:: 2 Works Cited
Length: 782 words (2.8 pages)
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The Characters of Shirley Jackson?s The Lottery and Robert Frost's Once By The Pacific


There are many devices within the craft of writing that writers use to help them convey their messages. Among these include what characters they use and how they act, what setting they put their characters in, what types of symbols are use, and many others. They can go even farther into each section with how much information they give us, or how much they make us fill in with our own interpretation or imagination. The writer's choice of characters is a main part of the story, for it is these people that "tell" the story and which we relate it to. The characters' descriptions and their actions are what we picture in our minds. Although they need the other devices to complete the story, the authors use of characters can be what makes or breaks the story. There are many different types of characters that writers can use to help them distribute their message. Robert Frost uses nature as a character in his poem "Once By The Pacific," while Shirley Jackson uses the members of a small town to tell her story in The Lottery. While each is different, they both serve their intended purpose - to tell us a story.

In Robert Frost's poem, "Once By The Pacific," he uses nature as his character. He uses the sea, the beach, skies, the cliffs, and the continent and then gives them human characteristics. I feel that he uses these items because the story he is trying to tell is bigger than life, bigger than what could be described with any mere human or animal. By using the seas, the skies, the shore, the cliffs, and the continent as his characters, Robert Frost gives us an image of God's last words having immense power to control the largest forces in the world. He also gives me the image of the clouds being the angry face of God with the two lines, "The clouds were low and hairy in the skies, / Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes" (Frost 903 lines 5-6). Along with his choice and use of characters, Robert Frost also uses rhyme and rhythm to add to the intensity of his poem.

Shirley Jackson takes a different approach with her use of characters in her short story, "The Lottery." While Frost uses nature as his characters to portray immense power, Shirley Jackson uses normal people that you could find in any small town to show us how anyone can be taken in by the power of peer pressure. She uses the husband at home with the broken leg, the wife running late because she was doing housework, the son who is old enough to be the man of the house, and many others so that we can relate to the townspeople and families that are within the story. We can see the power in Robert Frost's characters, but we can relate to the characters that Shirley Jackson uses in her story. By her use of "simple" people in her story about a town's method of deciding who to "stone," she paints a picture of how people within society are so willing to follow what is considered the norm no matter what it is, while the whole time they hope that they are not the ones that the stoning (in this story) or name calling is being directed towards. This could be any town, in any county, in any state. As long as it is not "me," it is okay. This can be seen when Tessie is complaining that her family was chosen and how it is unfair, her husband didn't have enough time. While she is doing this, Mrs. Delaroix is saying, "Be a good sport, Tessie," and Mrs. Graves states, "All of us took the same chance" (Jackson 853). You know that deep down inside all they care about is that it wasn't them and if they were the ones to be chosen, they would be complaining as well.

The use of characters can be one of the main portions of any story told. By changing the characters within the story, the writer can change the whole meaning they are trying to get out, along with our entire interpretation of the story. The characters are just one of the many devices used in writing that the author must consider when telling their "story."

Works Cited

Frost, Robert. "Once By The Pacific." Bridges: Literature Across Cultures. Gilbert H. Muller, John A. Williams. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1994. p 903.

Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Bridges: Literature Across Cultures. Gilbert H. Muller, John A. Williams. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1994. p 849-854.