Foreshadowing In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

"The Lottery" is a story about the human capacity for violence, especially when that violence is couched in an appeal to tradition or social order. The lottery itself is tense and very stressful. The characters do not look around at each other. The villagers like to imagine that they're preserving tradition by doing the lottery at its same time every year. The villagers remember very few details, and the box itself that is used to hold the pieces of paper, is not the original. Rumors go around, but no one seems to know how the tradition started or what the details should be about it. The only thing that remains consistent is the violence, which gives some indication of the villagers' priorities. Jackson writes in the story, "Although the villagers

As Yarmove, Jay A from Washington would state “Not only do time and place bear important clues as to the allegorical meaning of "The Lottery," but the very names of the characters are laden with significance. The prominent names--Summers, Adams, Graves, Warner, Delacroix, and (most obviously) Tessie Hutchinson--have much to tell us. For the season of the lottery is summer, and the larger scope of this work encompasses mankind in general (for instance, "Adam" means "man" in Hebrew). "Graves" sounds a somber, forewarning note of what will happen to Tessie, and the oldest man in town, Old Man Warner (the others have either died or been killed of warns us about the primordial function of the lottery, which is to ensure fertility: "Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon' " (215). Mrs. Delacroix's name alludes to the pseudo-crucifixion of Tessie.” (Yarmove, Abstract, 1994) I think that this is a very compelling theory because I never would have noticed this idea if it was not pointed out to me. Now that I have read this I can see the connection