The Lottery (critical Analysis) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Lottery (critical Analysis) - Essay Example There is a great deal of irony in this story, situational irony, produced at the end of the story which leads to an unexpected turn of events. Throughout the story, Shirley continues to reinforce the quality and dimensions of relationships between the townsfolk, emphasizing how casual and well-acquainted everyone is with the dynamics of their family and personal lives. The author is setting the stage for the reader to make them believe that the final outcome of the lottery would be something insignificant, thus building dialogue that shows lack of concern about its meaning and a sort of indifference about the whole process which has apparently gone on for decades. The author uses foreshadowing in the story, especially early on when the children are gathering stones and piling them carefully, further guarding them in a protectionist method. Though it does not provide the type of symbolic cues necessary to determine what actually is involved with the lottery process, it does give subtle cues that the stones will somehow be involved in further dimensions of the story line. There is a great deal of symbolism used in the story, from well-detailed descriptions regarding the faded box, an object of scorn by some and seemingly unimportant to most. Though the box reinforces how long this lottery has been an active part of society, the disregard shown for the box attempts to make the reader believe that the lottery is something very minor in the town which explains its lack of upkeep over the years. Some of the dialogue between townsfolk also seems to indicate that they participate in the lottery as a form of obligation and through tradition, again fooling the reader to believe that the process will end with rather insignificant results. Using point of view from townspeople within their dialogue, the lottery is something with very minor consequences. â€Å"The most important quality of good fiction is the truth it tells – about humans and struggling