Irony in the Story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Essay

As each slip is opened, the suspense builds and the villagers wait expectantly for the black spot that would signify the "winner." At the conclusion of the story, Mrs. Hutchinson is the "winner," and as her prize the citizens of the village stone her to death. The conclusion to "The Lottery" is another irony. Mrs. Hutchinson was the last to arrive at the square because she had forgotten what day it was. It is satirical that she, the "winner," almost did not make it to the lottery. Another example of irony at this time is when "voicesacross the crowd said, 'Bill she made it after all," when in the end, she did not "make it." A bit of foreshadowing also occurs between the climax and ending. When Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late, she makes her way through the crowd and "She tapped Mrs. Delacroix on the arm as a farewell"

In Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery” there were many examples of irony. A lottery is usually something good because the outcome is usually winning something. In this lottery that is not the case, they do not win they lose. Jackson’s story brings violence in to show the dangers of it. The reason for the ending I believe had to do with the fact that WWII was over. People were used to such violence and were told to kill, which is what they did. The point of view, title, and many events throughout the story are very ironic to “The Lottery.”

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” displays irony in multiple aspects. The first dose of irony is in the title itself, which showcases situational irony. The next instance is in the setting, which is also situational irony. The final prominent piece of irony is in the characters, who primarily focus on verbal irony. All three of these senses of irony come together to create a story of suspense and bewilderment.

When you think of the lottery, you think of positivity. Many people dream of hitting the lottery. To a man, the lottery is the best thing that could ever happen. However, in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the ‘lottery’ is far from being the best. What catches my eye the most was the overall theme and the amount of irony throughout the entire piece.

Irony is used by Shirley Jackson in “The Lottery,” W.W. Jacobs in “The Monkey’s Paw,” and W.F. Harvy in “August Heat.” The title that Shirley Jackson choose to use is an example of Irony. Lottery is the means of raising money by selling numbered tickets and giving prizes to the holders of numbers drawn randomly. Shirley Jackson wanted you to read the title and think that someone was going to win this big, exciting prize. But in this lottery the winning prize is to sacrifice your life for a unnamed reason and to watch the people you love and know stone you to death. Also,W.W. Jacobs short story example of irony is Morris showing Mr. and Mrs. White the monkey's paw. Morris described the paw as an ordinary paw, dried to a mummy and basically

The title of Jackson’s story contains suspense and tension to convey irony. Jackson’s use of words keeps the reader on the road that there are no problems and everything is great. For the townspeople’s behavior as they wait and when the lottery is chosen, the

The last type of irony used in “The Lottery” is dramatic. Dramatic irony is defined as, “when the audience knows something a character does not.” This short story uses dramatic irony throughout the entire

Have you ever heard of the saying, ¨never judge a book by its cover?¨ Or even been deceived by what may look like the truth? In Shirley Jackson's short story, ¨The Lottery¨, a normal, average village from the 1940´s has a tradition of playing the lottery, but in reality it is not about winning but about losing in order to live. In her other short story, ¨The Possibility of Evil¨, the protagonist, Miss Strangeworth, ends up being the antagonist of her town, causing the ¨evil¨ she believes she is ridding her people of. In order to make these unpredictable truths hidden in these societies, Jackson uses literary devices such as diction and irony in the same way to sense the realization of how different the material image turns into the concealed truth under it all. Foreshadowing, however, reveals differently of how these stories could end in a not so expected way.

In an attempt to portray the graphic realities of life during this time period, Shirley Jackson cleverly expresses the grim facts with her use of literary techniques. Though greatly criticized for its inhumane pictorial of callous brutality, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” illustrates through the characterization of Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson, the use of atmosphere, and allegorical writing that violence exists in all places and though viewed as a necessary evil by some, peace ought to be the sought after tradition in such a wicked world.

The first and most obvious symbol in “The Lottery” is the village’s annual event coincidentally called the lottery. In a shocking turn of events, Jackson reveals at the end of her short story that the lottery is not the exciting get rich quick event that occurs in present time; however, the lottery in this fictional world is in fact a death sentence. Because of its wicked intention, the lottery represents how immoral humankind is, or in this case, how immoral the villagers are. Jackson’s version of the lottery is much more cynical and haunting, for every year one lucky

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 (Lottery). The two people who essentially run the town, Mr. Graves and Mr. Summers, also have ironic names. The characters and the narrator make ironic Summers has a delightful name, which also matches his description as “a round-faced, jovial man” (Lottery). Mr. Summers is the mayor of the town and also runs the most successful business—the coal company. When one thinks of summer one generally thinks of pleasantness and happiness. His name is ironic because his job is essentially in contrast to these thoughts. He is in charge of the random killing of a villager, which hardly seems pleasant.As the plot progress some of the characters make ironic statements. In this story there is a passage about the Watson boy drawing for him and his mother, which can be interpreted as his father was the one who was killed last year. One voice

Throughout both of Shirley’s short stories, she uses irony to trick the reader and audience into believing that they know what the story is about. For example, in “ The Possibility of Evil”, Jackson described the setting in a bright way when she describes, “Strangeworth’s little town looked washed and bright”(The Possibility of evil). Here, Shirley uses situational irony to make the reader believe the short story is going to be a peaceful story. However, the short story actually is a cruel story about an elderly woman who leaks rumors about individuals to certain people of interest. Another example of situational irony is used in “The Lottery” when Shirley, once again, used phrases like “ Fresh warmth of a full-summer day”(The Lottery), to lead the reader into believing the audience knows the theme and mood of the story. Once again, Jackson uses phrases like this to make the audience believe that the short story is a peaceful one. Nevertheless,

Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, permits readers to think that the story will be joyous based on the title. The word “lottery” connotatively has a good outlook; usually, it means a lucky someone is the winner of a poll. However, in this short story, that is not the case. A young woman, with a husband and two children won the annual lottery. Her prize was being stoned to death by everyone in the town, who picked out rocks to throw at her, including her family, and children. Winning the lottery may not be so lucky after all, as depicted in the story. Likewise, in “The Possibility of Evil”, the author selected words to convey a specific mood for the readers. Miss Adela Strangeworth, a well known and respected lady, was the source of evil in the town, yet blamed it on the people. In the story, she had an interaction with Helen Crane and her six month old baby; while on the subject of the infant, she remarked “‘A princess can see a lot of

The story starts off in a positive mood with images of a beautiful and peaceful summer. The day was “clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson 1). These specific summer details compel the reader to think about a time of pleasure and tranquility where the reader thinks of joy. The reader expects the lottery to be some kind of annual village festival. Jackson effectively incorporates details that foreshadow about the ending of the story without disrupting the tone of peace and pleasure. The turning point of the tone is detectable when Old Man Warner warns the villagers that abandoning the lottery tradition will cause them to go back to living in old ways. He tells the villages about a saying that goes “lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson 4). The saying signifies

Shirley Jackson’s unique short stories convey a situational type of irony on the protagonists. “The Lottery” starts the story on a “fresh warm full summer day (The Lottery 1)” while “The Possibility of Evil” starts out in a “little town… [on a] summer day (The Possibility of Evil).” These stories paint the image of a lovely day having the reader feel a positive connotation. There is a twist of fate; “The Lottery” has a female protagonist, Tessie that is making jokes while running late to the town’s meeting. As luck has it she wins the lottery; which we associate with winning something good, she claims that “it wasn’t fair (The Lottery 5),” We later find out that on this beautiful day Tessie is going to be sacrificed for quality crops during winter. This creates situational irony since the readers expect Tessie to receive something spectacular from the lottery; that will be an advantage to herself and her family. However,