What makes stories special is the ability to portray meaning between the lines. Every author has their own characteristics and spin that they incorporate into each of their pieces. These can include character genre, symbolism, plot structure, and irony. Shirley Jackson writes an ironic story about a small village who partakes in an annual lottery. The village looks forward to this day and moods are always high. However when the reader gets to the end of the short story they are shocked to find the lottery is a drawing for who in the village gets stoned to death. In The Lottery, Jackson surprises her readers by putting an ironic twist at the end of her tale, by filling the story with warming articulation, light hearted characters, but ending with a sad and dark death.
One of the first writing techniques Jackson uses is warming articulation. Jackson opens her story by talking about the clear, fresh, warm summer day where “the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson n.d.). In other literature, words like blossoming, richly, and warm are positive and are often used to describe content or happy feelings. In The Lottery Jackson uses these words to set the tone as a happy or pleasant summer afternoon. Jackson also sets the mood when she describes all the villagers gathering in the town square for the lottery, the same town square where they had square dancing, the teen club, and the Halloween program. She makes it sound like it is going to be an exciting event where someone is going to win something really big based on the excitement and magnitude this event is. The way Jackson describes the scene, it sounds like the town folk are a real close nit group of people who work together as well as play t...
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...it’s warm, the kids are out of school, men are talking, women are talking, and there is an excitement in the air. Then there is a winner. The next thing the reader learns is that the lottery is basically a drawing for who will be the next to fall victim to a gang murder. The ending is so unexpected that it leaves the reader wondering, “What the heck just happened!”
Shirley Jackson’s literary writing technique leaves the reader expecting an amazing reward to the greatly anticipated lottery. However, because of the true outcomes of the lottery, the story becomes ironic. The Lottery is an impressive piece of work because of the outrageous ironic conclusion. Jackson uses warming articulation, light hearted characters, and a sad dark death to shock her readers. Because of Jackson’s writing style, the reader never sees what is to come and in the end is left jaw dropped.
The setting of the story helps to magnify its impact on the reader because it is set in a small town similar to the one many of us may know of, and that is symbolic of everything that we consider to be right in America. The story begins on a wonderful summer day in a small town. The author describes the day as very joyful but strikes a contrast between the surroundings of the town and the atmosphere of the people gathered in the square. The atmosphere is sober, where the adults ?stood together, away from the stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather then laughed."(268) This, in just the third paragraph, is a indication through symbolism of the townsfolk?s sober mood that something was amiss. The setting for the lottery also takes place in the same place as the square dances, the teen-age club, and the Halloween program.(268) This unifies our lives with those of the story sense we can relate to those types of events, and is symbolic in showing that even though this dastardly deed happens here that it is still the main place of celebration. Showing how easy it is for us, as human beings, to clean our conscientious by going back to a place that, on June 27, is a place of death and make it a place of delight.
A gathering of neighbors on a bright sunny day may seem like a fun, summer picnic; however, Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” proves this setting to be something more malevolent. Jackson builds suspense in the short story by withholding any explanations and does not reveal the true tradition of the lottery until the first stone hits Tessie’s head. She disguises small but certain indicators that something more ominous will happen in the story. It is only after the fact readers understand them as clues of doom. By excluding information until the last possible moment, she builds suspense and creates a shocking, powerful conclusion.
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 5th ed. Ed. Laurence Perrine. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Publishers 1998. 180-186
The opening paragraphs of the story contain a light and carefree tone with phrases such as, “The morning… was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day” (1) and “the children assembled first…they broke into boisterous play” (1). Jackson does not lead the reader to think that the anything sinister is going to occur. However once the narration moves from the children to the adults the first hint of something other than lighthearted small town excitement is perceived; “The men… stood together…their jokes were quiet, and they smiled rather than laughed” (2). The story proceeds to give some backstory on the lottery unless Mr. Summers gets ready to begin and “A sudden hush fell on the crowd” (3), at the point the reader is more than a little dubious that the lottery is something one wants to win. As Mr. Summers begins the crowd is described as “quiet”, “not looking around”, and “grave”, the subtle change in tone as the names continue to be drawn creates a mounting sense of apprehension until Mr. Summers calls the last time and there is “a long pause...
Have you ever read the story of a princess kissing a frog, having it turn into a prince? Well, what if it didn’t become a prince, but she turned into a frog herself! This is called irony, something we would not expect to happen. In the story of the princess we would not expect that to happen. In the story “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, we see this situation in another form. She uses irony to bring out the point in her story. “The Lottery,” offers an “ironic twist of fate” that causes wonder and makes one sympathize with the characters.
In the story entitled “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the author describes an annual event that is held by neighboring towns. The event titled the lottery seems harmless at first, but as the story progresses the annual event becomes dark and tragic. Further, the villagers presented by the narrator seem to be upbeat with each individual gathering in the town square willingly and conversing with one another. The children also illustrate some excitement with constructing a pile of stones around the town square that would later be used for the lottery. In addition, the narrator of the story presents the events leading up the lottery in a calm and lighthearted matter, but the conclusion of the lottery differs from the narrators tone as Mrs. Hutchinson
What thoughts come to mind when you think of "The Lottery?" Positive thoughts including money, a new home, excitement, and happiness are all associated with the lottery in most cases. However, this is not the case in Shirley Jackson’s short story, "The Lottery." Here, the characters in the story are not gambling for money, instead they are gambling for their life. A shock that surprises the reader as she unveils this horrifying tradition in the village on this beautiful summer day. This gamble for their life is a result of tradition, a tradition that is cruel and inhumane, yet upheld in this town. Shirley Jackson provides the reader’s with a graphic description of violence, cruelty, and inhumane treatment which leads to the unexpected meaning of "The Lottery." Born in San Francisco, Jackson began writing early in her life. She won a poetry prize at age twelve and continued writing through high school. In 1937 she entered Syracuse University, where she published stories in the student literary magazine. After marriage to Stanley Edgar Hyman, a notable literary critic, she continued to write. Her first national publication “My Life with R.H. Macy” was published in The New Republic in 1941but her best-known work is “The Lottery.”(Lit Links or Reagan). Jackson uses characterization and symbolism to portray a story with rising action that surprises the reader with the unexpected odd ritual in the village. While one would expect “The Lottery” to be a positive event, the reader’s are surprised with a ritual that has been around for seventy-seven years , demonstrating how unwilling people are to make changes in their everyday life despite the unjust and cruel treatment that is associated with this tradi...
To a first time reader, Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” seems simply as a curious tale with a shocking ending. After repetitive reading of Jackson's tale, it is clear that each sentence is written with a unique purpose often using symbolism. Her use of symbols not only foreshadow its surprise and disturbing ending but allows the reader to evaluate the community's pervert traditional rituals. She may be commenting on the season of the year and the grass being “richly green” or the toying with the meanings of the character's names but each statement applies to the meaning and lesson behind her story.
The Lottery is an amazing work of fiction not only because of its extraordinary twist on the concept of tradition, but for its classic irony and impeccable use of symbolism. The Lottery questions whether or not tradition should be respected for what it is or evolve to suit new generations. When asked the purpose of writing The Lottery, Shirley Jackson responded that the story was "to shock the story's readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives." (237) Jackson was a true visionary as a female author who created a thought provoking and alarming story to readers in a time when tradition was still heavily weighted in society.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the author is able to entertain and enlighten the readers. The interesting and profound topic of the story is partly the reason for drawing the readers in; however, the clever characterization of Tessie and the anonymous setting help to make the story more relatable as well as force the readers to feel sympathy for the characters. Although a story about a town devouring a member of its community is horrifying, there is a large meaning. Jackson effectively uses “The Lottery” to warn the readers of the dangers of the group. Shirley Jackson describes the characters in “The Lottery” in a way that readers can relate to each of them in some way, yet she makes one character stand out from the start of the story.
for summer break, letting the reader infer that the time of year is early summer.
As the story of “The Lottery” comes to an end, readers are left with a shocking reaction. Shirley Jackson’s Characters continuously participate in a lottery, where the reasoning for it has been forgotten. Throughout Shirley Jacksons Story of “The Lottery” readers can see how conformity can bring out the evilness in human nature, by characters continuing a tradition regardless of immorality.
Although the towns’ people are gathering for a lottery drawing there is an air of nervousness about the event. From start to finish there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the authors deep use of foreshadowing. The setting and irony of the story starts when the day is described as a bright sunny day and all the towns’ people are looking forward for the Lottery on the big day, but not knowing the big day ends in death. Mrs. Hutchinson, as is seen later, is the only one who rebels against male domination, although only unconsciously. "She tapped Mrs. Delacroix on the arm as a farewell and began to make her way through the crowd" (318). The word "farewell" is used as foreshadowing to the climax of the story (318). Normally when a person enters a crowd of people they are greeted, but not Mrs. Hutchinson for she is obviously “leaving.” Although they are gathering for a lottery drawing there is an air of nervousness about the event. Shirley Jackson uses an abundance of foreshadowing, which indicates, to a degree, what is about to happen to the winner of the lottery drawing. There is at least one indicator within each individual paragraph, which lets the reader know that the lottery is disturbing, and that the people of the town are not looking forward to its commencement.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” irony is an underlying theme used throughout the story. The setting is introduced as a “clear and sunny” day, but ends with the brutal death of a housewife (715). The two people who essentially run the town, Mr. Graves and Mr. Summers, also have ironic names. In addition, the characters and the narrator make ironic statements throughout the story.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Literature and Its Writers: A Compact Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 5th Ed. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Book.