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The Lottery

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The Lottery
The title of the story "The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson is ironic. By only reading the title of this story the reader would assume that someone is going to win something good. But, the opposite of that is actually the true part, because the author, Shirley Jackson Makes it seems like it is just another one of those regular days in the village. But it is not. One way that Shirley Jackson proves that some of her story is written with irony is what kind of traditions they have. They make traditions seem so bad, when really traditions are supposed to be good things that are passed down from generation to generation. Not things that involves stoning people to death. This happens in “The Lottery,” because every year they have their own thing called the lottery, and so did many other villages. It’s also ironic because the reader would have never once thought that this is what the tradition was about. A second reason why Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery” is ironic is how Mr. Summers seems so calm about the whole situation. As Tessie had just showed up, there Mr. Summers is standing calmly at the stool with the black box that sits on it and holds all the pieces if papers with the block dots in them. How could someone be so calm knowing that a person from their village is about to get stones thrown at them until they die. It doesn’t seem to bother Mr. Summers at all in any way about the situation that is about to accrue. The last evidence proving that Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery” is written with some type of irony is the title of the story its self. The reason why the title is ironic all together is because just by reading the title you would think it is about someone winning loads and loads of money. But, that’s where you’re wrong. As they read they begin to find out that when someone in the village wins the lottery it is not much of winning anything. It is more of being afraid to win instead of being anxious or excited to win because when they win they end up getting stoned to death by everyone in the village. Including the children.

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