Literary Techniques Used In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

In the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, the author uses literary technique to create meaning. The story is set in a fictional society where people are entered into a village lottery and the chosen victims get murdered by stone throwing. The blindness in this society allows the tradition to continue, as everyone is afraid to challenge the law. Throughout the story, Jackson uses literary techniques like symbolism and foreshadowing to convey the theme. She also uses irony and other methods to depthen the meaning of the story. Shirley Jackson used literary technique to create meaning by using foreshadowing to hint at violence that occurs later in the story and symbolism to develop significance in the passage.

Towards the beginning of

the story, Jackson uses the black box and stones as forms of symbolism. The black box into which the slips of paper are inserted is symbolic of the fate and of the bizarre traditions the village follows. Though the black box is worn and shabby, the townspeople do not want to replace it. In the story it stated “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” (Jackson 140). The black box represents the villager’s stubborn clinging to traditions that do not make sense and that are, in fact, brutal. Another form of symbolism is the stones that symbolize the hate that townspeople direct towards each other. For example, Jackson writes on page 146, “Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands.” The stones that the people hurl at the victim are large, suggesting that the townspeople are filled with animosity. The symbolism used in The Lottery created meaning with underlying details throughout the story. The symbols like the black box or the stones gave significance to the passage and furthered the thought of blindness in this fictional society and the negative effects of traditionalism.
Further on in the story, Jackson uses foreshadowing to hint at what happens later in the story. The boys from the beginning of the novel are said to be filling their pockets with stones. Jackson also stated that the boys made piles of these stones and protected them from the other childrens ‘raids’, as if this were some sort of game. Jackson wrote “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones...” adding on later “eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys.” The stones that the boys were collecting were to throw at the lottery victim, foreshadowing the climax where the villagers use these stones to kill Tessie. The foreshadowing used in the story created meaning by giving subtle hints as to what may happen later on in the passage. The foreshadowing used showed how the villagers (and even their children) have suppressed anger and disregard about the need for change in the traditions already established.
In conclusion, the literary devices used throughout the story creates meaning. Shirley Jackson used literary technique to create meaning by using symbolism to develop significance in the passage and foreshadowing to hint at violence that occurs later in the story. By using literary devices like foreshadowing and symbolism, Jackson gave significance to this story and conveyed a theme of negative traditionalism and. From beginning to end, the literary devices used in the story add more meaning, depth, and understanding to the themes being conveyed.