Sharline's Lottery Essay

Everything cannot be perfect

In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery” the author uses foreshadowing to warn the reader how bad and surprising can be the lottery. Initially, Mrs. Jackson predict the tragic outcome in the story when the boys pick up the bunch of rock. “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pocket full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones. Bobby and Harry Jones eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of other boys” (Jackson 28). Here the reader can see, the boys are choosing the stones. They all must choose a bunch of rock when it is lottery time. There are many people and they do not win the lottery because there is also worst ending with the lottery. In the summer when it is time to call on the lottery winner. They all know cannot live a life anymore. Next, the writer hints what is such to be unhoped at the middle of the story when they about to know who is the lottery winner. “they [the townspeople] stood together, away from the piles of stones in the corner, and their jocks were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed” (Jackson 28). They know that if someone wins the lottery between them, he or she will be killed by the people they have there. That is why the people do not want to win the lottery in the summer time. One person must win the lottery and they always worry about the lottery. They cannot laugh a lot for the lottery. Sometimes they smile with each other but not that much, because they should think about the lottery. Lastly, the author suggests the unexpected finish when they are worried to call on the lottery winner. “By now, all through the crowed there were men holding the small folded papers in their large hands, turning them over and over nervously” (Jackson 33). At this point the author uses the word nervously because in the summer time when they are going to announce the lottery, they worry about it. They do not want to win the lottery which has the worst ending in the world. They know they must die if they win the lottery in the summer. In Ms. Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, the creator uses clues to inform the reader what unwelcomed thing can happen at the end of the lottery.