The story of “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson is very different in terms of the ways you and me may see the lottery today. The lottery today is looked at as fun, entertaining and almost as a type of recreation for many Americans, but not in this short story. The lottery in this story is the total opposite of the way we view it today. It does not deal with entertainment but it deals with your life literally, almost as if they are playing Russian rullet. But this all seems like a normal everyday occurrence to this small farming community that seems to be just like any typical farming community except for the fact that each harvest moon someone in the town is sacrificed.

Shirley Jackson’s approach to writing this story was more than just reading the words and meeting the characters. Throughout the story Jackson does a great job of giving a deeper meaning of just about everything in this story. She portrays a lot of symbolism and ironic meanings in the story through the technique she uses to put together the setting of the story all the way down to the characters’ names and actions. What Jackson wants the audience to do is make sure the reader examines deeper t

han just the words on the pages almost as if the audience had to be very analytical. She also did not give away the end of the story, she lets you figure it out which makes the title very ironic and suspenseful. Jackson does a great job at dropping in clues to the audience also, sort of a sense of foreshadowing that something isn’t right in this community even though it seems like your normal everyday farming community. Shirley’s whole point in writing in this style ties in very well with the overall meaning or theme of the story.

Throughout the story Jackson conveys a theme through the characters and the setting itself that all ties together at the end of the story. The theme is everything may not be as nice as it seems. Just as this “normal” community shows us if you peel back the layers and dig a little deeper, what you find may surprise you. This story took us from the nice peaceful setting in the beginning to an unexpected evil ending never thought possible by the town’s people. The point is that many people find safety and foundation in a community but instead what was found was fear of change and new life.

The way Jackson decides to arrange the setting and mood in this story is very ironic and also symbolic in many ways. Jackson starts off the story by giving a description of what she wants the audience to think of this small community. Jackson almost paints a picture of what she wants you to see. It was the start of summer everyone s

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