Situational Irony In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Lila Carroll

English 2 Honors

Mrs. Lowry

April 7, 2023

Consequences of Following Tradition

An entire village, for seemingly over a century, has annually committed an act of murder and called it tradition. Shirley Jackson tells the story of a seemingly normal village who is gathering for the town’s annual lottery in the late summer, but the disturbing truth is soon revealed and it highlights how complacency within individuals can have dangerous consequences. Modernism-styled author, Jackson, uses an ironic, nightmarish tone along with frequent imagery to convey humanity’s truth. In her short story "The Lottery" (1948), Shirley Jackson effectively uses the symbolism associated with the lottery’s rituals and situational irony to establish how

Jackson creates symbolism with the lottery paraphernalia to represent the village’s lack of care for the Lottery tradition’s actual purpose. The villagers have a specific black box used for drawing names in the Lottery, yet it's described as falling apart, “[growing] shabbier each year”, and finding itself in random places on non-Lottery days (Jackson). The foul condition of the box connects to the lack of care the villagers have for the Lottery and its traditional relevance, although they are very excited for this event. Villagers “had been allowed to lapse” many parts of the Lottery’s ritual, and everyone casually dismissed them over the years (Jackson). Therefore, these people are simply ignoring the functionality of the tradition, if they even knew what it was in the first place. Unlike the rest of the town, Old Man Warner hints that “the ritual might once have held a function” with the saying

On the morning of the lottery, children are at play and make “a great pile of stones” while adults speak amongst one another (Jackson). The setting on the day of the Lottery is fresh, warm, and even family friendly to imply a cheerful mood that deeply contrasts to the brutality of the tradition these people are going to take part in. Jackson includes dialogue between Tessie Hutchinson and other villagers and how she “jokes with the crowd about leaving dishes in the sink” as she arrives late and they respond with friendly banter (Michelson). It goes to show that these people were friends, or at least knew one another, and everyone ends up ignoring Tessie after she is chosen, because they aren’t being affected. But Tessie isn’t only a victim in this scenario, she “suggests that Don and Eva should be included in her family’s drawing” in order to increase her chance of survival (Michelson). Tessie’s selfishness is also exposed as she makes last minute offers in order to save herself, volunteering her other family members to take the same chance she is taking. Tessie’s Hutchinson’s final words are “it isn't fair, it isn't right” as the village brutally stones her to death (Jackson). Since she is chosen as the winner of the Lottery, readers can sympathize for Tessie and her tragic fate, but the irony is