The short story, “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, is a twisted tale of a small farming community that is far from normal or peaceful. Jackson, continuously uses the setting to creates a mood of peacefulness and tranquility. This creates an image of a typical small farming community on a normal summer day. This setting foreshadows an ironic ending that is far from normal or peaceful. “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, displays numerous examples of irony throughout the setting in telling the tale of a small town’s strange and brutal annual ritual.

Shirley Jackson, begins her story by establishing the setting. She tells what time of day and what time of year the story takes place. It is important to focus on what a typical day is in this small town. The time of day is set in the morning and the time of year is early summer. School has just recently let out for summer break, and children are getting used to the newly found freedom and the prospect of all of the adventures to be had. Jackson describes the town as that of any normal rural community. She describes the grass as "richly green" and that "the flowers were blooming profusely" (247). These descriptions of the su

surroundings as if there was nothing wrong in this quaint town.

beauty. Mr. Summers is helped by Mr. Graves, and a grave will be needed after the violence that ends the story. These leading character’s names symbolize the extreme contrast of life and death and the way they intertwine into the unnatural relationship found in this story. Also, the Fact that Mrs. Hutchinson is concerned about being late to the event and gives her husband a hard time when he is slow to take his turn is extremely ironic as she is only seeking to expedite her own death.

The introduction of the black box into the setting changes the mood and the atmosphere of the residents. After the introduction of the black box the villagers become extremely uneasy and the mood becomes more serious. Further foreshadowing leads the audience to consider the town as peculiar.

Up to this point in the story, Jackson, shows nothing out of the ordinary which would reflect an ironic ending, but upon further reading of the story, the audience catches glimpses of the unusual nature of this community. First, she sets the time of day to be mid-morning “The people of the village began to gather […]around ten o’clock” (263) . This is a clue to an ironic ending since most occurrences of evil or criminal activity are associated with the darkness of night. Second, she also points out key buildings that surround the town square. She fails to describe a church or a courthouse which are common buildings to all communities, and the normal gathering places for events suggested by the title. Most typical Americans visualizes morality with small farming

communities and well grounde

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