came up.

It appeared that everything was out to get this good loving

couple. This was a typical portrayal of good verses evil.

Violence is often portrayed in Jackson.s stories. Many of

her gothic stories contain some form of violence. In the short

story called The Lottery the violence that is portrayed is that

of murder. This is not just a one time violent act; it is a

ritual, repeated yearly. Jackson.s shortest story, Janice, shows

violence against one.s self. Janice is the main

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