Use Of Irony In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The word is full of hatred and anger, but hope and happiness always save the day. For example, take Superman. The machine that the Kryptonians made is tearing apart the world, and Superman comes in as a beacon of hope to save it. What if Superman never came? What if happiness and hope didn’t save the day? “The Lottery” is placed in a small village. There are parents and children gathered for the drawing of the lottery, and a winner is chosen. The winner receives their “prize”, and the village goes on with their life. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” uses many crafts - like word choice, irony, and symbolism - but they all achieve the same goal: creating a dark mood in the short story.

“The Lottery” uses multiple author’s crafts. One of them

But, “The Lottery” uses it in a different way. Irony is used to build a solemn mood because when you find the irony in the story, it shows just how dark “The Lottery” is. The first irony is the name “The Lottery” itself. When you hear the word lottery, you think of money beyond your wildest dreams. So, when the author uses the name “The Lottery”, and then has people gamble for their lives, the story is given a dark realization. Another is when Tessie stands up for what she believes. Usually this is encouraged, and they go on to make speeches and become amazing historical figures. So, when Tessie “wins” the lottery and is stoned to death, it creates irony. “The lottery was conducted… by Mr.Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities.”(Jackson, 1). Summer is supposed to be a happy time, so Mr. Summers shouldn’t be the one to conduct the death-gamble. In fact, he shouldn’t be conducting any other activities if he’s heinous enough to operate the lottery. These examples of irony only add the the continuously growing shroud of death and despair encompassing “The

Symbolism can be used in any story, and usually tell us the story’s “secrets”. The main symbols in “The Lottery” are the black box, the slips of paper,the stones, and the color black itself.. The black box is the vessel that holds and distributes the slips of paper, which represent choice, death, and fairness. Although fairness and choice aren’t as bad, the color black distinguishes them. The color black represents power, fear, mystery, evil, and aggression. After the slips of paper are chosen, which represent choice, mystery, and chance, the stones are used. “... had already stuffed his pockets full of stones,... followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones;...” (Jackson, 1). “ …, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier were ready;.... A stone hit her on the side of the head.” (Jackson, 7). The stones represent greed, hatred, vanity, death, and so on and so forth. All these form together to create a mass of sins that further add to the tenebrous