Short Story Essay Shirley Jackson wrote an abundance of short stories in her lifetime, the most famous being “The Lottery”, which she wrote in 1948. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and would like to read more of Jackson’s works. I loved the way the elements of irony and foreshadowing slowly unfolded the mystery of how the lottery impacted the lives’ of the families in the town. Some of the reasons I would like to read more of Shirley Jackson’s works are the element of irony in her writing, the element
“The Lottery” describes a small unnamed American town the residents of which follow an annual ritual known as the lottery which in the local tradition is practiced to ensure a good harvest. What we expect is a joyful occasion, but what we get is a public stoning. The story combines elements of horror, surprise and irony that make it quite difficult to identify its genre. The story maintains a pleasant atmosphere while introducing the people of the town. They wait for the ceremony, in particular
Shirley Jackson’s, The Lottery, is about a small town in America. In the beginning of the story the characters are beginning to gather around the town square, to prepare for “the lottery”. Young boys gather stones while the girls wait around, talking. You never think twice about the fact that the lottery could be anything but winning money, or something else good. It isn’t until the Hutchinson family “wins” and Mrs. Hutchinson gets upset, that you start to suspect anything. In the end we see there
In “The Lottery,” the author Shirley Jackson illustrates a vivid society that mocks the idea of tradition without meaning, establishing a clear theme that people should not blindly follow tradition that has lost its original intentions. She develops this idea through irony, symbols, and language. This message is conveyed throughout the story, from the initial pleasant description of the town to the surprise ending of the stoning. In the very first paragraph, she describes the setting as “clear and
When it comes to the word "lottery", the first thought that automatically comes to mind is money. Today, lotteries are operated by the state. In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery", the structure of running a lottery is different. In the short story, a small village of about three-hundred residents, is preparing for the annual lottery, where the winner is bound to get an interesting prize. In the first few opening paragraphs, Jackson writes in a form in which the reader views as a nice summer day. School