The Lottery

The Lottery written by Shirley Jackson contained an interesting plot that concluded very unexpectedly. This story had a very interesting "characterization" or a ritual that continues to last in a growing community. It began early with the description of the people going to and readying themselves for the event in a peculiar way. It seemed as though there was a slight tension in the air. This was portrayed through the men withholding back their laughter and the serious scorning of disobedient children on what one would assume was a good day. The inclusion of the tradition being performed, "As were the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program,"(264) then built up this lottery to be a positive action. Continuing on was the description of the box that the people chose their pieces of paper on to declare the "winner" with. This box also had a long description that helped to key on to just how long the tradition had been going on. The continual reference to how much was forgotten of the tradition really added a sense of mystery to the story as a whole and allowed for the reader to attempt to guess what was going to happen next. The clue that the Old Man Warner hinted during the story revealed that the tradition had to do with crop growth, but it was not easily picked up on the first time through. All of this leads to what might come off as situational irony if the clues were not picked up because of how this could have been seen as a positive event. The stoning of the "winner" of the lottery was definitely a surprise.