Prejudice in "King of the Bingo Game"

This is truly God! He said it aloud, “This is God”” (Ellison 587). The nameless protagonist feels that God is in the process of working a miracle in his wife’s life. In the mind of the protagonist, the person who controls the wheel while it spins has complete power. By possessing control over the wheel, it took control over him, “he controlled the wheel, it also controlled him, and unless he pressed the button forever and forever and ever it would stop, leaving him high and dry, and dry and high on this hard high slippery hill and Laura dead” (Ellison 588). These particular individuals have the potential to determine their own destiny. When the protagonist comes to his senses he realizes that “the wheel becomes the interpreter of his destiny” (Saunders). Knowing exactly how the bingo wheel correctly operates means he has a great chance at winning the prize. When the protagonist figures out what he is discovers the key to the

In Ralph Ellison's "King of the Bingo Game", the African American narrator, whose name is unknown, finds himself in a position where he has the power to control his own destiny for once, or so he thinks. The reader learns that he is from the South, but has come up North, and is taking his shot at a bingo game. He is broke, hungry, his wife is dying, and he hopes to win the cash prize of $36.90 to help her. He eventually is called up to spin the wheel for a chance at the prize, but he freezes, and doesn't let go of the button. This is despite the fact that he explained how a short, quick press can land a winning double zero. He calls himself the "king of the bingo game" and keeps holding down the button until two officers drag him off

Ellison's 'King of the Bingo Game' encompasses a variety of different implications that transform an otherwise sad short story into a political statement regarding racial injustice towards African Americans. Ellison's use of colors, slang phrases, names, irony, and his almost constant use of metaphor change otherwise meaningless sentences into poignant testimonial of disparity. This exceptional use of language, in conjunction to the hardships African American's faced at the time of the stories conception allow it to paint a picture of inequality and prejudice that insight insanity into the main character.

In Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," what appears to be an ordinary day in a small town takes an evil turn when a woman is stoned to death after "winning" the town lottery. The lottery in this story reflects an old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order to encourage the growth of crops. But this story is not about the past, for through the actions of the town, Jackson shows us many of the social ills that exist in our own lives.

    "The Lottery," a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale about a disturbing social practice.  The setting takes place in a small village consisting of about three hundred denizens.  On June twenty-seventh of every year, the members of this traditional community hold a village-wide lottery in which everyone is expected to participate.  Throughout the story, the reader gets an odd feeling regarding the residents and their annual practice.  Not until the end does he or she gets to know what the lottery is about.  Thus, from the beginning of the story until almost the end, there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the Jackson's effective

“A stone hit her on the side of the head. "It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her” (34). “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson which, sparked controversy when published in the June 26, 1948 issue of the New Yorker. Jackson used several different literary devices to support her theme that people who don’t question tradition get what they deserve. The literary devices Jackson uses to support the theme of ‘The Lottery’ are irony, foreshadowing, and pacing.

Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” is about a bizarre ritual performed in a town in which the townspeople proceed to follow every year. In a black, worn box they place all the names of the community. Once all the names are placed inside, Mr. Summers draws a name. After the name is chosen, this member will be stoned to death by the others in the community. Tessie Hutchinson in the story tries to reject the repetitive tradition of the lottery.

Shirley Jackson’s famous short story, “The Lottery,” was published in 1948 and remains to this day one of the most enduring and affecting American works in the literary canon. “The Lottery” tells the story of a farming community that holds a ritualistic lottery among its citizens each year. Although the text initially presents audiences with a close-knit community participating in a social event together on a special day, the shocking twist at the work’s end—with the death of the lottery’s “winner” by public stoning—has led to its widespread popularity, public outcry and discussion, and continued examination in modern times (Jackson). One potential critical theory that can be applied to Jackson’s “The Lottery” is the reader-response

Once the protagonist is given the button to control the bingo wheel he tells himself his plan “… give the wheel a short quick twirl. Just a touch of the button” (586). He held on to the button, tightening his grip, as the wheel increased in speed, it drawing “ him more and more into its power” (587). He finally held the power of the button given to him by the white man. This was his chance to attempt to break the grossly unfair set of rules established by the dominant white society. Instead of following his plan he continued to let the wheel spin, watching the numbers as they whirled by, he then burst out “This is God! This is the really truly God! He said it aloud, ‘This is God!’” (587). He experiences total power, he loves it. He controls the entire audience’s attention as he holds the button and feels more and more power. The wheel spins while holding onto the button, allowing him to be master of his own destiny a feeling new, scary and addicting to the

Winning isn’t always what it seems. Hearing the word “lottery” usually develops a positive connotation in the mind of the reader, associating it with pleasure, good fortune and happiness; however, in “The Lottery,” the winner is rewarded by being brutally stoned by her neighbors and believed friends. “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, highlights how complacently our society reacts to the pointless brutality and inhumanity towards others. To demonstrate this, Jackson examines social constructs, women’s place and how instead focusing too strongly on strict traditions, we need to reexamine these rituals to determine their necessity and if they are still beneficial to society. Jackson uses seemingly ordinary details about

Old Man Warner is the epitome of the lottery and its tradition. He is the oldest man in town, having participated in seventy-seven lotteries total. As a steadfast advocate for keeping things exactly how they stand and someone who is threatened by the idea of change, he distinguishes all the towns and the young people who have stopped pursuing the lottery as a “pack of crazy fools” (Jackson, 27). He is trapped within the past traditions, even if they should not sustain. Being the antagonist, Old Man Warner does not veer away from the tradition, even though many others do not agree with it.

There are three characters in the story. The protagonist and his wife are struggling with their life and emphasize the theme of hopelessness. The protagonist is a nameless African American who comes from the southern U.S. At the beginning of the story, he is watching a movie of a woman tied down to a bed. He tries to enjoy the movie, but Laura comes to his mind. Laura is the protagonist’s wife, as well as the incentive for the man to win the bingo game. The man is powerless and hopeless in the society, “he gets no birth certificate to get a job and Laura ‘bout to die’ cause they have no money for a doctor” (242). Thus, winning the bingo game is the only way he can pay a doctor to treat his sick wife. He must win the game because it is his only chance to save her. After he finds he gets all the bingo numbers correct, standing on the stage to spin the wheel to win the prize. He feels compelled to press the button because there is a voice in his mind: “who held the prize who was the king of bingo (246).” The man wants to be the king and overcomes all the difficulties in order to control his own life. He hopes to keep the bingo wheel whirling forever, only in this way Laura will be safe and he has the imagery that “if she is not safe, the wheel will cease

     The Lottery, a short story by the nonconformist author Shirley Jackson, represents communities, America, the world, and conformist society as a whole by using setting and most importantly symbolism with her inventive, cryptic writing style. It was written in 1948, roughly three years after the liberation of a World War II concentration camp Auschwitz. Even today, some people deny that the Holocaust ever happened. Jackson shows through the setting of the story, a small, close knit town, that even though a population can ignore evil, it is still prevalent in society (for example: the Harlem Riots; the terrorist attacks on September 11; the beating of Rodney King.)

The narrator of Ralph Ellison’s “King of the Bingo Game” is a scared but fighting man. The protagonist of this story is an African American man. He is from Rocky Mont, North Carolina. In the story, his wife Laura is ill and will die if they are not able to take her to a doctor. He is playing a game of bingo in order to try to win the daily jackpot, so he can take Laura to the doctors. He gets bingo and is called up to the front to spin the wheel, but when he goes up to spin the wheel he is not able to let go of the button. He is having a hard time letting go of problems that are occurring in his life. Ralph Ellison’s “King of the Bingo Game” is about an African-American who is trying to cope with many different conflicts in his life throughout one bingo game.

Shirley Jackson?s insights and observations about society are reflected in her shocking and disturbing short story The Lottery. Jackson reveals two general attitudes in this story: first is the shocking tendency for societies to select a scapegoat and second is the idea that communities are victims of social tradition and rituals.