What is a Psychotic? Does anyone really know? By definition a Psychotic is plainly someone who has lost contact with reality. Shirley Jackson is an excellent example of this because of the situations she had faced throughout her life.
In “The Lottery”, one of Shirley Jackson’s most famous short stories, we are made familiar with her chilling sense of humor. “The Lottery”, was about a towns tradition of sacrificing a human so there would be a good harvest. It brought fame as well as letters from people all over the country who felt she had lost contact with reality. The letters were often abusive letters from people who didn’t understand her motives or what she was trying to do. Her motives can be explained by the hostility of the villagers in the story and the ones Shirley lived with. The ones that “further shaped her Psyche, and her art” (Lethem).
In the story “One Ordinary Day with Peanuts”, the main character Mr. Johnson comes across as a sweet and caring man. We later find out that he is just putting on an act when his wife shares her day with him and asks if he would like to switch places tomorrow, and he replies “yes”(Jackson 50). Like her story, Jackson was also faced with a situation similar to that because of her upbringing by a suburban mother who was obsessed by appearances. Therefore she also put on pleasant acts for everyone. This is what was believed to have caused her to become “Psychotic”.
To put it most simply, Shirley Jackson wrote about the mundane evils hidden in everyday life and about the warring and subsuming of selves in a family, a community and sometimes even in a single mind. She wrote about prejudice, neurosis and identity. An unfortunate impression persists that her work is full of ghosts and witches (Randell). To read her at all is to have a personal connection. It was widely said of Jackson that “she never wrote a bad sentence,” and that’s still true.
Shirley Jackson Reports
John's Shirley Jackson Report
Jenny's Shirley Jackson Report
Brian's Shirley Jackson Report
Jason's Shirley Jackson Reports
Jayson's Shirley Jackson Report
Bonnie's Shirley Jackson Report
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