The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Literary Devices

How do authors demonstrate their purpose through their writing? In three short stories different authors use literary devices to make their readers question tradition. The first story named “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is about a tradition where a village throw stones at a person every year. Another story “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury is about people being inside their homes at night watching television, except one man who will rather walk outside. Kurt Vonnegut has a story called “2BRO2B” in which he discusses how people are in favor of a perfect world. These authors use characterization, person versus society conflict, and tone and mood to show their purpose in their writing.

To begin authors use person versus society conflict to make their reader question traditions. According to the text, “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her ‘It is not fair’ she said (Jackson para.78). This demonstrates that the author uses a person versus society conflict between Tessie and the villagers. Jackson makes the reader question traditions because there is not an actual reason why the villagers still

The text states, “The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in midcountry...lights might click on and faces appear and an entire street be startled by the passing of a lone figure” (Bradbury para.6). This demonstrates that the author uses a dark setting. This setting is shown in the specific words “The street was silent and long and empty”. This setting Ray Bradbury creates then makes the reader question tradition.Because the reader will question why everyone except Mr.Leonard Mead will rather stay in the house watching television instead of being outside. Furthermore, a different author shows an example of a person being in favor of a tradition unlike this