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Role Of Irony In Shirley Jackson's Short Stories

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“Irony is the foundation of a well written short story”. Shirley Jackson is the author of famous short stories such as “The Lottery” and “The Possibility of Evil”. Shirley is well known for her dark and sometimes humorous style of writing. Her themes and conflicts are usually pertaining to the peculiar things that humans, will do upon one another. When “The Possibility of Evil” and “The Lottery” were introduced in 1948 the public were not pleased with Jackson’s gothic, controversial style of writing. One common thing among Shirley Jackson’s short stories is the use of irony to enhance the story. Irony plays an important role in both “The Possibility of Evil” and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson because it helps develop the conflict and theme
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What I learnt from the source was how the lottery doesn’t just use the standardize irony that is generally recognized by the audience. But in particular, Shirley Jackson uses dramatic irony. We are proposed by dramatic irony from the start of story. Before I had even read the story, I assumed that this would be one of those happy/cheesy stories with that amazing “Disney Pixar” ending where everyone lives happy and a good life. And I was yet to be proven wrong when I began reading the story as Shirley Jackson presented the setting as a beautiful day and everything seemed to be going smoothly.

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Usually there’s a winner in a lottery, but not in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. This story intrigued me by it's suspenseful nature and it's chaotic events. In small town America, they come together once a year to perform an annual tradition. Mrs. Jackson demonstrates literary devices such as foreshadowing, mood, and conflict in “The Lottery”. Foreshadowing is used quite a few times in “The Lottery”.

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In 1948, when the New Yorker published Shirley Jacksons piece, “The Lottery,” it sparked outrage among readers, but could arguably be known as one of her most famous pieces of writing. In this short story, Shirley Jackson used literally elements such as imagery, diction, and symbolism to foreshadow the negative and harsh ending of the story; the harsh ending that sparked such outrage by society in the 1940’s. One of the main ways Jackson foreshadows the ending and true meaning of her short story, “The Lottery,” is through symbolism. Jackson uses the color black throughout the story.

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The short story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, the plot in the story that it only gives people an account of drawing lots to determine the winner who shall be stoned to death for harvest. However, we get a deep impression of the characters and their fate after reading the story. Jackson indicated a prevalent theme, the indirect of characterization and using symbolism and irony to modify this horror story. The Allegorical story of “ The Lottery” is often regarded as a satire of human behavior and social institutions, and exemplifies some of the central themes of Jackson’s fiction, including the victimization of the individual by society, the tendency of people to be cruel, and the presence of evil in everyday life.

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Irony is often used in literature to illustrate certain situations to the audience. In some pieces of literature that might be pointing out an unjust system, in others that might be to add a comedic effect, but whatever situation the author wants to illustrate, irony is very beneficial. Through small and witty, one-liners, or a bigger dramatic irony situation contrasting two very different situations, irony can be very beneficial for the reader to understand the story. Both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins have a corrupt dystopian society. Through the use of irony, the author can portray the corruptness to the audience.

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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 tension also comes from the unanswered question about the purpose of “The Lottery”. The main focus about this disturbing short story is the purpose of the villager’s culture, which Jackson withholds the answer from the audience to portray the strain of her anxiety. Jackson’s idea of foreshadowing that supports the ongoing tradition is vacuous goes hand in and with the role of

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In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses characterization, symbolism and themes to develop the action of the short story. First of all, one of the literary devices is characterization, Characterization in

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Shirley Jackson uses rhetoric in her fictional short story “The Lottery” to criticize the perpetuation of outdated traditions. She creates a fictional example that includes enthymemes, intrinsic appeals, and extrinsic proofs between characters as well as in the narration to make her thematic argument that mindlessly keeping traditions is foolish. The lottery example is deliberately exaggerated to accentuate her argument and to present an honorable case that her audience will support. In doing this, Jackson establishes a strong kairos and demonstrates her ability to aptly use rhetoric to make an argument through fiction. Jackson utilizes the dialogue between characters to make some of her strongest points and appeals, particularly through

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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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