Use Of Foreshadowing And Irony In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Throughout time, society has had its ups and downs but in the short story “The Lottery” people’s lives are taken to the next level by challenging their luck of survival. Today winning the lottery is rewarding and a positive feeling, but in the short story it’s nothing but a dangerous tradition that will end someone’s life. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson creates a story filled with foreshadowing, irony and a ritualized tradition that masks evil which ultimately demonstrates the central idea that people should not blindly follow tradition. For starters, The short story foreshadows many events to come and makes people’s lives more stressful and fearful. For example, when Mr. Summers clears his throat at the start of the lottery, he is clearly nervous to announce the “winner” of this event. This foreshadows how he knows someone's life is about to end. “A sudden hush fell on the crowd as Mr.Summers cleared his throat and looked at the list.” This shows how the townspeople understood this tradition. Meaning, they know that after Mr. Summers clears his throat the winner of the lottery would be announced and killed that day. In addition, the black box itself

“The night before the lottery, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves made up the slips of paper and put them in the box, and it was then taken to the safe of Mr. Summers’ coal company and locked up until Mr. Summers was ready to take it to the square next morning.” This shows the reader how Mr.Summers’ and Mr.Graves