The Lottery Of Irony

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Recommended: Essays on irony in short stories

Have you ever read the story of a princess kissing a frog, having it turn into a prince? Well, what if it didn’t become a prince, but she turned into a frog herself! This is called irony, something we would not expect to happen. In the story of the princess we would not expect that to happen. In the story “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, we see this situation in another form. She uses irony to bring out the point in her story. “The Lottery,” offers an “ironic twist of fate” that causes wonder and makes one sympathize with the characters.

There have been many situations on our own lives in which we are totally surprised in the outcome of a situation. In this case Jackson emphasized the irony as her main goal. She declares, “to shock the story’s readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives.” This shows that she wanted to use the element of irony to bring out the meaning of her story. Jackson used irony in many different ways such as Tessie being the last one to arrive and the first

one to leave…(in a way). Also one would think of the lottery as being something to win and inherit goods or valuables from, however, winning the lottery means losing your life.

Another part of the story that came off surprising was how her husband gave her up so easily. Instead of feeling bad for his wife, Mr. Hutchinson quickly admitt...

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