In today’s generation, appearance is often considered reality. When what looks like something is usually believed to be just that. However the American author Shirley Jackson explores the concept of appearance versus reality in two of her short stories “the lottery” and “the possibility of evil”, where she shows the reader that what seems to be can easily be the exact opposite.
Shirley Jackson uses similar techniques in both “the lottery” and “the Possibility of Evil”. She starts off each story by giving the reader a clear image of the setting. She starts off the lottery by explaining the setting and giving off a general mood, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green”. Without a second thought, the reader automatically thinks that they are about to read a normal happy ending story. The way she creates an ideal or seeming perfect setting, the reader is fooled into thinking that the setting represents the general atmosphere of the entire story. This blinds the reader from picking up little clues left within the story, wither it’s what characters say or do, that proves otherwise.
In “The Possibility of Evil” signs that things aren’t what they see are more prominent. Little things Ms. Strangeworth
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In each story, Shirley Jackson proves that no matter how good a setting can be or how happy people seem there is always something more to a story, person or thing then what meets the eye. It’s a reminder to the reader that before reaching a decision on what or how something is, it should be properly surveyed instead of jumping to conclusions. It is a very important lesson to carry into the real world where appearance is almost always looked at first instead of looking deeper, which in turn leaves many people falling into the traps of