Irony In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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

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.

“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” (Twain). The Lottery begins during the summer. A small, seemingly normal, town is gathering to throw the annual “Lottery”. In the end, the townspeople—children included—gather around and stone the winner to death, simply because it was tradition. The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective. “I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (Jackson). As humans develop as a race, their practices should develop with them. Shirley Jackson develops the

In her story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson manages to catch the readers’ attention and ultimately shock them with an unexpected ending; all of which help her emphasize her critique toward the dark side of human nature and the evil that resides, sometimes, in those who we less expect it from. Jackson uses symbolism throughout the story that helps her set the mood and also makes the readers wonder and analyze the senseless violence and cruelty in their own lives.

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be stoned to death or to have your most prized possession ruined? Well, Shirley Jackson in her fictional short stories, The Lottery and The Possibility of Evil, uses many literary devices — such as irony, structure, and symbols — to convey these feelings to create a mood of suspense. Shirley Jackson’s works are similar through their structure and use of symbols but they are different because of their uses of irony.

The short story, "The Lottery" demonstrates situational irony and the foreshadowing of the stones and the traditional black box. Situational irony is carried throughout the story. The reader's initial impression was lottery crack tickets. Although, this changed with the foreshadowing. The children assembled first, collecting the stones for a corner in the square.

Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”, raises various questions concerning society’s actions as a group. Shirley’s surprise conclusion shocked readers of The New Yorker magazine when the story was first published. However, Shirley’s writing style is carefully planned and written as the finish is a shock to the reader. Jackson’s usage of foreshadowing and arrangement of writing aids in the building of the story’s climax, blindsiding the reader with its ending. One major element prominently found in Jackson’s writing is her subtle placing of foreshadowing.

    "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

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.

Short Stories often contain literary elements that pull the story together. Examples of this is in the short stories “The Possibility of Evil” and “The Lottery” both by the author Shirley Jackson. These two short stories use literary elements that can be compared and contrasted throughout their plots. In these short stories, Shirley Jackson uses irony, characters, and mood.

Nebeker, Helen E. “The Lottery’: Symbolic Touch De Force” Short Story Criticism, edited by Jenny Cromie, vol. 39, Gale Group, 2000, 75 vols, pp. 187-90. Originally published in American Literature, vol. 46, no. 1, March, 1974, pp. 100-07.

Conflict and Tone build up the story and ultimately lead to the theme of The Lottery. Conflict starts the story on its path to the theme. The Conflict gives the story purpose and sets it up for the theme. Tone gives the story expression and allows us to perceive the mood of the story a lot better. Conflict and tone help the story’s theme.

You has pointed out a very interesting point of the story regarding to rule of the lottery.That it is kinda irony for the fact that when someone won something in a game that they participate in, that person would received an awards, but instead, in this short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. The person that won the lottery would received a punishment. In this case, the punishment that the winner received was peoples in the whole village threw rocks at him/her. I, too, did not think people would kill someone just for the fun of a game, but then I realized that most of these people did know what they was doing, and they just following other. Even though, little

     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.

Shirley Jackson’s story, The Lottery is a horror story that starts off with a friendly atmosphere, and hints suspense to a brutal ending. We have withheld information in our society; The Lottery does also. The lottery that took place in the story was fair and created uncertainty to the readers. One theme from the story is fairness. From the story, we can relate to fairness and use of scapegoat in our society. The author used satire, so we the readers are persuaded to change for the good. At the beginning of the story, the author foreshadowed what was to come, but didn’t say the lottery’s reason for being held till the end. The author related some of the characters names to their true purpose in the story.