Preview

Foreshadowing In The Lottery

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
224 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Foreshadowing In The Lottery
In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing to hint that the villagers are most likely going to continue the tradition of the lottery. For example, Mrs. Adams says, The black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before old man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born “(Jackson).” People in the village will always continue the tradition of the lottery as long as they can. The members of the town will never replace the black box. Therefore, this quote shows how this town can not end this tradition, even if the villagers try.

In “The Lottery,” villagers collects a bunch of stones to continue the tradition of the murder once a year. The public follows by collecting stones, and that tradition will never end. For example,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing to clue at what happens at the end of the story which is, Mrs.Hutchinson gets stoned. For example, Shirley Jackson starts to give us little hints throughout the story. For instance, when the town people were getting ready for the lottery,“Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones.”(Jackson) This quotation displays that Bobby Martin was using foreshadowing to hint at what the lottery really was. The part where Bobby Martin stocked his pockets full of stones sounded fluky. Therefore, Jackson was using foreshadowing. Jackson’s use of foreshadowing in “The Lottery’’contributes to the story in that, in the beginning, Bobby Martin was putting stones in his pocket which…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, is about a village is the past that had some traditions. One of the traditions was that every year one person would be chosen for sacrifice. They thought the sacrifice would bring a good growing season for the crops. This lottery only took 2 hours, but some took as long as two days. The theme is luck goes a long way because mathematically there’s a small chance of winning, luck is random, and luck isn’t always good.…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson used foreshadowing to hint that someone is going to get stoned because she says the kids gathered small smooth round stones into a pile. I knew this because in the story it says the kids had smooth small round stones in their pocket and pulled them out. A quotation from the story that helped me know this is “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example.” (Jackson). This shows that the kids gathered it into a pile for a reason. They did it to stone someone the got picked and it was Mrs. Hutchinson. So, Therefore the stones were there to kill the person. Jackson’s use of foreshadowing in “The Lottery” contributed to the story by almost giving away the…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Well, you definitely have to read this story more than once to pick up on all of the small subtleties…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,” (pg 52, line 260-261) sounds promising RIGHT? “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is about a beautiful nice June 27th when people are gathering around and one person is going to hell. The lottery was created was because the village had to sacrificing someone for a good harvest and now it’s just for tradition. Let’s go into detail on why the lottery was created.…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some of the other names are more direct examples of foreshadowing. Perhaps the most obvious name is . . . [Here we can examine the symbolism (foreshadowing) of the various significant names that Jackson uses. Give these as evidence in the rest of this paragraph.]…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Great post, after reading “The Lottery” another time I believed that the short has a lot of symbolism that criticize the Christianity and many other religious traditions, for instant the black box symbolizes the Bible, the three legged stool symbolized the trinity for Christians and other various religious traditions like the three Norse Fates and the stones relates to the text in the Bible about the woman who was caught in the act of adultery John 8:1-11.…

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In fact, she not only uses the stones to symbolize rigidness to change, but also the villagers’ willingness and collective support of the lottery tradition. Regardless of Tessie’s protest for the the draw, the villagers get their stones and collectively stones her to death. The stone throwing shows the unanimous support and acceptance of tradition by the forthcoming generation. When the villagers brutally stone the citizen who has “won” the lottery, it displays how their moral values have been decimated to the point where they are now cold, heartless, and mindless in their action than the inanimate stones they use for their deadly acts. A person who still has the capacity to reason would be harshly awoken by the truth that he or she was in the act of killing an innocent person. The boys of the village select the “smoothest and roundest stones” which shows how they regard it as a game. There is the illusion that they are going to go to the skip rocks. This adds to the lightness that Jackson’s story is created in the beginning. In the end, however, the actions that the boys take to select the rocks only shows how perverted the minds of all the villagers are, from young to old. The villagers cannot analyze why they are picking stones, a cold unfeeling object itself, and then shattering a life. The children do not question the lottery’s value for the rest of their day because the tradition itself has…

    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Symbolism in the Lottery

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Shirley Jackson uses symbolism in “The Lottery” to show the importance of remaining faithful to tradition and the unknown consequences that seem to occur when citizens lose touch with their village’s rituals. The idea of a yearly lottery in this small village is a very important ritual that has been passed down for such a long time, so long that nobody knows why it was started or why it is necessary to keep following through with it. The old black box that is used in the lottery to determine one’s fate is the most significant symbol in this story. Nobody wants to use a newer box because they feel it is the only thing that ties back to the origin of the lottery. They have only changed the use of wood chips to pieces of paper.…

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shirley Jackson uses the setting in "The Lottery" to foreshadow an ironic ending. The peaceful and tranquil town described in this story has an annual lottery every June 27 early part of 1800's in a small village with 300 people (456). Setting is to describe time and place of the story. The story occurs "around ten o'clock" (456). This is an unusual time because in most towns all the adults would be working during mid-morning. In the lottery an ironic ending is also foretold by the town's setting being described as one of normalcy. The town square is described as being "between the post office and the bank" (456). Every normal town has these buildings, which are essential for day-to-day functioning. Throughout the story little parts of setting are being told, to give a clearer picture for a better understanding of the…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lottery, a short story written by Shirley Jackson explains two of the most important aspects of humanity: traditions and rituals. The story takes place in a small town in New England where every year a lottery is held, most people would relate lottery to wining cash. In this lottery one person will be randomly choose to be stoned to death by the people in the village including their own family members. The lottery has been practiced for over seventy years by the townspeople and even though the villagers do not know the purpose of this tradition or the origin of it, they keep it to show respect to their ancestors ignoring the fact that is cruel and it is turning the whole village into murderers.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Lottery” may be somewhat deceiving from it’s title and can lead you in the wrong direction if you are not careful to notice the foreshadowing signs that is typical in Shirley Jackson’s stories. In “The Lottery” she gives two signs that are hidden deep into words that you, the reader, have to break up. She uses actions by her characters, and characters names. She leaves one more clue that is not in the story, but that fills her own life.…

    • 513 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "The Lottery" reminds us to look to tradition with scrutiny because not questioning our own actions can lead to things that go against our morals. "The Lottery" demonstrates this by showing the villagers calmly congregate to commit murder in order to prevent a bad year for the crops. We as readers see this as a crazy and horrifying , (also inefficient,) way to secure that the crops grow, whereas the villagers see this as a necessary ritual only because it is traditionally done. There is even evidence in the story that they don't need to act this way in that some of the neighboring villages no longer practice this ritual and the success of their harvest is somewhat equal to those who still practice. The villagers ignore that because they believe…

    • 146 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The lottery is important because it represents any action, behavior, or ideas that might be passed down from generation to generation. No matter how cruel, illogical, or bizarre it will always be accepted and followed by the younger generation unquestionably. The lottery is tradition, it is an annual ritual that no one has ever thought to question. “It is so much a part of the town culture, in fact, that it is even accompanied by an old adage: “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” “(SparkNotes Editors) The villagers are completely loyal to the lottery, or, at least that is what they have convinced themselves to believe that. Even though the traditions of the lottery have changed or forgotten, the villagers continue to have a lottery, despite the fact that most of the other towns have stopped. “The result of this tradition is that everyone becomes party to murder on an annual basis. The lottery is an extreme example of what can happen when traditions are not questioned or addressed critically by new generations.” (SparkNotes…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Lottery: Symbolism

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to make us aware of the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. The story starts off on a beautiful summer day in a small town. The author describes the day as very euphoric but strikes a contrast between the atmosphere of the town and the atmosphere of the people gathered in the square. The atmosphere is subdued, where the children are "gathered around quietly."<br>The black box is the central theme or idea in the story. It symbolizes at first some type of mystery, but as we read the ending we realize that it is synonymous with doom. Someone's fate lies in an inanimate object, the black box. We do not always enjoy change, even if it might prove beneficial to us. The box is symbolic of our loathing of change; it is old and splintered showing that we cling to what is familiar rather than change and it also symbolizes the traditions of the community. No one in the little town questions the origin of the black box, but accept it as an intrical part of their lives.<br><br><br>The lottery itself is symbolic of the paradox of the human psyche between compassion on one hand and the thirst for violence and cruelty on the other. An example of this is when the children are enjoying a break from school, playing and being children, and suddenly they are being joined by "rational" adults in stoning a mother to death. It appears that tradition has blinded these people in an irrational way, making them unable to think of a reason why this possibly should not be happening.<br><br><br>When forced with the possibility of death, human nature in all its complexity, comes down to one instinctive urge, that of survival. When Tessie was in no danger she was gossiping with the other ladies and even encouraged her husband to go and pick a piece of paper. When Tessie wins the lottery; she pleads for another chance and screams for mercy. She demands that her daughters take their chances as well, which is indicative of…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays