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The Lottery The Lottery, a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale of disturbing evilness. The setting is a small village consisting of about 300 residents. On June 27th of every year the members of the community hold a village-wide lottery in which everyone is expected to participate. Throughout the story the reader gets an odd feeling regarding the residents. Although they are gathering for a lottery drawing there is an air of nervousness about the event. From start to finish there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the authors in depth use of foreshadowing. The first hint that something strange is happening is brought to our attention in the second paragraph. After Jackson describes the summer morning, she alludes to the children gathering in the Village Square, but they are acting quite strange. "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example…eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys" (Text, 782). The first question we must ask is why are the boys piling stones up in the village square? At the very least we know that the stones will play an important role in the final outcome. Each following paragraph contains subtle clues as to what is going to unfold. After all of the children have gathered the men begin to fill the square, follo...
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Submitted by: 123student
Date Submitted: 02-12-08 7:07am Category: Miscellaneous Words: 951 Pages: 3.8 |