W.W. Jacobs
“ The Monkey’s Paw”
Shirley Jackson
“ The Lottery”
Jackson’s Life
Obsessed with writing as a child
 Left school for mental illness but returned
 Involved with the campus literary magazine
 Stanley Edgar Hyman, husband and literary critic
 Four children
 Died at 48
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Jackson’s writings
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The Road Through the Wall (1948).
American horror novelist and short story writer
Wrote children stories
Hosted many leading literary figures of 20th century
Wrote regularly for The Reader's Digest
The Haunting of Hill House
Over 100 novels, novellas, short stories, plays, children’s
books and television scripts
Shirley Jackson Award
“ The Lottery”
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Published in the June 26, 1948
Village children run around collecting stones
Mr. Summers runs the lottery
Make a list of families and households in the village
1st round all families draw
2nd every person from family draws
Person chosen is stoned to death
Setting
• Takes place between 10 a.m. and noon on June 27, a sunny
day, in a New England village
• “ The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the
fresh warmth of a full summer day”
Main Characters
• The lottery is what the town revolves around
• Tessie Hutchinson, winner, gets stoned
• Mr. Summers, runs the lottery
Themes
Danger of Blindly Following Tradition
• Bizarre ritual that suggests how dangerous tradition can
be
• Villagers don’t know much about lottery’s origin but
preserve tradition
• Acceptance of the lottery has allowed ritual murder to
become part of their town
W.W. Jacobs life
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1879- clerk in Post Office Savings Bank
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Grew up and lived in London
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Home environment was setting for many of his stories
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submitted anonymous sketches to be published in Blackfriars
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1899 resigned from the civil service to devote his full time
to writing
Jacobs writings
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1885 first short story published
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short story output declined around the First World War
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The Strand magazine
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early stories were tentative and naïve
first collection of short stories was titled Many Cargoes of
which Punch magazine
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“ The Monkey’s Paw”
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horror, short story
based on the famous "setup" in which three wishes are
granted
Paw of dead monkey grants possessor three wishes
wishes come with enormous price for interfering with fate
movies, plays and comics are variations of the story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXPdKG8jZpM
Setting
• Part I - a dark and stormy night as the three members of
the White family relax inside their cozy house
• Part II- begins on the next morning, a sunny winter day
• In Part III- the Whites bury Herbert
Main Characters
• Herbert White - The son of Mr. and Mrs. White
• Mrs. White- forces Mr. White to wish Herbert back to
life
• Mr. White- makes all three wishes
• Sergeant-Major Morris- shows Mr. White paw, tells him
not to use it but shows him how
Themes
The Danger of Wishing
• The Whites’ downfall comes as the result of wishing for
more than they needed
• Intense desire also leads to unfulfilled expectations or
unintended consequences
Clash between Domesticity and the Outside World
• White’s home safe from outside world
• Whites’ house is full of symbols of happy domesticity
• Whites invite trouble into this cozy world
• Sergeant-Major Morris- monkey paw, tells evil stories
• Maw and Meggins- shatter happiness with news of
Herbert’s death
Similarities
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Both involve community
No control of things
People die
Differences
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Lottery vs. wishes
Town vs. family
Lottery town function,
people have no choice
Paw family had choice to
make wishes but fell into
temptation
Work Cited
Shirley Jackson’s American Gothic by Darryl Hattenhauer (2003)
State University of New York Press
Shirley Jackson; Essays on the Literary Legacy Bernice M. Murphy, Ed.
(2005)McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers
Hyman, Stanley Edgar. "Introduction", Just an Ordinary Day. Bantam, 1995
Characters of Jackson’s The Lottery and Frost's Once By The Pacific."
123HelpMe.com. 19 May 2011
<http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=20370>.
http://www.literalmedia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&i
d=55&It emid=75
http://www.online-literature.com/ww-jacobs/