The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, is an interesting, dark short story. Shirley Jackson fills her short story with imagery, irony, suspense, symbolism, and foreshadowing. The story is about a town full of villagers holding a lottery. However, the story has situational irony due to the normal idea that the lottery is a prize of joyfulness. However, Shirley Jackson creates a new, not typical lottery that has a deeper and darker meaning. As the story continues, word by word, the reader is drawn into each page.
In the beginning, the story starts with a happy tone and imagery. An example is, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” The imagery in the opening piece creates the setting of the story, a village on a warm, summer day. Though the story starts with happy imagery, the day is not so happy as it seems.
In the …show more content…
An example of this is,“ The postmaster, Mr. Graves, followed him, carrying a three-legged stool, and the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr. Summers set the black box down on it.” Both names, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves, are ironic because the story is told in the summer in which someone dies. Also, in the story, the villagers kill the victim of the lottery with stones. Shirley Jackson used stones as weapons due to the irony that stones were used as weapons during biblical times and others often used them as tools. Additionally, the black box itself is symbolism of the struggle of the villagers to get rid of the lottery. An example of this is, “Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything being done.” The villagers were afraid to do anything to the box, similar to how they were terrified to get rid of the
In the beginning, the story starts with a happy tone and imagery. An example is, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” The imagery in the opening piece creates the setting of the story, a village on a warm, summer day. Though the story starts with happy imagery, the day is not so happy as it seems.
In the …show more content…
An example of this is,“ The postmaster, Mr. Graves, followed him, carrying a three-legged stool, and the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr. Summers set the black box down on it.” Both names, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves, are ironic because the story is told in the summer in which someone dies. Also, in the story, the villagers kill the victim of the lottery with stones. Shirley Jackson used stones as weapons due to the irony that stones were used as weapons during biblical times and others often used them as tools. Additionally, the black box itself is symbolism of the struggle of the villagers to get rid of the lottery. An example of this is, “Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything being done.” The villagers were afraid to do anything to the box, similar to how they were terrified to get rid of the