Irony In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The Lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson. This story takes place on June 27th at 10 o’clock in the morning in a small town located in the US. It is a warm sunny day and a perfect day to celebrate A lottery, which is an important annual event for the town, where all the citizen gets together in the town square to participate. The children are playing and gathering the stones in a big pile, they look both excited and anxious. It seems to be a common and normal celebration of A lottery. However, in reality this is not an ordinary lottery where the expected prize is money, they are gathered together to execute unjustly the unlucky lottery winner out of an old tradition by throwing stones at him or her regardless age. In this story

The author creates a false impression, which leads the readers in assuming that there must be a twist in the tale of the story, to be aware that the story might not have the expected ending. Additionally, it will also show an opposite feeling and meaning to the readers. For example, the lottery, this event happened on a warm and bright day. The author induces the readers to believe this story is based on happiness, wealth, and joy because the lottery is supposed to lead townsfolk to a winning prize and joyfulness. Moreover, this event happens annually, all the townsfolk get together to participate in this event, no one is left out. The children are running, playing and collecting stones. With all these details, it seems to be a happy ceremony because all the townsfolk are anxious to attend. Not until, Tessie Hutchinson protested about her husband having won the lottery ticket that you start to suspect that something is not quite, as it seems. The question is why? Why she does she look so terrified and nervous if her husband extracted the winning ticket? After her protests, the lottery

Foreshowing in this narrative story also provides the reader advice and hints to create tension, suspense but without revealing too much as not to give away the ending. For instance, the children collect the stones and build a pile with them, which apparently has no importance and would seem child play, however, why should they be collecting stones in a careful heap and not dispersing them or throwing them? Hence, it gives a sing to careful readers that the stones carefully guarded might come to play a role later on in the story. In this sense the simple action of collecting stones, is in fact not so simple or meaningless. They will pay the lead role in the outcome of the story. They will be the instrument through which the citizen ends a life. In this example, the author clearly illustrates the danger that hides beneath following blindly and senselessly a tradition and what this may implicate. Children are the base of society and they learn what society teaches them, if a whole community grows under the conviction that collective violence and murder are justified because of an unlucky lottery withdraw, in future these children will grow to learn that this behavior is normal. Based on the practice of this tradition that is updated with each generation, and considered has part of this society’s accepted culture, even if its true