The Lottery

A detailed Summary of The Lottery

Both the setting and final outcome of Shirley Jackson's "the Lottery" are Ironic.

Jackson sets the stage of her story in a seemingly normal village. She establishes this normalness by

describing the activitys of the townspeople. She tells how "The town has all the usual sights like

and a bank with a square inbetween thiese are all things one would expext to find in a normal town. The reader

finds the townsfolk involed in mundane behavior

The setting set forth by Shirley Jackson in the beginning of The Lottery creates a mood of peacefulness and

tranquillity. This setting also creates an image in the mind of the reader, the image of a typical town on a

normal summer day. Furthermore, Shirley Jackson uses the setting in The Lottery to foreshadow an ironic

First, Shirley Jackson begins The Lottery by establishing the setting. To begin, she tells the reader what

time of day and what time of year the story takes place. This is important to get the reader to focus on what

a typical day it is in this small town. The time of day is set in the morning and the time of year is early

summer. She also describes that school has just recently let out for

To conclude, Shirley Jackson creates the mood of a typical town on a normal summer morning. This

helped by Mr. Graves, who has often stored the black box for the lottery. These names foreshadow a

the mood created by the flowers and summertime setting create a peacefulness about the town.

Furthermore, the ending proves to be totally opposite of the mood presented in the first paragraph. The

She creates a mood for the reader of the town and residents of this town on a normal summer morning.

setting creates an atmosphere of tranquillity and peacefulness. Through the use of subtle details, Shirley

does not celebrate Christmas or Easter, yet they celebrate Halloween. Also, there is no governing body for

unusualness of this town. First, she sets the time of day to be mid-morning. This is a clue to an ironic

are oddities about the town. For example, there is no church or church activities. Furthermore, the town

Approximate Word count = 1191
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

join now Save Paper

Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

"Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
Jack M.
"With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
Brian P.
"I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
Sara J.
"I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
Rachel W.
"I love this site!!!"
Marie N.