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Irony And Metaphors In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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One of the most well known works of Shirley Jackson's is The Lottery. This short story is based off of what seems like an ordinary village. The title “The Lottery” comes from a lottery that takes place every spring and occurs in the story. What most people think of as something positive, Jackson makes into a terrible event. Shirley Jackson’s writing technique in “The Lottery” is very unique due to the use of irony and metaphors to leave the reader shocked.
Jackson’s uses irony and metaphors to swindle the reader into thinking the winner of the lottery wins something positive. “In ‘The Lottery,’ for example, the reader is first lulled into an appreciation of the beautiful June 27th morning, when the 300 people of the village are gathering stones, …show more content…

Jackson schemes the reader into a reality ending when in contrary a shocking ending comes. “Suddenly, in the midst of this ordinary, matter-of-fact environment, there occurs a terrifyingly cruel action, official, accepted, yet for the reader mysterious and unexplained” (Heilman 222). This cruel action, the stoning of the winner, totally catches the reader off guard and in a vulnerable position. The reader just expects an ordinary ending where the winner would win some kind of prize. “To put in other terms, the symbolic intention of the story could have been made clear earlier so that throughout the story we would have been seeking the symbolic level instead of being driven to look for it only retrospectively, after it has suddenly become apparent that a realistic ending will not work” (Heilman 222). From the quote above, it says that if the reader would have read the story with the intentions of something unexpected to occur than the shock would be less prevented. Nevertheless, the reader is still going to be shocked because of such a non-realistic ending. “They stood there away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed. The womens faded dresses and sweaters, came shortly after their menfolk” (Jackson 10). This would be a good clue to look at because it shows the villagers acting

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The use of foreshadowing and tone in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery effectively establishes the suspense and a sense of dread in the story. The writer holds back on the revelation of what is happening for so long yet there are subtle uses of foreshadowing to prepare the reader. When the characters assemble in the town square for “the lottery”, it creates suspense as a lottery is usually a positive event. The first example of foreshadowing is when the boys begin to stuff their pockets with stones, at that point in the story – there is no explanation for this yet by the end of the story, this event turns the ending into a realization rather than a surprise. There are many signs of tension throughout the story but they are all subtler than piles

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Annotated Bibliography 1. Jackson The Lottery By: Yarmove, Jay A. Explicator. Summer94, Vol. 52 Issue 4, p242. 4p.

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Usually there’s a winner in a lottery, but not in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. This story intrigued me by it's suspenseful nature and it's chaotic events. In small town America, they come together once a year to perform an annual tradition. Mrs. Jackson demonstrates literary devices such as foreshadowing, mood, and conflict in “The Lottery”. Foreshadowing is used quite a few times in “The Lottery”.

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The Lottery of Death and Irony Many speak of the lottery of life, holding it accountable for its spirals and turns, misfortunes and surprises. However, a small, secluded town holds a very different lottery- the lottery of death. Shirley Jackson wrote The Lottery with irony, or an unexpected twist, to create a unique ending to an otherwise bland story. Although there are several types of irony, Jackson used situational irony, when what happens is different than what is expected by the audience, to its full extent.

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Irony is used in the story’s opening to show how casual the villagers are about the ritual of this crucial annual event. The reader is reeled into a sense of harmony and serenity with the descriptions that the story presents. “...the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” Jackson makes the reader feel cozy and homelike with the setting of the story, rather than frightening the reader by creating a cold-blooded setting and giving a small glimpse of what the “Lottery” actually is. The reader feels as if he too could join in on the

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“The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson, a popular writer in the twentieth century who is widely acclaimed for her stories and novels of the supernatural. Jackson was born on December 14, 1919 in San Francisco, California. She wanted to be a writer from an early age and while she grew up, she kept a journal of her writings that revealed her curiosity in the supernatural and superstition. Later on in her life, her family moves from California to New York where in 1935 she starts her college life at the University of Rochester. She then decided to withdraw for a year to teach herself how to write.

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“The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson is an intense short story with significant symbolism and irony. The story reminds me of a few modern day movies and novels, such as The Hunger Games or The Purge. The primal idea that every person has evil in them, as well as, they will be a “follower,” simply out of fear is my perception of the story’s intended message. There are many different uses of symbolism used in the story; The Lottery itself, the black box and black dot, the white sheets of paper, and the stones are the main uses of symbolism and will be discussed throughout this paper. When most people think of the lottery, they think of winning big or hitting the jackpot.

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In 1948, when the New Yorker published Shirley Jacksons piece, “The Lottery,” it sparked outrage among readers, but could arguably be known as one of her most famous pieces of writing. In this short story, Shirley Jackson used literally elements such as imagery, diction, and symbolism to foreshadow the negative and harsh ending of the story; the harsh ending that sparked such outrage by society in the 1940’s. One of the main ways Jackson foreshadows the ending and true meaning of her short story, “The Lottery,” is through symbolism. Jackson uses the color black throughout the story.

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Jackson utilizes satirical writing to criticize the tendency to stick to old traditions despite how they can be outdated, not true to their origins, and in the case of the lottery, quite senseless. He first paints a simple picture of town and a mysterious lottery that is heavily backed by tradition, which is made visible through the inclusion of Old Man Warner. Jackson also makes his point well known by mentioning on multiple occasions that the village has lost the procedure and meaning of the lottery to time. Jackson’s The Lottery seems innocent enough at first, but the included twist at the end achieves his goal of criticizing a blind adherence to tradition. In The Lottery Jackson harnesses both satirical and subtly critical language to

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In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, a rather small village gathers every year in the center of their town to participate in the lottery. The lottery is held every year around the end of June because the villagers believe it will bring heavy crops for the summer. However, this lottery is not like what we have today in our society. The lottery in this town brings pain and sadness to many, but also happiness to a few.

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While real life traditions are rarely so extreme, Jackson’s exaggerated fictional example emphasizes her point to great effect. By the end of the story, the audience is convinced that the town is wrong to uphold the lottery tradition, but Jackson is not really writing about a lottery; she is writing about how damaging it can

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Full of plot twists, and turns, “The Lottery” relies on its characters to convey a sense of normalcy throughout a majority of the story. The villagers’ acceptance of rituals allows them to act normal while knowingly partaking in a deadly tradition. Jackson’s brilliant use of deceptiveness leaves readers blind sighted as one could never predict this story’s outcome. Jackson’s work is renowned because of its unpredictable shift in tone. June 27, may appear to be a pleasant summer day, but this prediction could not be further from the truth.

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The short story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson is full of literary elements. The old and innocent, small town atmosphere creates the perfect stage for this ironic tale. Several literary elements are evident throughout the composition but three specific elements stand out the most. Jackson’s unique ability to use tone and style, symbolism, and theme are what makes this story so fascinating. Tone and style are critical literary elements in “The Lottery.”

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