Setting In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

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Every great story needs a great setting in which to take place. The setting of the story is just as important as the characters and theme. Vividly portraying the setting will develop the reader’s imagination. Creating a great setting will allow the readers imagination to feel as if he or she were actually present in the story. A setting of a story must be colorful, descriptive and inquisitive.
Shirley Jackson did a tremendous job of creating such a setting in the story “The Lottery.” The setting of the village is that of what a reader might see in an old British film
Starting the story as if the reader was already present within the village, Shirley Jackson began to play with the readers imaginations. For example the author gave a vibrant
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However, the author is very descriptive in the order of how the lottery is conducted. The head of the house would come up and pick out a folded piece of paper from the box. This type of detail gives a vivid setting of tradition and order to the event. The setting of “women beginning to verbally questioning who won, little boys running to their father to tell them the news” all portray an exciting event. (Page 264) The anticipation of who won the lottery left the readers on the edge of their seats in anticipation. Jackson carefully describes the feeling of excitement and disappointment that is present during the lottery. However, the author expounded on the setting even further when the winning ticket was …show more content…
Rather, the reader sees children playing, women gossiping, and menfolk being menfolk. (Page 260) The setting of the town seems as that of a lawful establishment. However, the setting of this story quickly changes to one of extreme violence. The author completely blindsides the reader with this turn of events. The setting of this story takes a complete one hundred eighty degree turn. This seemingly sweet village people turn into blood thirsty executioners. “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out in desperation as the villagers moved in on her. A stone hit her on the side of the head.” (Page 266) As it turns out the “lottery” was to see who would be stoned to death. Surprisingly, after the lottery was complete the village people went back to their everyday lives as if nothing had happened. The setting change in this story gives a whole new outlook to these village people than when the story first started. However, without the setting change this story may have taken on a tiring

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