Irony In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

The story started when people are gathered every end of June for the annual lottery ritual in a small village. All the head of each family are required to grab a slip a slip of paper in the box that is placed in the middle of the village. The in charge of the lottery was Mr. Summer. The conflict occurs when Tessie found out that her husband Bill was the center of the Villager’s attention. There is something on the paper that he picked. Because of that Tessie can’t even accept it and she keep on yelling that it is not fair. She believed that the time given to Bill was not enough to pick the paper that he wanted from Mr. Summer. The entire Hutchinson family, are

In this story Clyde Dunbar has a broken leg; this allows him to not participate in the lottery (Jackson 238). This is strange since the prize is death, so a broken leg should not prevent someone from participating. Therefore, though those in the town do not find that he is not required to partake strange the reader does notice the issue with this. Now children tend to be innocent. However, all the children participate in the stoning, including Tessie’s own son (Jackson 242). As the reader can tell the town finds no problem in letting the usually innocent children participate in the lottery. Lastly, Tessie Hutchinson arrives late to the lottery. This is due to her views on this event “[o]n the other hand, we meet Tessie Hutchinson, the protagonist, who exhibits a rebellious nature” (Shields 416). As you can see she protested the lottery by arriving late, although she ended up winning the lottery. This shows that even though she rebelled the most, she still won. Overall the dramatic irony in “The Lottery” shows the reader the irony characters do not comprehend such as the sick not participating, the innocent children taking part, and that the character who is late to the lottery wins the

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

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.

The concept of the innocence of children contains the conventional association of Satire/Irony. According to literature, children are perceived to be innocent until exposed to the harsh realities of the world, where their maturity develops and the loss of innocence is achieved. The children in this story, however, appear as regular children in the beginning, with the normal intentions of playtime and fun. Jackson even describes Bobby Martin, a child of the village, stuffing his pocket full of stones with other boys following his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest ones (875).

     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.

The setting is described as a “clear and sunny… full-summer day” and is described with positive connotations which create the impression that the story will be pleasant and ordinary. However, the story goes on to be far from it. As the story progresses the mood shifts from light-hearted and easy-going to tense and apprehensive. The villagers chuckle nervously amongst themselves and gather together quietly as the lottery commences. Once the names are picked the mood instantly becomes appalling and barbarous. The villagers move on towards Tessie and stone her to death without a second’s hesitation. The quote previously presented represents how ironic the story is overall. “The Lottery” starts off with a beautiful, warm day and ends in the brutal murder of an innocent woman. In the text, we see that “The lottery was conducted--as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program--by Mr. Summers. who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, jovial man” (26). Another form of irony in “The Lottery” is Mr. Summers. He is described as a “round-faced, jovial man” and his last name “Summers” makes him seem warm and amiable. Jackson describing him as such adds on to the beginning

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.

Shirley Jackson is to be considered one of the best authors of the 1900’s. Her style of writing reeled in readers from all different ages. She can be creepy, hilarious, and inspiring to the eyes that see her words. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, she keeps the reader on the edge of their seat wanting to continue reading beyond the final word. She uses literary devices to shape her story to grab her readers attention all throughout the story. By using these literary devices, Shirley Jackson shows off her dark and twisted side as well as her fantastic writing style to emphasize why she is one of the writers of her generation.

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.

Symbolism is used throughout The Lottery in the character names. Author, Shirley Jackson, uses the name of, Mr. Graves, to foreshadow the story and explain what “The Lottery” really is. Mr. Graves is the one who carries the three-legged stool which could indicate two things: the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or it could mean the past, present and future, saying that “The Lottery” will always be among the people of the village. In addition, he is also the owner of the post office and as the Postmaster, he delivers the news of the lottery on who will get stoned to death. Mr. Graves name signals the tombstones, death, and a cemetery. As well as Mr. Graves, Mr. Summers name also serves a symbolic purpose. He runs clubs and

Once upon a time there was a little village. In this village three hundred people happily farmed and played and went about their business. The children went to school while the men cut wood or farmed, and the women cooked and cleaned. Every summer in June each of villagers took part in the traditional lottery drawing and one villager was picked for the prize – a stoning. In 1948, Shirley Jackson published this short story known as “The Lottery,” in The New York Times. The story’s plot shocked readers all over America as they learned of the horror happening in such a quaint town. Jackson purposely set this tragic event in this innocent setting to emphasize humanity’s cruelty. Using her appalling short story, The Lottery,

The story takes place in a village on June 27 where “The Lottery” began. Citizens of the village started gathering around a box, filled with slips of paper. Already in the second paragraph of the story, it hinted, “Bobby Martin already stuffed his pockets full of stones”, the action starts from the beginning as to what are they going to do with those stones. The story describes how everyone is acting normal and how they are just talking and laughing like they usually do. I think that even though they gave a hint that the stoning will happen, there was still a hint before that quote. Just by the genre and how the title is “the Lottery” it can either go really bad or really good.

Shirley Jackson, a novelist known for her distinctive short stories in the 20th century, was born on December 14, 1916, in San Francisco, California (Shirley Jackson Bio). Jackson enrolled in Syracuse University in 1937, where she started her career of writing many influential and widely-known short stories, yet one in particular stood out for its gruesome irony of life in the United States. In “The Lottery,” Jackson depicted a small town gathering for the annual lottery, where citizens participated in a raffle, resulting in the random execution of a member of the community. As a result, they would reap the benefits of the execution through their crops in the summer; however, throughout the story, the names of her characters and the objects she portray conveyed a meaning beyond the story itself. Jackson’s use of symbolism allegorically details the narrative’s significance to humanity.

Traditions and customs still exist in different parts of the globe. Some of these traditions are constructive while others are deemed as destructive. Civilization is associated with a change of times and has thus led to the change in the traditions. However, some of these traditions have remained intact clearly exhibiting how civilization has failed to affect them. Some people may have opted for a change to scrap certain tradition depicted as destructive, but the fact they fear to go against their traditions or ancestors had made it difficult for such elements to be scrapped from the society. In the theoretical realm some of the said traditions have been depicted as illogical, but the stakeholders found no reason if scraping such thereby leading to continued injustice treatment rituals in the