The lottery by shirley jackson
The lottery by shirley jackson"The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, is a short story written "to shock the story's readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives." Upon first reading "The Lottery," it seems to flow smoothly to a surprise ending. But with closer review, the story consists of many objects that hint at what will happen. Throughout the entire story, there is a feeling that something terrible will happen due to the authors in depth use of foreshadowing. "The Lottery" contains many symbols and allusions that foreshadow what the town will eventually do to Mrs. Hutchinson.
After Jackson describes the summer morning, she alludes to the children gathering in the Village Square, but they are acting quite strange. The boys stuff their pockets with stones and make a pile of stones at one corner of the square. The first question we must ask is why are the boys piling stones up in the village square? At the very least, we can see that the stones will reappear at the end of the story.
Another major aspect of the story is how Jackson used people's names to make a point. First of all, Mr. Summers is the one running the lottery. Summer is just around the corner and the lottery must be held for it to be a good one. The man who also helps with the lottery is named Mr. Graves. That gives us a hint that death is involved. Old Man Warner "warns" the town against change. Finally, when Tessie enters the crowd she sends a farewell to Mrs. Delacroix. The word "farewell" and "Delacroix" should be noticed. The word "farewell" is used as foreshadowing to the climax of the story. Normally when a person enters a crowd of people they are greeted. Not in this case because Mrs. Hutchinson is leaving. The words "De la Croix" means "of the cross." This can only represent sacrifice and this tells us that someone, more specifically Tessie, will be sacrificed.
The story finally begins to unfold as everyone examines the individual slips. Then we finally realize why Jackson put the hints pointing at Tessie. Of course Tessie is screaming and complaining that the lottery wasn't "fair." Due to her actions the reader now knows that she is going to be the one, but what is unknown is the prize. This is where the rocks come back into play. At this point, we can already see what the town is going to do to Tessie. We might even think the story is over. As Tessie is first attacked, we see that Mr. Adams and Mrs. Graves are in the front of the line to kill her. Jackson tells us this to make a point. These two people represent birth and death respectively. As we finish the story, Jackson wants us to see that even though birth and death seem grotesque, they both happen and the people here are not afraid of it.
After reading the first 3 or 4 sentences of "The Lottery" it is evident that something very strange is going on in this town. Shirley Jackson uses an abundance of foreshadowing which symbolizes what is about to happen to the winner of the lottery drawing. There is at least one indicator within each individual paragraph, which lets the reader know that the lottery is barbaric, and that the people of the town are not looking forward to it.