What Are Some Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Lottery

Stories have always been something that we, as humans, enjoy to hear and read. This is shown throughout history and continues to remain true today. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” she takes her readers through a whirlwind of a story, starting it out one way and ending it with something unexpected. She does a great job of writing, by implementing in foreshadowing, imagery, and the theme of tradition. When someone thinks of a lottery, it usually means that someone is going to win something, such as money. Jackson leads us to believe, by the title, that her story is going to be about someone winning the lottery, generally a happy event, but that is not the case. “Jackson's brilliance is to convince the reader that the residents

Hutchinson, the “winner” of the lottery. It is quite coincidental that the person that showed up late to the lottery because she didn’t remember what day it was, ended up being the one who was stoned. When she shows up late, everybody laughs at her and makes jokes (Jackson 294-295). It seems like they have it out for her just because she showed up late. Perhaps she did not get along with the town very well to begin with. Although this does not seem like a strong example of foreshadowing, it seems as if Jackson purposely pointed this lady out, making her the center of attention because she arrived late, and then later on using her as the main subject of the story. It is odd that the author would kill off the main character of the story, however, it was a big surprise that was not expected at all. If Mrs. Hutchinson had not of been pointed out in the story, the readers probably would not have remembered her as well. Giving the audience something to point back to about Mrs. Hutchinson made them remember her better as well as helping the story

Just within this quote, there are multiple instances of imagery as well as symbolism. She purposely starts her story out with very positive imagery so that we will be shocked at the ending, when everything changes. It is ironic how the beginning of the story starts out on such a positive note, seeing that the end of the story is the complete opposite. If she had not used this imagery at the beginning, her story would not have been as surprising at the end, when things go sour. It worked for the author’s benefit that she did this because it led the reader to believe that it was going to be a typical happy lottery, when in fact it was a choosing of who would be stoned to death, adding more suspense and dismay to her