Theme Of Irony In The Lottery

Shirley Jackson was an author who used the elements of the short story to write.

She adds twist to her stories to hook the reader. In her short story “The Lottery” Jackson uses irony, allegory, foreshadowing, and suspense to make this story interesting for the reader. One of the literary techniques used in “The Lottery’ is irony. Irony is a contrast between two things. For example, the irony in this story is that normal people are capable of great brutality. A lottery is typically thought of as something good because it usually involves winning something valuable such as money or prizes. In “The Lottery” it’s not about what they win but it is about what is lost.

The point of view in this story is ironic to the outcome. Jackson used third

We use irony when we respond to an unintelligent idea saying “what a good idea!” Another example is when someone breaks something, we say ‘Oh great!” instead of being upset about the situation. Irony is also used when people have a big object and name it tiny, vise versa. To know if you’re using irony in life you must be aware. Allegory is difficult to spot its occurrence in everyday, although we do find an example of allegory in political debates. The declaration of an ex U.S. president George W. Bush was allegorical when he used the term “Axis of Evil” for three countries and later the term “allies” for those countries that would wage war against the “Axis” (www.literarydevices.net). Foreshadowing may be one of the most easiest to spot in everyday life. When it gets cloudy outside we foreshadow the rain about to come. Also a gloomy face can tell us someone is upset or is going to tell us bad news. We all know when we are foreshadowing, it’s part of an everyday life. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction. It may operate whenever there is a percieved suspended drama or a chain of cause is left in doubt, with tension being a primary emotion felt as a part of the situation