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Literary Techniques Used In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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Envision that your favorite tradition has been completely changed, and the most memorable part is removed. Now, it’s been completely twisted and taken out of context. This short story takes place in a normal town, with an annual tradition, The Lottery. Someone would think a lottery would be a worthy tradition, but by the end, readers learn the lottery is actually extremely grim and unfortunate. In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson builds suspense to portray the theme of people needing to be aware of the dangers and impacts of blindly following traditions through characters, setting, and allusion.
Shirley Jackson uses characterization to build suspense to prove how blindly following traditions can result in many dangers and impacts. It was past …show more content…

Before the lottery had begun, the boys had gathered a lot of stones in the corner of the town square. At the time, readers had no clue that the stones would be a part of the tradition. However, once the first part of the lottery was completed, readers realized the lottery is a negative tradition because “Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Hurry up’”(74). The preparation of the setting took place before 10 in the morning and now “there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box” (74). As the stoning started to begin, the environment was filled with villagers picking up rocks and preparing. Also, the villagers were very tense and rapidly trying to get the lottery over with. The setting builds suspense because of how violent it was becoming so quickly and readers are astonished to discover that stoning was what the “winner” received. This setting points out how blinded the villagers were because they went straight to picking up stones without even wondering why the stoning was done. Jackson was able to successfully create a dangerous situation and increase suspense to prove that some traditions can have harmful outcomes that go

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The beginning of The Lottery starts with, “a great pile of stones in one corner of the square,” that some boys had gathered, “and guarded it against the raids of the other boys.” (Jackson, page 1) When villagers started to gather in the town square, “They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner…” (Jackson, page 1) The actions of the villagers and the boys foreshadow that something dangerous is going to happen involving

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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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Throughout time, society has had its ups and downs but in the short story “The Lottery” people’s lives are taken to the next level by challenging their luck of survival. Today winning the lottery is rewarding and a positive feeling, but in the short story it’s nothing but a dangerous tradition that will end someone’s life. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson creates a story filled with foreshadowing, irony and a ritualized tradition that masks evil which ultimately demonstrates the central idea that people should not blindly follow tradition. For starters, The short story foreshadows many events to come and makes people’s lives more stressful and fearful.

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Published in the summer of 1948 ,the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson received a lot of criticism at the time. “The Lottery” is about a small town where the tradition of a lottery is used to determine which resident will be stone to death that year at random. Jackson uses foreshadowing, setting and irony to create suspense in the story. Jackson uses foreshadowing to create suspense by giving out inconspicuous clues to what the lottery consist of. In the second paragraph it describes the kids gathering stones.

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All of the villagers have become accustomed to the annual stoning because it is a tradition made up by some dead guy who once said “Hey, I have a modest proposal, how about every year the town gets together and we draw to see who gets to have stones thrown at them until they die. Sound good?” On the bright side the village isn’t eating their children like the people in Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. ( ) At least these Villages are able to dream of a life without the lottery if they wanted to; in Steven’s poem the characters do not dream.

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Through Shirley Jackson’s utilization of irony, The Lottery portrays how following traditions naively can be destructive towards communities. To begin, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery elucidates irony to create an emphasis on how holding on to loyalty to traditions at the expense of morals can be dangerous to everyone. This author first implements this when the setting is introduced as “clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day”(363), but ironically the story ends with the death of Tessie Hutchinson. This use of verbal irony emphasizes the normalization of the gruesome rituals practiced and how unaffected the town is. Additionally, in the beginning of the story, children stuff their pockets with stones and begin creating piles

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This continues to push the idea that the ritual is necessary, and anyone who opposes is is looked down upon. The population of this town is so engaged in this lottery that, as it mentions on the first page, the first people there are the children who are gathering stones without finding the whole thing abnormal. Many readers find this a very frightening

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In Shirley Jackson’s print on “The Lottery,” published by Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s in 2012, readers will first capture the story in their minds that the story is about tradition. Tradition is a set of customs or beliefs that are passed on from generation to generation. The setting of the story takes place in the clear and sunny morning of June 27th. Three hundred people gathered in the village square. The annual lottery was conducted by Mr. Summers.

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The purpose of the lottery is to continue the old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order for a harvest. The scapegoat is chosen at random and then stoned to death by his/her companions. Although “The Lottery” reflects an event from the past, Jackson shows that many of the actions of the town resemble the tribulations that ensue in today’s society. To begin with, like the villagers in the story, our society also partakes in valuing tradition.

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The Lottery itself represents a primal example of loss of innocence; portrayed through the young boys who gather at the town square to collect rocks for the horrors soon to follow. An illustration of how traditions can lose their true meanings and come to represent violence and warfare. Furthermore, “The Lottery” also represents the decaying characteristics of traditions, as symbolized by the town’s black box, in this case where every year, someone’s name is drawn out of the black box and they are stoned to death, by other members who may or may not end up to be family. Nonetheless, it ends up to be the villagers who

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Thesis statement: Police should wear body cameras because playing body cameras could improve the public’s view of police by showing the human side, help to provide evidence when a person may not be able to, and it protects the officers and public both. Cameras Imagine there is a huge case going on where a police officer is coming under question on if dealt with a potential suspect in the correct way. Now think about the money being used to provide lawyers, a judge, a jury, etc., to handle the high profile case.

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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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Shirley Jackson’s “The lottery” is a story based on tradition. When hearing the word tradition, most people think of team rituals before games, or something families do together annually. However, Jackson is obviously not like most people. She builds up a fair amount of tension around this ritual that is taking place to make readers wonder what is going on. She uses many different techniques to show that sometimes, traditions are not always meant to go on forever.

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However, it is quite opposite of what the story portrays. What the reader does not see from the beginning of the story and does not capture until midway through, is that the lottery is actually something awful. When the lottery processions proceed the story starts to develop a more serious and somber mood. The townspeople show no remorse or empathy for one another and friendships slowly diminish. This is especially true when they know they will soon have to stone to death the villager who has drawn the marked paper; for instance, when Mrs. Delacroix picks up the biggest rock to bludgeon to death, the winner, Mrs. Hutchinson.

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Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is an account of a tradition gone awry. In this short story the villagers of this town have a tradition where they have a “lottery” to see who gets stoned to death. The characterization and symbolism used in the story makes the reader feel as if society has crumbled with the inhumane tradition that ultimately lost its meaning. Throughout the story, Jackson uses characterization and symbolism to imply a message to society about the meaning of tradition. Through the use of characterization and symbolism Jackson establishes that blindly following traditions can be hazardous

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