Irony In The Lottery By Shirely 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

The best feeling one can experience is winning a prize. For example, when one wins the lottery, one is excited, however not the lottery in the story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. The lottery in this story represents a certain kind of irony known as situational irony. Now, this is not the only example of irony included in this story there are also examples of verbal irony and dramatic irony. In The story “The Lottery” there are countless instances of situational irony, verbal irony, and dramatic irony that presents readers with the barbaric ways of the town and allows readers to have an insight on the town’s issues.

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

Mr. Summers, for example is a man that organizes the annual tradition of the village’s lottery. The name “Summers” has strong conventional associations with Frye’s convention of Romance, and is a suitable name for such suitable setting. Furthermore, his physical appearance, too, matches this convention; Jackson describes him “in his clean white shirt and blue jeans, he seemed very proper and important” (Jackson 876). Mr. Summers, the organizer in charge of the lottery, in essence, oversees death. His actions of making the slips of paper for the lottery make him the bringer of death, determining the fate of the next winning candidate of the lottery. “Summers”, a name so fitting of happiness and zenith, ironically becomes the taker of life, which fulfils an ironic literary example of one of Jackson’s characters.

     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.

Would you believe that there was once a village where everyone would partake in a terrible event, but think it was innocent because of how they blindly followed a tradition? The short story, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson communicates this theme by showing how the villagers participate in a lottery every year. In life, there are people who follow tradition because the have to, or they are used to following without question. The author, Shirley Jackson was born on December 14, 1916 in San Francisco, California. In 1937, Shirley Jackson attended Syracuse University where she began to write short stories. She was famous for the short story, “The Lottery,” and her best seller novel, “The Haunting of Hill House”. Shirley Jackson was

In the beginning of the story the author (Shirley Jackson) starts the story off by describing the scenery of a town in which the town is richly green and the people are starting to gather together. In the text it states, “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 people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o’clock” Carefully crafting words in the quotation such as fresh warmth and village began to gather creates the illusion that there is going to be an event which is rather

“A stone hit her on the side of the head. "It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her” (34). “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson which, sparked controversy when published in the June 26, 1948 issue of the New Yorker. Jackson used several different literary devices to support her theme that people who don’t question tradition get what they deserve. The literary devices Jackson uses to support the theme of ‘The Lottery’ are irony, foreshadowing, and pacing.

Winning isn’t always what it seems. Hearing the word “lottery” usually develops a positive connotation in the mind of the reader, associating it with pleasure, good fortune and happiness; however, in “The Lottery,” the winner is rewarded by being brutally stoned by her neighbors and believed friends. “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, highlights how complacently our society reacts to the pointless brutality and inhumanity towards others. To demonstrate this, Jackson examines social constructs, women’s place and how instead focusing too strongly on strict traditions, we need to reexamine these rituals to determine their necessity and if they are still beneficial to society. Jackson uses seemingly ordinary details about

Old Man Warner is the epitome of the lottery and its tradition. He is the oldest man in town, having participated in seventy-seven lotteries total. As a steadfast advocate for keeping things exactly how they stand and someone who is threatened by the idea of change, he distinguishes all the towns and the young people who have stopped pursuing the lottery as a “pack of crazy fools” (Jackson, 27). He is trapped within the past traditions, even if they should not sustain. Being the antagonist, Old Man Warner does not veer away from the tradition, even though many others do not agree with it.

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.

In Sheila Mant the author uses foreshadowing when he lets the biggest fish of his life go you know that he is going to be disappointed that he let it go. He was especially mad when his girl dumped him. Another example of foreshadowing is in the Interlopers when the get trapped under the tree. it is foreshadowing that something is going to happen to them. Either they are going to get out or they will die.

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,

An example of verbal irony is how O.Henry names the town where the story takes place Summit, but describes it as being "As flat as a flannel-cake" (1). Another example would be when Sam is looking to see if the townsfolk had noticed Johnny was missing and said "Perhaps it has not been discovered that the wolves (the wolves being Bill and Sam) have home away the tender lambkin (the lambkin being Johnny)" (5). That is ironic because Johnny is described as a lamb and the entire time Johnny has been terrorizing Bill and Sam.

Human nature, and whether or not humans are inherently good or inherently evil, has been philosophized for just as long as humans have been around. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" addresses this concept with Tessie Hutchinson's attack by mob mentality and the Old Man's defense of the titular lottery system. Jackson argues that the refusal to break away from unnecessary traditions and questioning your elders can bring out a human's inner cruelty.