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Irony And Tension In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

574 Words3 Pages

“Expectation feeds frustrations. It is an unhealthy attachment to people, things, and outcomes we wish we could control; but don’t“ by Dr. Steve Maraboli. “The Lottery“ is a short story written by Shirley Jackson, which talks about a village whose members have been taking part in a twisted ritual called “The Lottery” and it has been going on for decades.It takes place in an undistinguished village on a clear morning, June 27th and it’s described as an ordinary and pleasant community. "The Lottery" combines elements of horror, irony and tension, all of which are oftenly found separate different short stories. In Shirley Jackson's Short “ The Lottery“ she uses the Black Box as a symbol for ritual homicide as part of the villages community which …show more content…

Summers and also Mr. Graves whom oversees the lottery, together to symbolize how people expect life and death, new ideas versus traditional ideas. Most simply, Mr. Summers represents the season of which the lottery takes place, June 27th. Usually summer is known to be full of life and growth which is very similar to Mr. Summer’s personality. He is described as a cheerful man, and also wearing a clean white shirt and jeans. Mr. Graves’ name on the other hand refers to death and more precisely the fate of the winner of the lottery. While Mr. Summers speaks frequently of change, whether it be trading the old shabby box for a new one or replacing the wood chips with slips of paper, he seems to never be appreciated of. On the other side “ Mr. Graves made up the slips of paper and put them in the box, and it was then taken to the safe of Mr. Summers.” , the symbolism behind Mr. Graves writing all those paper sheets describes how death sets up traps for the innocent to fall into, and eventually they will be in the arms of death itself.

“The Lottery“ is a short story written by Shirley Jackson, which talks about a village whose members have been taking part in a twisted ritual called “The Lottery” and it has been going on for decades. It takes place in a small village in the middle of nowhere and seems to be just like any normal village around the world. In Shirley Jackson's Short “ The Lottery“ she uses the Black Box as a symbol for ritual homicide as part of the villages community which creates expectations throughout the town, promoting opinions and questioning each

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