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Examples Of Irony In The Lottery

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The short story “The Lottery” is written by Shirley Jackson. This story takes place in a small village where everybody knows each other. In this story all the villagers gather around town for their annual lottery. Everyone in the village is compelled to follow this tradition even if the outcome ends up with someone dying. In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses conflict, theme, and irony to develop this suspenseful short story. One literary device used by Jackson is conflict. A conflict is a problem or struggle between two opposing forces in a story. ( Teaching...2) In this short story it was man vs. society. Tessie is one of the main characters in “The Lottery” , who has to deal with a big problem. Living in this small village you are obligated …show more content…

Just because a tradition has been around for a long time doesn't mean you necessarily have to follow it, especially if you are against the outcome of being chosen. Living in a small village it might be hard to say “no” without getting judged by the other villagers, but at the end of the day you need to think about yourself and how the outcome will end up affecting your life. Shirley Jackson creates a suspenseful and captive story by using irony in “ The Lottery ”. Irony is a technique that involves surprising, interesting,or amusing contradictions or contrast (Teaching...1). Jackson uses irony in many different ways even starting from the title to the very end. By using irony it keeps the readers engaged and focused on the main point of the story. Shirley Jackson purposely made the title “The Lottery” so that the reader can automatically think that the story is going to be about someone winning the lottery and their probably going get a nice reward at the end of the story. Starting the story Jackson sets scene by saying “ was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.”(Jackson...1) This illustrates that its was a beautiful, peaceful, and happy day outside. It also sounds like a normal day and you, as a reader wouldn't expect anyone to get hurt or die in the

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