Use Of Foreshadowing In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Published in the summer of 1948 ,the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson received a lot of criticism at the time. “The Lottery” is about a small town where the tradition of a lottery is used to determine which resident will be stone to death that year at random. Jackson uses foreshadowing, setting and irony to create suspense in the story. Jackson uses foreshadowing to create suspense by giving out inconspicuous clues to what the lottery consist of. In the second paragraph it describes the kids gathering stones. “Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix—the villagers pronounced this name “Dellacroy”—eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys” (236). The reader is misled into thinking that the stones are of no importance, “Just kids being kids”. Its at the end of the story when you learn the true nature of the stones.

Jackson describes the town during mid summer. “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” (236). The lottery taking place in the summer is coincidental of many sacrifices and rituals performed through out history in primitive cultures. When Jackson says the flowers are “blossoming profusely”, it could be interpreted as a needed “pruning” for the village. Irony is also used to create suspense in the story. The use of the word lottery makes the reader think that the towns people are drawing for a prize. The “prize” being that the person to win, actually loses their life. Old Man Warner hears that the towns people are entertaining the though of ending the lottery and he says, ”Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves “ (240). The irony of this is that the lottery itself is as primitive a l practice as that of people living in