The Lottery Rhetorical Analysis

One of the ways Jackson uses literary technique is with Irony, and foreshadowing. People who hear “The Lottery” assume that the person or people who win the lottery will win a prize of some sort, such as money. However, on the contrary, the winner of this lottery gets murdered. Jackson hints throughout the story that the ending of the story will not be as civilized as the reader may think. “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). The villagers were very tense, they would smile rather than laugh and they moved away from the rock sitting on the side. They knew what was going to happen, but the reader doesn't, which is why small details such as

Shirley Jackson uses rhetoric in her fictional short story “The Lottery” to criticize the perpetuation of outdated traditions. She creates a fictional example that includes enthymemes, intrinsic appeals, and extrinsic proofs between characters as well as in the narration to make her thematic argument that mindlessly keeping traditions is foolish. The lottery example is deliberately exaggerated to accentuate her argument and to present an honorable case that her audience will support. In doing this, Jackson establishes a strong kairos and demonstrates her ability to aptly use rhetoric to make an argument through fiction.

Jackson The Lottery By: Yarmove, Jay A. Explicator. Summer94, Vol. 52 Issue 4, p242. 4p. Reading Level (Lexile): 1230. , Database: MasterFILE Premier

Shirley Jackson a very popular author well known for her short story called “The lottery” which always leaves the reader thinking. “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948 which is just weeks after it was written. Some other pieces written by Jackson are “The Haunting of Hill House”, “We have always lived in the castle” as well as “Life among the savages”. Jackson tends to write about horror and mystery and has many other pieces with supernatural themes. Many pieces written by Jackson have a small-town setting that end with horror. 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

In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing when the children are collecting stones from the river and putting them into piles. It hints that something bad is going to happen because it is unusual for boys to be grabbing stones and randomly put them into a pile. For example, while the towns people were getting ready for the lottery the narrator states, “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, eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys.” (Jackson). This quotation shows that the boys in the village are finding the smoothest and roundest stones and putting them into a big pile. But the reason is still

In all books authors use figurative language to create suspense and get the reader interested. In “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, a small village gets together on June 27th every year to do the “lottery.” Generally people think of the lottery as being a good thing. In this book, however; if you win you die. One member of each family in the village must walk up to a black box alphabetically, select a piece of paper, and return to their spots. Which every family has the piece of paper with the black dot on it must redraw from the box and who ever then gets the dot will “win” the lottery and get stoned. In order to cause suspense in the story Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing, irony, and symbolism.

Stories have always been something that we, as humans, enjoy to hear and read. This is shown throughout history and continues to remain true today. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” she takes her readers through a whirlwind of a story, starting it out one way and ending it with something unexpected. She does a great job of writing, by implementing in foreshadowing, imagery, and the theme of tradition.

In “The Lottery,” Jackson demonstrates a feeling of harmony and easiness. It all start with a casual summer day of shopping. Jackson’s character gives the reader an unthinking, quiet, calming feeling. Jackson indirect hints, like when she tells of the town’s main gathering, where men are telling quiet jokes rather than being loud and laughing wildly.

Symbolism in stories is used to represent an idea or a concept that differs from their literal meaning. Shirley Jackson utilizes symbolism within her short story "The Lottery" which takes place in a small town of 300 people, who are preparing for a lottery to occur. Jackson's use of symbolism is supposed to show us that not all tradition is positive and leaves us content. Jackson displays the dark side of tradition within "The Lottery" by using symbols such as the characters behaviors, the black wooden box, and the stones.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, Is about a lottery being held in a small town with 300 people in an unknown country. Every year a lottery is being held where one person is randomly chosen to be stoned to death by individuals in the village, in order to follow the tradition of stoning the person who has a black dot on the slip of paper. Jackson uses symbolism based on the characters name, objects and the setting to allow the readers to identify the true meaning of the story.

Ayn Rand once said, “Words are a lens to focus one’s mind.” In the short stories, “The Catbird Seat” by James Thurber and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, both of the writers incorporate typical literal devices throughout the story to captivate the reader’s attention. The two writers apply both suspense and foreshadowing alternatively in two very distinctive ways.

“The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson. It was originally published in 1948. This is a few years after the end of World War Two, which probably influenced Jackson into writing this short story. “The Lottery “was very different from anything that had been published in America up to this point. Shirley Jackson incorporated a couple of themes into the story that she felt, needed to be exposed so society could better itself. Out of all of them, the main theme of “The Lottery” is hypocrisy because of the character’s words and actions, the unknown origin of the lottery, and the ending of the story.

Equally important, Jackson purposefully inserts incongruities within “The Lottery,” via means of irony, allowing the authors audience many opportunities to examine the true meaning of her words as the story’s events unfold. As one reflects on the title of Jackson’s story, a true sense of irony is revealed as the

Traditions have been sought after and passed on for generations; with no questions asked, whether humane or not, traditions are hard to break and diminish as they are often what a culture or community stands for.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is one short story that just about anyone could understand. It starts off as a simple village where everyone knows everyone, but once a year a person's life would be taken because of their dark tradition. However, the reader is unaware of the true depth of the horrible ritual until the end of the story. Instead, as they are reading, they have this continuous sense of foreboding. One of the key aspects of the story that helped to support the building dread the readers feel was the symbolism found throughout the story. Shirley Jackson, in her short story The Lottery, uses the following symbols to illustrate the violence people would uphold because of their traditions or beliefs: the villagers, black box, black dot,