ipl-logo

Examples Of Suspense In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

676 Words3 Pages

How Suspense is Fueled in “The Lottery”
“The Lottery by Shirley Jackson has an astonishing ending. The surprise is reinforced by keeping the reader in the dark throughout the story. The use of a third person limited point of view serves to create suspense by keeping the reader from knowing what the characters know. The reader doesn’t know why the people in the town are uneasy, nor what Old Man Warner is talking about while he defends the lottery, nor even why Tessie Hutchinson keeps repeating that it isn’t fair. This makes the reader anticipate a dark ending, while still having no idea what it will be. Because the reader doesn’t know what the characters know, it leaves the reader wondering what will happen next.
At the beginning of the story, Shirley Jackson describes the townspeople assembling before the beginning of the lottery. The men are clearly uncomfortable. “They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.” (Jackson, 1) Because the reader doesn’t know what’s going through any of their heads, we don’t know why they are uneasy. The reader might wonder why they aren’t happy; after all, …show more content…

The reader can understand this, but has no idea what is going through her head. We have no idea what she knows will happen. Clearly, a lottery is fair, that’s the whole point of having one. However, there is clearly an element of wishing she could pick again, of wishing it wasn’t her. We don’t know why she doesn’t want it to happen because we don’t know what it is that will inevitably happen. A lottery is so often a positive thing, so the reader wonders why no one wants to get picked. This curiosity to know what the characters know fuels the suspense of the reader right up until the very last “It wasn’t

Show More
Related

  • Interpretive Essay: The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    520 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Lottery” Interpretive Essay “The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a lottery that takes place in a small village. The story starts of with the whole town gathering in the town square, where Mr. Summers, the official, holds the lottery. After that, every family draws out of an old black box, and a certain family gets picked. Out of the certain family, one person gets picked as the unlucky “winner” of the lottery. In this short story, after the Hutchinson family gets drawn, Tessie Hutchinson is declared “winner” of the lottery.

    Read More

  • Two Sides Of Humanity In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

    889 Words  | 4 Pages

    Imagine that you, out of entire village, won the lottery. You would think that it is a good thing, right? Now imagine that winning the lottery meant you are going to lose your life. Your view on the lottery probably switched from good to bad. The same thing goes for people.

    Read More

  • Destruction by Conformity: An Analysis of Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'

    718 Words  | 3 Pages

    The tone ties in with the setting, producing an enjoyable atmosphere. This strategy Jackson uses makes her readers feel safe, and that is why the end of the story is so shocking. The technique emphasizes the brutality and violence of the lottery

    Read More

  • Conflict And Death In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    785 Words  | 4 Pages

    ‘The Lottery’ is a story about tradition and sacrifice. However, even though the NY times article is about sacrifice, they are for different things. Such as money vs. good luck. ‘The Lottery’ talks about this small, peaceful village that have no problems and has mainly positive dialogue. But this village has this really weird tradition.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    1033 Words  | 5 Pages

    “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is a very suspenseful, yet very shocking short story. This story is set in a small village, on a hot summers day in June. Flowers are blooming, and the towns people are gathering for the lottery, which is a tradition the town does every year. As the reader reads the first paragraph they think this is a happy story. The title also says, “The Lottery” which is a word often used for winning something or receiving a prize.

    Read More

  • Mental Illness In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    1100 Words  | 5 Pages

    Additionally, the black box Old Man Warner brings to the square holds more than the “original paraphernalia for the lottery”, which was lost long ago (Jackson, 1948). The box shows importance and unknown powers that gives the reader a hint that its use draws the supposedly winning lottery. Then there was Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson, a woman who was late to the sacred meeting, which set her apart from the other families gathered at the square on time. The fact she was late isolated the character and possibly foreshadowed her secluded fate (Marshall, 2014). The use of foreshadowing builds up an unforthcoming tension throughout the story, leaving the reader searching for relief.

    Read More

  • How Does Shirley Jackson Build Suspense In The Lottery

    550 Words  | 3 Pages

    3/8/2017 The lottery essay Anan Istetieh Anticipation mingled with uncertainty, better known, as suspense, is an inevitable quality of human nature. Suspense is occasionally a great mechanism. It allows the author to keep the readers alert and leads up to the element of surprise, which is a successful writing tool that makes a story more enjoyable. The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson builds up suspense through the foreshadowing of a horrible moment, creating a character that stands out from the crowd all while withholding the true nature of the story. The author of “The Lottery” foreshadowed the horrible climax of the story by explaining how the children were recently released from school for the summer, but they felt discomfort, “and

    Read More

  • Foreshadowing In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    457 Words  | 2 Pages

    also it seemed like she was trying to avoid showing up to the lottery .Therefore it is obvious that she doesn’t even want to be there which hints that there is something dark behind the Lottery. Jackson’s use of foreshadowing in “The Lottery” contributed to the story by hinting that there is something much darker and eerier than we expect about this village and its tradition of the

    Read More

  • The Lottery Evil

    503 Words  | 3 Pages

    The darker action in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is the fact that the winner is stoned to death. The whole town believes in this crazy ritual. They believe a lottery in June means more corn soon. To all the people in the town this is just a normal way of life and no one is brave enough to suggest that the lottery be stopped. Other towns have stopped the lottery and old Man Warner snorts that they are a pack of crazy fools no good will come from them.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Lottery

    322 Words  | 2 Pages

    Usually there’s a winner in a lottery, but not in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. This story intrigued me by it's suspenseful nature and it's chaotic events. In small town America, they come together once a year to perform an annual tradition. Mrs. Jackson demonstrates literary devices such as foreshadowing, mood, and conflict in “The Lottery”. Foreshadowing is used quite a few times in “The Lottery”.

    Read More

  • The Duality Of Human Nature In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    205 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Lottery In this short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson we can see the theme of the duality of human nature. Tessie Hutchinson thinks the lottery is unfair. She claims that they didn't get through time. But everybody had the same chance and time.

    Read More

  • Techniques Used In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    605 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shirley Jackson’s “The lottery” is a story based on tradition. When hearing the word tradition, most people think of team rituals before games, or something families do together annually. However, Jackson is obviously not like most people. She builds up a fair amount of tension around this ritual that is taking place to make readers wonder what is going on. She uses many different techniques to show that sometimes, traditions are not always meant to go on forever.

    Read More

  • The Use Of Tone In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    1333 Words  | 6 Pages

    Full of plot twists, and turns, “The Lottery” relies on its characters to convey a sense of normalcy throughout a majority of the story. The villagers’ acceptance of rituals allows them to act normal while knowingly partaking in a deadly tradition. Jackson’s brilliant use of deceptiveness leaves readers blind sighted as one could never predict this story’s outcome. Jackson’s work is renowned because of its unpredictable shift in tone. June 27, may appear to be a pleasant summer day, but this prediction could not be further from the truth.

    Read More

  • Horror And Symbolism In Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'

    1737 Words  | 7 Pages

    The short story “The lottery” is about a small village that has an annual lottery in which the winner gets stoned to death. Many of the townspeople know this is inhumane, but they choose not to speak out because their name isn’t picked. Jackson uses direct characterization to describe all the characters in the village and uses symbolism throughout the story. Not to forget about the vivid description of the setting in the beginning of the short story. Shirley

    Read More

  • Symbolism And Themes In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

    1474 Words  | 6 Pages

    “The Lottery” is an realism/horror story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about some villagers of a small New England town who follow the tradition of making a lottery every year. When it comes, they like to celebrate it with the correct rules and the correct objects so they can feel more comfortable. Everyone need to take a slip of paper from a small black box, and the paper with a black dot in it means that the family is the winner, then they raffle again; Bill Hutchinson, who was the husband of the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson picked a paper with a black dot in it, that meant that Tessie was the winner of the lottery, then she starts complaining because the drawing was not conducted properly. At the end, the townspeople moved off to a cleared spot outside the town and they begin stoning her to death (Jackson).

    Read More

More about Examples Of Suspense In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Open Document