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The Use Of Suspense In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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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. At the beginning of the story there is many spots were foreshadowing is used. One place would be when the villagers start to go to the town square to begin. “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones;...” Before the drawing of the lottery starts the younger boys begin to gather rocks and put them in their pockets. We can infer that the the boys are gathering rocks in which they are going …show more content…

Symbolism is used multiple times throughout “The Lottery.” Mr. Summers is the person who calls people up to draw. His name symbolizes when the lottery takes place, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day;.” Mr. Warner is the oldest man in the village and obviously has done the lottery the most times. People around the village are talking about getting rid the lottery. Mr. Warner warns the people that getting rid of the lottery could be bad. His name symbolizes his thoughts about the lottery. Likewise, the black box is symbolism to the result of of the lottery. The color black usually symbolizes death. The “winner” gets stoned and

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