In The Lottery Shirley Jackson uses subtle foreshadowing to hint at the shocking ending without giving the reader a clear idea of what is going to occur. Throughout the story the reader is made to feel increasingly uncomfortable by bring the events to a head.
At the beginning of the story a pretty picture is painted of a nice summer day. The reader is first aware of the Lottery by saying that other towns have to start a day early due to larger populations. However, in this town she writes that the lottery takes only two hours and that the town’s people can be home by lunch. This is the first clue that something about the lottery is amiss. If the lottery were something that the villagers looked forward to being home or the time wouldn’t be an issue. Shirley Jackson then takes about the children. She says that school has let out but instead of the excitement of the summer “the feeling of liberty sat uneasily with most of them”. This shows that some of the children understand that they are not truly free until some event occurs. It’s very subtle because she does not come out and say why the children are uneasy and not free to romp casually. The boys are also gathering stones. A great emphasis is put on this des
Mr. Summers gets ready for the drawing and there is a hush. It is not a hush of excitement but purely of dread. As the villagers go up to draw they are silent and not looking around. In other drawings there is an excitement and people stain to see how others react. Many people take their paper and don’t look at it, showing their desire not to rush what is about to happen. When everyone has draw their piece of paper then people start asking who has it and straining to find the “winner”.
The foreshadowing throughout the entire story brings the reader to the point of uneasiness and adds to the shock of the stoning at the end.
Up until this point there hasn’t been much dialog until Mrs. Hutchinson showed up. At this point the reader is slightly uneasy and the fact that there is a change in dialog points to something important. The reader begins to think that Mrs. Hutchinson might play a role in what is to come.
The reaction of the Hutchinson family is not of a normal winning family. The husband stands quietly as his wife proclaims that it isn’t fair and that he didn’t have enough time to take the paper he wanted. It is abundantly clear that winning the lottery is not a good thing. From this point on the reader is extremely nervous due to Mrs. Hutchinson’s frantic and obsessive insistence that this isn’t right or correct. As the Hutchinson family draws paper the crowd looks on somberly and girls are heard saying they hope it’s not the little girl. Finally Mrs. Hutchinson is has the paper with the black mark. Once again the color black is used to as a symbol of what is to come. Mr. Summers now is insistent o
Example Essays Home
