Literary Elements In The Lottery And The Worn Path

Authors often create specific themes and subjects in their writings in a way to appeal to readers. In “The Weekend”, Weldon introduces Martha who conflicts with her ways of being a wife and mother and the afflictions of social customs of women. While, in “The Worn Path, Jackson develops an elderly character named Phoenix, who strives to reach her journey, no matter what the obstacles. In “ The Lottery,”Jackson introduces a group of townspeople, who surprisingly have an evil background when they meet to play the Lottery. In their short stories Fay Weldon,Welty and Jackson use various literary elements to develop the subject of tradition, determination and dark intentions.

In “ The Weekend,” Fay Weldon uses tone to develop the subject of

In the beginning of the story, Jackson automatically begins the story perfect or in a sort of happy mood or tone. Jackson starts off with “The morning of June was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day, the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.”(351). This statement uses situational irony to perpetuate the readers to believe that a happy story was to come along. Jackson foreshadows these afflictions by using imagery to allow readers to assume the scene is too perfect and it to have a deeper meaning. As the story continues, the mood immediately changes, creating a foreshadowing effect that the lottery is not as warm as it seems. Before Mr. Summers had begun “he blinked his eyes nervously and ducked his head as several voices in the crowd said things like “good fellow Jack” and glad to see your mother’s got a man to do it [...] a sudden hush fell on the crowd as Mr. Summers cleared his throat and looked at the list(355)” Jackson uses the sense of foreshadowing of Mr. Summers nervous nature and the abrupt silence of the crowd, that allows the reader to presume something bad is about to occur. Once the winner was chosen, there is an absolute change of tone, almost a fearful one. When Tessie gets chosen, she exclaims “it isn’t fair, it isn’t right and then they were upon her.” This statement and obscure fear and disgust to winning to the lottery foreshadows a corrupted ending and the evil mindset of the town. Jackson produces a suspense in readers as she foreshadows the upcoming events creating a dark intention or ending that is