Shirley Jackson Literary Devices

The Lottery Analysis
The short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a thought-provoking story of blind traditions and the strength of superstition. The story takes place in a small fictional village where the villagers participate in an annual tradition, the lottery. The community gathers together and a representative from each family draws a slip of paper. One of the villagers will receive a marked slip, therefore winning the lottery, and be stoned to death. The justification behind the lottery is that it is a tradition and that it will bring a good harvest to the village. Jackson uses literary devices to strengthen her story, making the text more detailed and realistic. The story also relies on character development to support

Jackson utilizes literary devices throughout the short story to create a more appealing and captivating story. These literary devices allow the reader to better understand and relate to the text. In doing this, Jackson allows her characters to seem like a regular society while having them do unimaginable things. One of the more effective literary devices used in this story is irony. “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) Jackson does this to allow the reader to picture a friendly little village, one that would be commonly seen in real life. This irony creates suspense as we wait for the plot of the story. It also makes the story more memorable as the stoning comes as a

At the beginning of the story, Jackson describes the villagers as any other small village, with children playing and adults socializing. The only thing off about the village is how regular they are considering the event taking place. The only evidence that someone does not fully support the lottery in the village is when Tessie Hutchinson is late to the event. Although she makes jokes when she’s late and is not concerned about the event, she did not consider the lottery important enough to remember. Tessie Hutchinson is the protagonist in “The Lottery”. Although there is little direct characterization in the story, Tessie is said to be the wife of Bill Hutchinson and appears to be a regular domestic housewife as she is described wearing an apron and coming from doing dishes. At first, Mrs. Hutchinson is depicted as good-natured, friendly, and a mother of 4. As she arrives late her comment is “Wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink, now, would you, Joe?” (Jackson 3). Her speech at the beginning is cheerful and good-natured and she seems to be well-liked in the community as many people laughed at this comment. When the Hutchinsons are called to pull a slip of paper from the box, Mrs. Hutchison says “Get up there, Bill” (Jackson 4). This joking manner changes significantly when it is revealed that the Hutchison family are the unlucky winners. Tessie becomes