In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, villagers hold a drawing annually to pick one person to stone to death as a tradition. Ironically, the townspeople called the event the lottery. When modern-day people hear of a lottery, they typically think of a way to get an abundance of money. The reader would think that is what Shirley Jackson meant when she wrote of a lottery until the villagers became increasingly nervous. In this case, the irony is that winning the lottery leads to death instead of gaining something. Before the villagers started the stoning, the children “had already stuffed [their] pockets full of stones,… selecting the smoothest and roundest [ones]” (Jackson). The author makes it seem as if the children gathered the stones to play,