Suspense In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The Lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. When she wrote the piece Jackson claimed that her purpose in writing it was “to shock the story’s readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity of their own lives,”(263). This piece accomplishes that goal through the use of suspense to shock the reader. This piece is widely regarded as one of the best examples of a suspense story and was one of the original stories to have a surprise ending. The piece is set in a small town of about 300 people. By setting the story in a small town Jackson is able to make the story appear to be very realistic. The story is split into two distinct parts. The first, in which the reader does not understand what the lottery is about …show more content…
The Lottery undergoes one major tone shift from happy and carefree to psychological and detached, through this change the piece is given an overall tone that is iconoclastic in nature.
The tone at the beginning of The Lottery is happy and carefree. “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” (263). This line shows that the tone is very happy because it talks about flowers blossoming. The blossoming of flowers is oftentimes associated with the beginning of life, not the horrible events that occur due to the lottery. By beginning the story with a happy, carefree tone Jackson builds the surprise ending. At the beginning of the story children are playing around the square and the adults are talking in groups creating a very laid back atmosphere. “The girls stood aside, talking among themselves, looking over their shoulders at the boys, and the very small children rolled in the dust or clung to the hands of their older brothers or sisters”(263). This shows that all of the children regardless of age and gender were in the square