The Lottery

The short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson subtly critiques herd mentality while also using literary elements to hook the reader into the story. Some of these literary elements include symbolism, point of view, irony, and foreshadowing. By using these elements, Jackson can bring the reader into the story and help the moral impact them more directly. What is the moral of the story? The Lottery is a cautionary tale that gives a glimpse to the reader of the dangers of following the status quo simply because it is what has always been done. Jackson’s use of a third person point of view is a big reason that this moral can be understood and reflected on by the reader. For example, being able to envision the village people pulling their paper

At the beginning of the story, it seems as if everything is normal and the town is just drawing for a random thing, much like our lottery today. However, as the story goes on you can catch the fear and discomfort of the village people and the shift in tension when Tessie is late to the drawing. Jackson uses foreshadowing throughout the story to build suspense for the reader. She also uses irony to build this tension by having the townspeople seem friendly and almost joyful before they draw their cards. This is ironic because they seem excited even though the possibility of death is right in front of them. Another example of using irony to build tension is when they stone Tessie and they don’t seem to be affected by doing so at all, this builds tension in the mind of the reader ending the story with a feeling of unease that prompts deep thought into the meaning of the

The villagers do not understand that they are participating in something horrific but instead see it as normal. We are not born with the ideals and beliefs that we grow up to hold, they are taught to us by the people we are surrounded by and the places we inhabit. Symbolism in this story helps to build on the argument of non-inherent morality with items such as the physical stones that killed the “winner” of the lottery. These stones represent power and how the decision of others can directly impact an individual’s life. Another example of symbolism is the black box. The box is black to represent death, but the fact that the selection process of who dies is a box that they cannot see into, in my opinion, also symbolizes the mystery between who it is and the blind faith in tradition that the town