Theme Of Irony In The Lottery

In the stories “The Lottery” and “Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson there is a plethora of correlating similarities between the two genuinely intriguing story lines. Detailed writing is often fascinating to read and allows the reader to vividly imagine the characters and the setting of the story, which is precisely the reason why the settings and characters in Shirley Jackson’s short stories “The Lottery” and “ Possibility of Evil” are easy to vividly imagine and understand.

In “The Lottery” and “The Possibility of Evil”, Jackson uses irony with two of her main characters. In “The Lottery” Tessie Hutchinson is used as an example of irony by how at the beginning of the story she was so happy and ready for the lottery to begin, “Clean forgot what day it was’, she said to Miss Delacroix, who stood next to her, and they both laughed softly”. By the end of the story she was yelling about how the lottery was unfair and declared they got to go again, “You didn't give him him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair”. This shows irony because it's ironic that she went from loving the lottery to hating it all because she was the one to be picked to win. In “The Possibility of Evil”, Miss Strangeworth is an example of irony because she seems so sweet and nice at the beginning and everyone seems to really love and enjoy her presence, but really she has been sending everyone in town nasty letters about assumptions she makes about the evil in the world and the evil in the people in the town, “... then remembered three people would open her letters. Harsh, perhaps, at first, but wickedness was never easily banished”. This is ironic because she was such a sweet old lady whom everyone liked and it turns out that she was the mysterious wicked person to be ruining lives in the town. Irony played a big role in both of Shirley Jackson's short stories.

We are all quick to judge something or someone by a first impression but as we may all know not everything is as if it seems. In Shirley Jackson’s short stories, ‘The Possibility of Evil” and “The Lottery”, Jackson uses specific literary devices in each story. In each short story, everything seems to be normal and typical until the hidden secrets are revealed. Jackson’s uses irony, mood and theme for a better understanding of the two short stories.

To illustrate, in the stories “The Lottery” and “Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson there is a plethora of correlating similarities between the two genuinely intriguing story lines. Furthermore, detailed writing is often fascinating to read and allows the reader to vividly imagine the characters and the setting of the story, which is precisely the reason why the settings and characters in Shirley Jackson’s short stories “The Lottery” and “ Possibility of Evil” are easy to vividly imagine and understand.

In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” she uses many examples of irony. Irony is the use of words that are the opposite of their usual meaning or what is expected to happen. The use of irony plays an important role in delivering Jackson’s sarcasm. The author holds our attention all throughout the story and builds our suspense by using irony with the characters and events that take place. Some instances of irony that she uses during the story to hold our attention are: The title, the weather, the stones, the lunch and even some of the characters.

In short stories where every word counts literary techniques such as irony, mood, tone, imagery, and figurative language are invaluable. The Lottery and The Possibility of Evil are two short stories written by Shirley Jackson. The Lottery takes place in the year 1948 in a small town of roughly three hundred people. The Possibility of Evil follows seventy-one year old lady as she goes about her day in a small town. In each of these stories Jackson uses mood and irony to get her message across and in The Lottery she uses foreshadowing as well.

Imagine this; it is 9am, the sun is out and even though the children are playing , but before the day is done, someone will find themselves the winner of the lottery. However, it is not the lottery that most are familiar with. In 1988 author Judy Oppenheimer conducted an interview with author Shirley Jackson, the author of '' The Lottery'' . In this interview Shirley explained why she wrote the short story in the following excerpt ; " I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives " (Oppenheimer 1988 ). In order to identify the key elements of the

When one hears the word lottery it seems like it would be good. He or she could expect to win a prize or something just as great. Most people do not often associate death with a lottery, but Shirley Jackson does. She writes a twisted tale that focuses on different types of irony. Her use of situational, verbal, and dramatic irony affects everything from the tone and characterization to the conflict.

Moments before Tessie Hutchinson was light heartedly talking with a fellow towns member. However an unlucky twist of fate happened and now her friends and family are her executioners. Shirley Jackson incorporates irony in “The Lottery”, which tells the story of a docile town which commits murder.

A small town with big problems is a great way to describe the kind of town used as a setting in “The Lottery”. The town is a covered up mess and consists of horrible, low-down events. For example, some member of the town just cold-heartedly devoured a member of their own community. It all began when the villagers of the small town gathered together in the town square on a beautiful, sunny day for the town’s annual lottery. The author of this short story, Shirley Jackson, is an American author from San Francisco who received an increasing amount of attention from literary critics. Shirley Jackson develops her theme that things are not always as they seem in he short story “The Lottery” through the use of mood, symbolism, and characterization.

Lotteries are founded in the 19th centuries and it was known widely by its ability to grant one with happiness from the sudden boost in financial state ,however, in the short story “The Lottery” the meaning of the title does not fit with its literal meaning and instead utilize itself ironically. The lottery in the short story could be described as a howling abyss that people, intentionally and unintentionally, push themselves or someone else into. The crowd perceives the aftermath of the lottery as they put themselves into the risk of dying annually, yet they muted rather than clashing about it. Furthermore, Old man Warner whom participated in the Lottery for 77 years was actually protecting the tradition without obtaining the knowledge of

One small slip of paper can determine your life or death, what would you do to keep your family safe? In the short story ‘The Lottery’ written by Shirley Jackson there is a very important piece of irony that is used in the story to act as suspense to the reader and maybe even a surprise. Irony is when words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. The type of irony that is present in the story is, situational irony, which is something that occurs when what happens is the opposite of what is expected or appropriate. The story is ironic because, are main character in the story, Tessie, is totally okay with the thought of the lottery, but when her family gets chosen she automatically

In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," the author's ironic yet cynical attitude is revealed through a variety of dark symbols throughout the story.

Of all Miss Jackson’s eerie and gruesome fantasies, ‘’The Lottery published in The New Yorker magazine, was the best known and most baffling to readers. ’’ After the story was published, many readers of the magazine wrote and asked what the story meant; many still want to know. While the author declined to tell what she meant, she does provide the careful reader with some clues. The tone is established very early in the story.

The authors use of irony is prevalent throughout her story The Lottery, as it is full of twists for the reader to enjoy. The way the characters interact, the setting and time of events, and the plot