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Irony In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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Traditions can lead you to support things you don’t truly believe in if you don’t keep up with the beliefs the tradition represents. They can lose their significance and harm the community that follows them. If a tradition can’t be questioned then the significance has been lost. Shirley Jackson demonstrates the importance of questioning tradition in her story “The Lottery.” In the story, the town gathers on a beautiful day pleasantly chatting with each other. Families stand together whilst Mr. Summers runs the lottery with the black box. Not the original box though as it was lost many years ago along with the traditional wood chips as well as the song and salute for the swearing in of Mr. Summers. Before the lottery starts Old Man Warner goes …show more content…

The lottery was soon to start with the anticipation of all the families in the village. The villagers soon realized they were missing Tessie Hutchinson creating a sense of unease. Once Tessie finally arrives, Mr. Summers says “Thought we were gonna have to go on without you, Tessie. Mrs Hutchinson said, grinning, “Wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink, now, would you, Joe?” (Jackson 141) This verbal irony highlights the contrast and ignorance between the casual tone of the conversation and the horrific events that are about to play out. When the lottery officially began Tessie tells her husband Bill “get up there” (Jackson 141) This situational irony displays her ignorance of the situation. Bill, who had originally been chosen, is now safe, and Tessie is the final choice in the drawing. The twist of fate brings light to the contrast between the villagers blind following to tradition.The irony creates a sense of unease for readers throughout the story, as they are forced to confront the brutal reality of the lottery. Ultimately the villagers blind adherence to the lottery is their downfall. The irony of the story serves to underline the dangers of blindly following tradition without questioning its purpose or

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First of all, the children are making “a great pile of stones in the corner of the square” (260) and adults are just chatting, waiting for the lottery to begin. Following that, even the man in charge of the lottery, Mr. Summers, is underwhelming and is portrayed just as “a round-faced, jovial man” (261). Additionally, Jackson introduces Old Man

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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.

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Equally important, Jackson purposefully inserts incongruities within “The Lottery,” via means of irony, allowing the authors audience many opportunities to examine the true meaning of her words as the story’s events unfold. As one reflects on the title of Jackson’s story, a true sense of irony is revealed as the general population thinks of a lottery as something phenomenal and appealing, as opposed to the lottery in the author’s story which is atrocious and dreadful. Jackson describes a utopian village as she employs imagery to write the story’s setting of a “clear and sunny [day], with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green,” which ironically turns out a dystopia (250).

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Jackson takes the old-fashioned approach and seems more content with the irony of the word “lottery”. The irony of the how Jackson used the word “lottery” suggests that the villagers are going to draw for a prize. The character that stands out in the story is Tessie Hutchinson. Tessie is said to be the representative of the community because she has no issue with the town’s practice. Until it falls on her spouse who she blames for drawing the winning lottery ticket that made her family the unlucky losers.

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Tessie is unaware that her prize for winning would be death. She was the only one who protested the lottery and the only one that was subsequently stoned to death. Verbal irony is used to show that the villagers did not take the lottery seriously unless they were the family that was chosen. Mrs. Delacroix’s sarcastic comment illustrates that if the villagers were not chosen, they had no opposition to the lottery. The townspeople used sarcasm to lighten the mood when in reality they were about to stone Tessie to death.

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Just because a tradition has been around for a long time doesn't mean you necessarily have to follow it, especially if you are against the outcome of being chosen. Living in a small village it might be hard to say “no” without getting judged by the other villagers, but at the end of the day you need to think about yourself and how the outcome will end up affecting your life. Shirley Jackson creates a suspenseful and captive story by using irony in “ The Lottery ”. Irony is a technique that involves surprising, interesting,or amusing contradictions or contrast (Teaching...1).

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The story has many different features in it from irony and figurative language that makes it the great story that it is. The reason this story is ironic is that because when a lottery is thought of, you would normally think of winning money or some other kind of reward. Instead,

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In The Lottery by Shirley Jackson she uses a theme of traditions and shows it through the story in a unique way, Jackson also changes the mood throughout the story so the reader also changes perspectives and understands the story in a different way as the story goes. From my point of view the theme of The Lottery is that sometimes societies have certain traditions that people follow without questioning why they do it? , is it right or wrong? , should we maybe consider not doing it anymore?. A lot of times people know that that’s wrong but they don’t do anything about it because they don’t want to create disagreements or go against what society says.

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“The Lottery'' has several occurrences of irony, including both situational and verbal irony. Jackson uses situational irony to outline the moral message more clearly and overall help the audience comprehend the story. At the beginning of “The Lottery”, it is said that the day is a beautiful summer’s day, contradictory to the brutal stoning happening later on in the day. “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.” (Jackson 1)

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The European colonization of America was inspired by several economic, political, cultural, and religious factors. The three most prominent colonizing countries with great impact on native societies include Spain, France, and England. During the Renaissance, following the middle ages, many European powers were driven by a thirst for power and glory. They sought to explore and discover. The advances in technology during this period, including the invention of caravels and compasses allowed long voyages and expeditions.

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Another quote to suggest the crowd grew nervous was when Mr. Adams was called upon, “They grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously”. She described what the characters were doing and not what their thoughts or intentions were. Shirley Jackson intensified the feeling when Tessie hysterically protested Bill’s “winning” selection, by withholding information until the last possible second, she builds the story’s suspense and creates a shocking, powerful conclusion. In conclusion, The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson builds up suspense by foreshadowing the horrible moment through the children who felt uneasy and collected rocks, creating a character that stands out from the crowd, Tessie Hutchinson, the person who saved her husband but could not save herself. More importantly, withholding the true nature of the story until the end, leading to the tragic death of Tessie

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The Symbolism of The Lottery One big symbol that the short story is discreet about is the black box that is repeated throughout the short story symbolizes fear to adults which could affect even the most innocent. The black box appears to be the only paraphernalia that is still being used in the tradition of having a lottery. Mr. Summers is the one who is running the lottery at the time. Mr. Summers is seen as a nice man, however, when he is introduced, he is seen with the black box. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story that uses the black box as a symbol to convey an underlying message that when the power of a tradition is given to a person, it could lead a crumbling society.

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“The Lottery” is a use of irony itself. Usually when hearing lottery, something good comes to mind, which is why the title is very misleading. She creates a lot of suspense while leading up to what actually happens, because in reality something really devastating comes from this tradition. Also, the entire reason the lottery even started was forgotten. However, the villagers did not forget how to use the stones.

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By incorporating dramatic irony into “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson is able to convey a sense of understanding and compassion towards the character. This first instance of dramatic irony is where Tessie is pleading to the town’s people that they were unfair to her husband. “People began to look around to see the Hutchinsons. Bill Hutchinson was standing quiet, staring down at the paper in his hand. Suddenly.

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They revere the black box. Another use of symbolism is the lottery itself. The lottery represents traditions and ways of thinking that society goes along with because of how they are raised. The townspeople blindly go on with the tradition without truly knowing the significance. Mr. Adams suggests they give up the lottery like the neighboring towns, and Old Man Warner has to remind him of the significance saying, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”

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