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Use Of Irony In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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The theme in this story is people should not believe and or copy others just because they do it. In the lottery, Shirley Jackson used a lot of irony in the short story. One piece of irony is that it’s a dystopian book because in the story at the beginning they were all happy and cheering and when the lottery was mentioned they said, “seems like there’s no time at all between lotteries any more”in page 197 line 23. This shows how they are so used to the lottery. But the lottery they have is different then our type of lottery where everyone has to participate but instead of getting money or a prize they get killed by stones. “Mrs Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. “Come on” she said, “hurry up”. “This is a direct quote”(199). This was a hint that she was going to get stoned to death. Another type of irony Shirley Jackson used was trying to avoid suffering. …show more content…

“This is a direct quote” (1977). This shows how some other towns are planning on canceling the lottery because it does not affect the harvest and it is meaningless to keep the tradition going, but they only do it because it was a tradition that has been going on for more than 70 years and the old people of the town do not want to break it up. We get a hint that it’s about a harvest “lottery in June, corn will be heavy soon”. “This is a direct quote” (1977). This is a subtle hint. That the lottery was for the harvest so that they could feed the people of the town. One other way Shirley Jackson used

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“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, is a short story expressed through the theme of apathy, when the community feels no emotion for anyone, that a ritual is more important than a human being, mob mentality, and hypocrisy which is prevalent within the townspeople. It may help learning more about Shirley Jackson to better understand why she wrote such a horrific story like, “The Lottery.” Shirley Jackson moved into a small town, Bennington, Vermont, where she wasn’t accepted within her town which shows she was thinking how cruel people can be. Not being accepted is not the same as being stoned or killed, but it has the capacity for cruelty. Through this, Shirley Jackson is suggesting that we need to examine ourselves and our actions carefully and live our lives consciously instead of

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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.

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The first type of irony Jackson uses is situational irony. Situational irony is what happens is the opposite of what is it expected. An example of this in the story is when it is revealed that the lottery winner gets stoned not a reward. The story says, “‘It isn’t fair,’ she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head.”

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“The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson, a popular writer in the twentieth century who is widely acclaimed for her stories and novels of the supernatural. Jackson was born on December 14, 1919 in San Francisco, California. She wanted to be a writer from an early age and while she grew up, she kept a journal of her writings that revealed her curiosity in the supernatural and superstition. Later on in her life, her family moves from California to New York where in 1935 she starts her college life at the University of Rochester. She then decided to withdraw for a year to teach herself how to write.

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Right from the cover Jackson uses irony to catch the reader with a titling of “The Lottery”. Coupling that with the description and setting the event in the village square in the beginning of June sets the reader up for a warm inviting happy story. The use of some of the villagers names also play a role in both foreshadowing and irony, for instance Mr. Summers would generally make you think of summer time, bringing life to everything when actually this lottery is quite the opposite. Then there is Mr. Graves which plays into a little foreshadowing with the inevitable need for a grave by the lottery’s end. Mrs. Hutchinson has quite a bit of foreshadowing centered around her character, from being late and Mr. Summers mentioning about it being a shame if they had to start without her to her response of “wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink, now, would you, Joe” (Jackson, 2016) with the implication they would be left longer than the couple hours it would take for the lottery.

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A lottery by traditional definition is working out a fundraiser by selling tickets to the people participating in the lottery. A final price awarded to a holder of a number at selected at random. In this case, the winner was Tessie but instead of celebrating for winning the price, she moans crying its unfair (Murphy, 2005). A violent conclusion foreshadows as the children pile up stone while others pocket them.

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She was known for her more popular short stories such as; “The Lottery”, “Life Among Savages”, and “Hangsam”. Shirley Jackson wrote the lottery on a warm June day and only took two hours. Although many people hated it, and were very confused she never offered an explanation about what the deep meaning was. The short story “The Lottery,” is based in a small village in England. Once a year a so called “Lottery” is held, where one person will be stoned to death.

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The short story “The Lottery” is written by Shirley Jackson. This story takes place in a small village where everybody knows each other. In this story all the villagers gather around town for their annual lottery. Everyone in the village is compelled to follow this tradition even if the outcome ends up with someone dying. In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses conflict, theme, and irony to develop this suspenseful short story.

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“The Lottery" is a verdict of depraved tradition of a community. The story surrounds a town where the lottery is drawn every year as a sacrifice ritual one 's life for a good fertile crop. The lottery rose up public opinions when it first published in 1948. It is a piece of Shirley Jackson in which she wrote about inhumanity and violence among human based on her real experience when she moved to a small town and was rejected by its people. Shirley Jackson always believed in sinful spirit within each individual self as her writing style portrayed the vicious side of her and people 's souls, “The dark current of awareness of evil that runs through her life and work seems too strong to have as its sole root the observance of suburban hypocrisy” (Judy Oppenhaimer).

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Do you know the real story behind Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”? Shirley Jackson is a dystopian literature writer. She wrote the short story “The Lottery”, which is about a village that has a lottery every 27th of June. The short story “The Lottery” is very confusing and unusual. Can it be argued that members of the village are reluctant to participate in the lottery?

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Shirley Jackson's The Lottery is about analyzing traditional social and class divisions. Because the story is asking us to think about the ceremony and traditions that we careless following as members of our society. The story is analysis the ways custom is concealed right and wrong, the lottery is becoming a way to analysis social and class divisions. The random samples of paper mean that some of the family are fortunate and that others aren’t fortunate.

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While real life traditions are rarely so extreme, Jackson’s exaggerated fictional example emphasizes her point to great effect. By the end of the story, the audience is convinced that the town is wrong to uphold the lottery tradition, but Jackson is not really writing about a lottery; she is writing about how damaging it can

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Many people would die to win the lottery; in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson you would do anything NOT to win this lottery. This annual lottery reveals the negative aspects of this town’s Tradition, Savagery, Barbarism, and cold-heartedness. In this paper I will show why this town blindly follows these customs, not because it’s a tradition but because of the accepting wickedness that can be shown. Why does the town follow this foolish tradition? Throughout “The Lottery” the narrator tells that the people do not remember how the lottery began, and that some of the older people believe the lottery has changed over the years, that now people just want to get it over with as fast as possible.

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Right off the back she adds situational irony when she says “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny.” This is ironic because the weather was portrayed as happy and pleasant summer day but the actual event that goes down is horrific and dark. Jackson then introduced a character named Mr. Summers, in paragraph four, who was described as “round face, jovial man.” This is ironic for two reasons, one being that his last name is Summers and that is usually thought to be a pleasant and fun time. The second reason is that he is actually the bringer of death but was still described as that “jovial man”.

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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.

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