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The Unlucky In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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As we all know nothing is ever as it seems. In the story the “Lottery” by Shirley Jackson there is a small village in which every summer there is a lottery held. At first when we think of a lottery we think of one lucky winner who wins a grand prize. However in this village the lottery is used to determine one unlucky winner who gets stoned to death. As seen in the story when Tessie Hutchinson, the unlucky winner of the lottery gets stoned to death by her own village. In the story the Lottery, Shirley Jackson uses tone and foreshadowing to argue that all people, regardless of how civilized they seem, are capable of great evil.
Shirley Jackson uses the setting, the villager’s behavior, and the lottery itself to set the tone to show that even …show more content…

It says that “the men began to gather, speaking of planting and rain, tractors, and taxes” (L26). We also see that the women “exchanged bits of gossip.”(L31) From his we …show more content…

The paraphernalia of the lottery is used to indicate the evil actions that have yet to take place. For example in the story it had said “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stone.”(L16) Later on it said “eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner” (L19) and that “they stood together, away from the pile of stones. This seems odd because a child has his pockets full of rocks. And it is not apparent to why he has those stones. And the pile of rocks gives of an ominous feeling because it makes the reader wonder why there is just a pile rocks and why the men are scared of the rock since they stood away from it. The names of the people also hint towards the evil actions at the end of the story. The names of the two people who help conduct the lottery are “Mr.Summers” and “Mr.Graves”. There is also a child whose last name is Delacroix. Mr.Summers’ last name happens to be summer which is when the lottery is held. And Mr.Graves’ last name happens to be graves which represent death. And finally Delacroix is a French surname which comes from de la Croix which means of the cross. And crosses refer to Jesus Christ who was killed and sacrificed on a cross. Their names together clues that during the summer there is reoccurring death. Jackson furthermore uses the

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