Foreshadowing In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

In her text “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing to develop the central idea that people’s real nature is inhumanity and they follow the traditions that develop this inhuman nature of their. By the end of the story, the narrator has come to the understanding that people are no longer humans they are savages and “The Lottery” that they do every summer is just as violent as their true nature. Even though “The Lottery” start innocently, it’s begin to change when the author gives us a small clues about the purpose of “The Lottery”. As people read the story they may not notice an author's clues about the way the story goes, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson has great uses of foreshadow and symbolism to develop themes in her story. Jackson’s use of foreshadow drastically increases the development of theme in “The Lottery”. In “The Lottery” the villagers are nervous, but it is hard to notice just how nervous they actually are in the first read. This quote shows just how subtle the foreshadowing is “Some of you fellows want to give me a hand? There was a hesitation before two men… came forward to hold the box steady”.

When writing, authors use various writing techniques and devices to better their story. From onomatopoeia, and similes, to mood and setting, these devices are what make the stories we read astounding. Atmosphere specifically is imperative to a great writing piece as it is prevalent throughout the entire story. From the first three words to the last three words, the reader is focused on the mood they are interpreting from the storyline. In “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, the mood is what makes the story so amazing and helps us understand the theme.

Jackson does not reveal the unethical and violent nature of the lottery until the very end, where the reader loses their earlier presumptions about an innocent lottery. Therefore, foreshadowing and suspense becomes a very large force in the story until the ending, and Jackson gives many hints to the reader. At the beginning of the story, children are found stuffing their pockets full and making towering piles of stones. Readers may brush this off as ordinary play of children, but in fact, it has a cruel purpose near the story’s end. Another area of foreshadowing is when Mr. Summers, the lottery’s organizer, asks the Watson boy to draw for him and his mother. Mr. Watson is not mentioned, like the other male head of households who pick for their families, so it can be assumed that Mr. Watson lost his life during the previous years’ lottery. All of this shows the juxtaposition between the seemingly everyday activities of the town and the cruel nature of what actually happens that day.

    "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

On the other hand, the villagers stoning the winner of the lottery was used as a symbol of punishment. It is one of the most established and common execution methods. However, in The Lottery, the stones represent victory of the lottery. Shirley Jackson stated that, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (Jackson 291). Stoning is symbolic in “The Lottery” because, “For stoning to be effective it requires a crowd to act together. This reinforces the point that the antagonist of this story it is not a single person but society” (Gahr). For instance, this means that the immorality of the village is so severe that the antagonist is not just one person but society itself. How do you think the villagers feel when their children were caught up in this senseless tradition by collecting stones? It is obvious that the villagers were following tradition that was done every year. “What about allowing a child to be a child?” For example; playing with toy cars and trucks, coloring books and Barbie’s, or getting push by their parents on a swing at a park. Children should not be allowed to partake in an event so gruesome and violent or seen raising anything to aggressively hurt an adult.

Shirley Jackson uses several literary devices in “The Lottery” to assist in portraying the theme of her story. Several examples of the devices used are: foreshadowing, imagery, symbolism, motif, tone, and dialogue. The main devices seen within the theme of the story however, include: dialogue, motif, symbolism, and imagery. Throughout the story the theme could be interpreted several different ways, however, the main idea is tradition. Tradition is sacred to many and meaningless to some. In “The Lottery”, tradition is something upheld only for the sake of it being tradition, no matter how unordinary or extravagant it may seem. These terms provide insight and textual evidence to help the reader determine and understand the story’s theme, being

Most people have some sort of tradition that they follow, be it a family tradition or a morning routine, while most are harmless or have some positive effect there are a few that exist that are negative. This could be made worse if one such negative tradition takes over their life. In “The Lottery” the townsfolk gather for what at first seems like a harmless, fun tradition, a yearly lottery. But, as the story progresses it becomes apparent that there is more going on that first meets the eye. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” uses symbolism to show the theme: tradition isn’t always right, dialogue to get readers predicting and start to reveal the sinister nature of what was really going on in the story, and revealing actions to raise the

In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the people of the village are uneasy about the idea of the lottery and the fact that it was going on. For instance, the men of the village were uneasy about the lottery before it happened. I have proof of this because “their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed”(Shirley Jackson) which proves that something was holding them back from enjoying a pleasant summer day and that was the horrific event that would take place later that day known as the lottery. This helped the author (Shirley Jackson) add more foreshadowing to the story because all that she had to do was build off of it.

In stories there will be objects that will constantly be mentioned within the story. This is what is known as Symbolism. Symbolism is the use of object, name, or person to represent an idea. If a name is being use, a name such as autumn can represent the adulthood of a human. Creatures such as an Eagle, represents ‘Freedom’ and ‘America’. Even inanimate objects can represent ideas; the light bulb represents ideas that just sparked into a character’s head.

can be interpreted in a different way. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short

“Every group feels strong, once it has found a scapegoat” (Mignon McLaughlin, 1913). A scapegoat is someone who is blamed for all the faults and corruptions that others have committed. In history, there are lots of scapegoat examples, the most popular being; Jesus Christ and the Jews in the Second World War. In the short story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson used persecution and tradition to demonstrate how scapegoating justified unfair killing. Both of these aspects relate to the World War that preceded only a couple years before the story was written. The persecution was blind and done once a year as a tradition that everyone expected to happen.

“There were so many wicked people in the world and only one Strangeworth left in town.” Shirley Jackson was an outstanding writer. Some of her famous stories were The Lottery, The Possibility of Evil, and The Order of Charlotte’s Going. Most of her stories have one character that goes out of their way to save themselves. In each story, Shirley Jackson writes it is clear that she uses symbols in her stories to express the true meaning of the story or situation. She also uses symbols to prepare you for what happens next. Some symbols help people to understand the story more. Some Symbols Shirley Jackson expresses in her stories are Old Man Warner in The Lottery, The snake in The Order of Charlotte’s Going, and The letters in The possibility of Evil.

In today’s fast-paced world, short stories have now become ubiquitous for readers who try to obtain an expeditious and enthralling plot in a matter of minutes. Shirley Jackson, a prominent writer who mastered the art of creating short stories, is best known for her short story “The Lottery,” in which she uses subtle name symbolism to enhance characterization and to foreshadow the ironic and ultimately odious conclusion. However, the Sparknotes’ analysis of “The Lottery” fails to account for Jackson’s name symbolism and only provides a rudimentary analysis of the characters in the short story. Although the Sparknotes analysis on “The Lottery” adequately provides an analysis of the characters regarding plot summary, it is unsuccessful in rendering

The beginning of The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson, began the way most happy stories do. It was the morning of June 27; it was clear, sunny, and warm. The people of the village were gathering in the square between the post office and the bank. It almost seemed like a festival of some sort. Children were playing—picking up stones and putting them in their pockets.