And Irony In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

When examining the story about “The Lottery”, the audience will often find themselves baffled at the outcome of the story towards the end, as this was not a lottery for money, but for death. The secondary reactions would be laughter at such absurdity or the shake of a head because, honestly, how many people would expect such irony from a seemingly normal text? Questions arise such as why did the people allow this, how can they be desensitized to this, and who started this in the first place? However, if the reader would look back and carefully study the wording of some paragraphs, they will be astonished to find hidden messages about the origination of such a gruesome tradition.

One example of irony in “The Possibility of Evil” is that throughout most of the short story, Miss Strangeworth, the protagonist who writes judgemental letters to people, is portrayed as a friendly lady, but by the end it is shown how rude she truly is. This example reveals that Shirley Jackson is using irony to appeal to the reader because it tricks the reader into thinking that Miss Strangeworth is nice when really she is not, which keeps the reader on their feet. In “The Lottery” the author also uses irony to make the story more entertaining. The story is ironic because the title has a positive connotation, connected to winning money, but in the story, winning the lottery is actually a way of choosing a human sacrifice in the town. Shirley Jackson perfectly tells the story by slowly revealing the irony in it. In the beginning of the story, she wrote, “Bobby Martin ducked under his mother’s grasping hand and ran, laughing, back to the pile of stones” (Jackson 3). This gives a hint to the irony that is exposed by the end and also makes the reader question the story. “The Lottery” and “The Possibility of Evil” both appear to be innocent storylines, but Shirley Jackson uses irony to change that and give a twist to both narratives.

The best feeling one can experience is winning a prize. For example, when one wins the lottery, one is excited, however not the lottery in the story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. The lottery in this story represents a certain kind of irony known as situational irony. Now, this is not the only example of irony included in this story there are also examples of verbal irony and dramatic irony. In The story “The Lottery” there are countless instances of situational irony, verbal irony, and dramatic irony that presents readers with the barbaric ways of the town and allows readers to have an insight on the town’s issues.

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

The use of Satire/Irony within literature establishes situations where the unlikelihood of the occurrence of an event will happen. Jackson’s manipulation of his story, The Lottery, provides an unexpected twist to what one may seem to be a normal subject. Northrop Frye’s The Singing School, suggests that all stories are told in either one of four ways: Comedy, Romance, Tragedy or Satire/Irony (Frye 18). The use of Irony and its conventional associations eludes the reader from interpreting a story as a Romance, but instead give the reader a reversed twist. This use of ironic convention in literary work is seen through Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery; the story of Tessie

     Irony is a main theme in Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery.” The irony in the story can be separated into three main

    "The Lottery," a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale about a disturbing social practice.  The setting takes place in a small village consisting of about three hundred denizens.  On June twenty-seventh of every year, the members of this traditional community hold a village-wide lottery in which everyone is expected to participate.  Throughout the story, the reader gets an odd feeling regarding the residents and their annual practice.  Not until the end does he or she gets to know what the lottery is about.  Thus, from the beginning of the story until almost the end, there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the Jackson's effective

The definition of irony is a contrast between two things. One example is verbal irony. It is a contrast between what someone says and what one means, while dramatic irony is a contrast between what the characters know to be true and what the readers know to be true. Many writers use irony in their short stories to prove a dramatic point, or just to develop a story for upcoming use. These short stories by Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (140), Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” (183), and Stephen Crane’s “The Blue Hotel” (229), spin a tale of symbolic irony. Each tell a tale paradoxical twists with sublime contradiction where one is led to believe one side of an event, yet it is dragged down a twisted trail of mental sarcasms coupled with death. It is a known fact that many tales of irony require many major events to twist the order they are written in to create a viewpoint that stride away from the main topic or where the author wants the reader to end up.

Many authors use irony to make their writings more diverse, as well as to intensify the literary elements in the story. Shirley Jackson, writer of “The Lottery”, does this in her stories in order to leave the reader in suspense and confusion with her use of situational irony. She also uses dramatic irony to give the story a grotesque twist and to cause the reader more confusion about the characters’ morals. Verbal irony is used to intensify characterization as well as give the reader an insight into the true beliefs of those in the village. The use of irony in all three forms throughout the story adds an intensity to the development of many literary elements throughout the story.

An example of irony is that it is called a lottery in the town. Traditionally we think of a lottery as something good because it will give you wealth and prosperity that you did not have before. However, in this case it is ironic because if you win the lottery you will be killed by the other townspeople. One example of irony is Old Man Warner.

This is ironic because winning the lottery in this case is a bad thing. Another example of irony, is the description of the setting. The day the lottery takes place is "clear and sunny" (289). This type of weather would normally be associated with something good or happy. The irony in this statement is that the beautiful day that is depicted, ultimately ends in a brutal death.

Lastly, Shirley Jackson incorporates various instances of irony, a technique that involves surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions or contrasts, in her short story. For instance, the short story takes place in the morning, and the day was “clear and sunny...fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson 1). This illustrates that “the day is beautiful and everything seems right with the world, and yet before the day is over, someone will be stoned to death” (enotes 1). This is an example of dramatic irony because we think of a lottery as something harmless and there being a pleasant surprise, however, it results in something completely different. In “The Lottery”,

What are some examples of irony in this story? Provide examples to support your claim.

“The Lottery” a short story by Shirley Jackson, features a small town during the time of their lottery. The lottery is an annual event, organized by Mr. Summers. It is a highly important time, as the whole town comes to the town square on the day of the lottery. The guidelines are quite simple: everyone takes a slip of paper out of the symbolic black box, and the slip of paper with the black mark carved on it, is the “lucky winner”. But their definition of the lottery is different一usually, a lottery is a valuable thing to win. But when Tessie Hutchinson, the “lucky winner” gets her reward by getting stoned to death by the rest of the villagers, it is clear that winning this lottery can't be a good affair... So what is the purpose of this lottery? Rather than discontinuing the lottery, the town continues with it because they don't want to upset an old tradition.

“The Lottery” documents a small village’s voting process for the lottery and the traditions that keep the town close. Some of the main characters are introduced in the initial scene of the townspeople gathering at the town square. The boys in the crowd search for rocks to add to a pile on the side of the square. The schoolgirls of the “village” are standing near them, talking amongst each other. The men of the village came back from work and talked about farming and finance issues farther away from the boys. Then the women, mothers of the children and housewives, emerged from their homes and gossiped before joining their husbands.