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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”.
We come to find that the lottery is not just some game, but in all reality, the “winner” will be stoned to death by the rest of the townspeople. Being that there are serious consequences of the lottery, the townspeople go with the flow because they do not want to be stoned also. At the end of the story the readers realize that the townspeople have not gathered for a game and the name was not drawn for a special prize or rewards. Tessie, the “winner”, shows up late to the lottery, claiming she forgot what day it was. What is even more surprisingly ironic about Tessie Hutchinson being the “winner” is that her and her husband have always protested the lottery.
In the story The Lottery Shirley Jackson used several tone to develop the story. The tone at the beginning of story is peaceful and joyous. In the setting where story took place is “Clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day. The flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” Words which tells that peaceful and joyous tone are, clear, sunny, fresh, warmth, richly green and blossoming.
The tone in the beginning of “The Lottery” does not corresponds with the action because of how the author described that everyone was waiting for the lottery to happen would not know that the ending would turn out so
On June 27th, a small village was preparing for their annual event. The children were talking about the end of the school year, while gathering small rocks. The women were gossiping about the town, while the men were talking about taxes. The lottery starts at 10 a.m., when Mr. Summers, the officiate, arrives. Tessie Hutchinson arrives late after forgetting it was the day of the lottery.
In “The Lottery,” the characters are participating in a drawing, which the reader falsely assumes is a good thing. Later in the story, Jackson juxtaposes this idea with the brutal killing of the winner. There are symbols throughout the story that suggest the story is not as wonderful as it seems. For example, the black box used for the drawing symbolizes death and the children are making a pile of stones which seems innocent at first but will later be used to complete the annual tradition. The characters in this short story continue carrying out the tradition because “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson, 4), which insinuates that the purpose of the drawing is to increase crop yields.
“The Lottery” is an realism/horror story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about some villagers of a small New England town who follow the tradition of making a lottery every year. When it comes, they like to celebrate it with the correct rules and the correct objects so they can feel more comfortable. Everyone need to take a slip of paper from a small black box, and the paper with a black dot in it means that the family is the winner, then they raffle again; Bill Hutchinson, who was the husband of the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson picked a paper with a black dot in it, that meant that Tessie was the winner of the lottery, then she starts complaining because the drawing was not conducted properly. At the end, the townspeople moved off to a cleared spot outside the town and they begin stoning her to death (Jackson).
“The Lottery’s” opening lines read: “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 309). From this line, one can conclude that Jackson is trying to portray the village as a quaint and nice place where townsfolk gather, and no harm occurs. However, this strays far from the truth. As the story continues, the gathering abruptly changes and ultimately leads the townspeople to commit violence and murder.
also it seemed like she was trying to avoid showing up to the lottery .Therefore it is obvious that she doesn’t even want to be there which hints that there is something dark behind the Lottery. Jackson’s use of foreshadowing in “The Lottery” contributed to the story by hinting that there is something much darker and eerier than we expect about this village and its tradition of the
Another quote to suggest the crowd grew nervous was when Mr. Adams was called upon, “They grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously”. She described what the characters were doing and not what their thoughts or intentions were. Shirley Jackson intensified the feeling when Tessie hysterically protested Bill’s “winning” selection, by withholding information until the last possible second, she builds the story’s suspense and creates a shocking, powerful conclusion. In conclusion, The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson builds up suspense by foreshadowing the horrible moment through the children who felt uneasy and collected rocks, creating a character that stands out from the crowd, Tessie Hutchinson, the person who saved her husband but could not save herself. More importantly, withholding the true nature of the story until the end, leading to the tragic death of Tessie
The purpose of violence in “The Lottery” is to make a connection to today’s society in which something bad can take place in places people would never think anything could happen. The town in which “The Lottery” is set in is a sweet country town. No one would think something so bad like stoning a person to death publicly, could happen. “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now… a stone hit her on the side of the head.” A similar event happened in which teachers died in Connecticut to a school shooter.
Foreshadow is a technique used by many authors to create suspense or hint the reader about what is coming their way. Shirley Jackson uses foreshadow to create suspense in the short story “The Lottery”. In her short story she uses foreshadow such as children stuffing their pockets with rocks, Mrs. Hutchinson arriving late at the ceremony, and the black box. The readerout why these events or object are foreshadow at the end of the story.s figure out how these events and object foreshadow the story at the end of the short story.
In the second paragraph the little boys were stuffing their pockets with rocks. This is foreshadowing because at first it seems innocent, but later it is revealed that it was for killing with stones. The discomfort and uneasiness of the citizens foreshadowed that the lottery was not something that was a positive event. The men joked quietly and they “smiled rather than laughed”, and when the women called for their children, they had “came reluctantly.” Then a man named, Mr. Graves, was mentioned multiple times throughout the story.
This story still remains relevant in comparison to today. Simple towns people who speak to each other on a daily basis and joke around with each other all of the sudden turn around and kill one of their one. This story symbolized the change of heart within people when events go on. With various symbols, Shirley Jackson created the short story, The Lottery, to show society and what it has been and what it could be. One might even say that Jackson wanted to keep it in the mind of a ‘modern’ society that such things could happen again.
The Lottery is a “short-story” about a town that takes part in a fertility ritual. This ritual technically includes the murder of one of their towns-people each year. On June 27, the man of the house draws a card from the black box. Then, whichever family has the marked slip takes place in the second drawing. Where each family member picks a slip of paper from the box and the individual with the marked gets stoned to death.