Irony In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

“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 The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective.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

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 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 tone is set early on in the story by simply stating the facts and details of what is going on in this small town. There is hardly any inflection, emotion, or description of the characters or the town for that matter. I enjoyed the description I found stating “Jackson’s removed tone serves to underscore the horror of the lottery – there’s no shift in narrative voice when the story shifts profoundly from generic realism to nightmarish symbolism” (Lottery). There is never a build-up to a climax. The story does not start slow to methodically lull you to sleep only to allow the shock, awe or scare you

“Irony – a technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated” (“irony”, 2a, dictionary.com) Irony plays an important role in both “The Possibility of Evil”, and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson because it is essential in developing a common theme between the two texts: blindly following tradition can lead to negative consequences. In both stories, Jackson masterfully uses situational irony to make meaningful comments and critiques on society. So much so, that he stories impacted the wider world on a large scale. It’s important to note that if it hadn’t been for her use of situational irony, Jackson may not have been able to provide a truly satisfying twist ending for poor Mrs. Strangeworth in “The Possibility of EVIL”, and she wouldn’t have been unable to shock and frighten readers

When you hear the word "lottery" you automatically think money or a prize, maybe even both. We don't assume it's anything bad, however in the story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson the author's use of text structure such as situational irony and foreshadwing help convey the theme that not everything is as it seems. To begin with, the author's use of text structure, situational irony, help convey the theme that not everything is at it seems. As stated in the story lines 25-26 "Soon men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes". This shows that the author's text structure in these lines is ironic because these men are talking about everyday activites when they're actually murderes.

The short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson focuses on an old tradition in a village that has nearly been lost in time, so old that the villagers can’t quite remember why they do it. Jackson creates an almost unsettling calm mood throughout the story. The tone of the story is a bit, it shifts as the story progresses. In the beginning of the story it is much more light hearted and by the end it becomes extremely dark. The author uses descriptions and dialogue throughout the story to form the mood and tone for the reader.

In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," the author's ironic yet cynical attitude is revealed through a variety of dark symbols throughout the story.

Our traditions which are the fiber of our core can either enlighten us or enslaved us into a mob mentality of thinking that can will corrupt our children The destruction and devastation that were causing can effect not just a village but our entire nation

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is one of the greatest well-known short stories in American literature. First published in 1948, the controversial narrative explores the consequences that thoughtless devotion to tradition can have on a small rural town. In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson reveals that blindly following tradition could be devastating to every person it involves. Traditions are beliefs, objects, or customs that generations pass down through a given society. In various cultures, traditions are beliefs of thinking and worshiping one’s descendants and legacy.

The lottery was authored by a renowned and most celebrated literature icon among his peers during his time and beyond; one Shirley Jackson, and the text would be first published in 1948 the 26 of June (Jackson 110). The storyline is told following a literal trajectory of a cultural performance in a remote setting, known as the lottery. The author of this text describes a chain of themes in his work, and they include; tradition and customs, society and class, as well as family setups and hypocrisy in the community. In the guest to creating a formidable platform of detailed arguments in the text, the author applies both iron and symbolism as the critical elements of literary approach, to pass across his message to the target audience. The

The story is written well but occasionally you can tell that characters are not as well formed as the author. "and then I looked out the window and the kids was gone, and then I remembered it was the twenty seventh and came a-runnin."The author is detailed in her writing and uses strong words and sentences.eShe does not use more words than she has to, but you can tell that she has a college education by the words she does use.The way she writes is the same way her characters act with no over use of emotions.The characters see the lottery as a way of life and the author shows this with his fundamental use of

There is a huge amount of innocuous details throughout the story that foreshadow the violent conclusion of the lottery. In the beginning of the story you see children putting stones in their pockets and

I feel as though this story had a very interesting turn of events and just overall it was one of the most unexpected and plot twistty stories I have ever read! That is because you would think that if someone won the lottery it would be a good thing and that it would basically be as a reward. It was otherwise in this story. There were actually rocks and stones thrown at him people at the door. This story basically had some bandwagon propaganda considering people

Tradition; it is the foundation of every culture and civilization. It is what keeps the beliefs, philosophies, and activities of societies alive, to be passed down from generation to generation. However not all traditions are practiced with pure intentions. Some activities become so habitual, people don’t know a life outside of them. Societies become so accustomed to “tradition” that they will participate in pastimes without questioning the ethics or morals of the situation. Ultimately when tradition takes the place of a rationalizing mind the outcome can be incredibly dangerous.