The Interlopers By Shirley Jackson Analysis

Zachary Sampson
Honors English
Period 2a
October 4, 2016

A Comparative Analysis of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Interlopers” by Saki

Have you ever read a story and felt as if the tension and anxiety inside a story as if it were real? In both “The Interlopers” by Saki and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson the authors use several literary elements to create suspense and tension. Both of these authors use pacing, foreshadowing, and character interactions to similarly create suspense within both stories. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson describes a small town that has had an annual lottery since the founding of the town, where the “winner” is stoned to death by everyone in the town. In contrast, in “The Interlopers” Saki

Both authors use foreshadowing differently to hint at the ending of the story while still keeping the ending hidden from the reader. In “The Interlopers” the narrator states that “In the cold, gloomy forest, with the wind tearing in fitful gusts through the naked branches and whistling round the tree trunks, they lay and waited for the help that would now bring release and succor to both parties” (paragraph 20 lines 169-172). In this instance Saki uses the setting to foreshadow the deaths of Georg and Ulrich from the merciless weather. In the beginning of “The Lottery” the narrator said “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix-- the villagers pronounced this name "Dellacroy"--eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys” (paragraph 2 line 10). In these lines the author foreshadows that the children will be using the stones for play, until the author later reveals their intended purpose. Both authors use foreshadowing to create suspense within the text by making you infer what is going to happen