Use Of Irony In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The word is full of hatred and anger, but hope and happiness always save the day. For example, take Superman. The machine that the Kryptonians made is tearing apart the world, and Superman comes in as a beacon of hope to save it. What if Superman never came? What if happiness and hope didn’t save the day? “The Lottery” is placed in a small village. There are parents and children gathered for the drawing of the lottery, and a winner is chosen. The winner receives their “prize”, and the village goes on with their life. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” uses many crafts - like word choice, irony, and symbolism - but they all achieve the same goal: creating a dark mood in the short story.

“The Lottery” uses multiple author’s crafts. One of them

is word choice, which helps to create a solemn mood. “The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago…” (Jackson,1). This word along with others - perfunctory, interminably, and gravely - all can be seen with a negative connotation. Take paraphernalia, for example. The word paraphernalia means “an object used for a certain task”. Although this may not seem threatening, this word is normally associated with darker objects, like a dagger only used for killing, or in this case, a box that holds death. The word gravely, as used in “..., greeted Mr.Summers gravely and selected a slip of paper from the box.” Lotteries are normally activities where you go and win prizes, like money. But, the people in this story are acting like they are going to die. This creates dark suspicion in “The Lottery.” Another is perfunctory, “... there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory.”( Jackson, 2). Perfunctory is when someone does something without thinking. The unacceptable thing is that all the actions in this story are performed almost without thought, like it’s part of a normal routine. The residents of this town are murders and they don’t even realize it. The words mentioned particularly create suspicion and add to the somber mood.
Irony is used to build surprise, and can sometimes be funny.

But, “The Lottery” uses it in a different way. Irony is used to build a solemn mood because when you find the irony in the story, it shows just how dark “The Lottery” is. The first irony is the name “The Lottery” itself. When you hear the word lottery, you think of money beyond your wildest dreams. So, when the author uses the name “The Lottery”, and then has people gamble for their lives, the story is given a dark realization. Another is when Tessie stands up for what she believes. Usually this is encouraged, and they go on to make speeches and become amazing historical figures. So, when Tessie “wins” the lottery and is stoned to death, it creates irony. “The lottery was conducted… by Mr.Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities.”(Jackson, 1). Summer is supposed to be a happy time, so Mr. Summers shouldn’t be the one to conduct the death-gamble. In fact, he shouldn’t be conducting any other activities if he’s heinous enough to operate the lottery. These examples of irony only add the the continuously growing shroud of death and despair encompassing “The

Lottery.”
The final craft that creates bleakness in “The Lottery” is symbolism.

Symbolism can be used in any story, and usually tell us the story’s “secrets”. The main symbols in “The Lottery” are the black box, the slips of paper,the stones, and the color black itself.. The black box is the vessel that holds and distributes the slips of paper, which represent choice, death, and fairness. Although fairness and choice aren’t as bad, the color black distinguishes them. The color black represents power, fear, mystery, evil, and aggression. After the slips of paper are chosen, which represent choice, mystery, and chance, the stones are used. “... had already stuffed his pockets full of stones,... followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones;...” (Jackson, 1). “ …, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier were ready;.... A stone hit her on the side of the head.” (Jackson, 7). The stones represent greed, hatred, vanity, death, and so on and so forth. All these form together to create a mass of sins that further add to the tenebrous

mood.
Someone might argue that the use of symbolism, word choice, and irony give the story a defiant tone. Although this is a valid claim, it fails to account for the fact that the only defiant person in the entire story is Tessie, and she gets stoned to death. “The pile of stones the boys had made earlier were ready;.... A stone hit her on the side of the head…. and then they were upon her.” (Jackson, 7). The main craft that suggests that “The Lottery’s” tone is defiant is the word choice. Since words can be interpreted in many different ways, there’s a bit of contrast based on what you believe. But, defiance is not portrayed through the other crafts that are used in the story. For example the irony in the story, such Mr.Graves, who puts the black dot on the paper, is in dark humor. Another is symbolism, stones are used to kill people, and represent sin, anger, and hatred. So, if you take into account the other crafts, and take their mood with words as well, then you have “The Lottery’s” real colors.
“The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson creates a somber mood by using the craft moves symbolism, irony, and word choice. Defiant as she was, Tessie was sacrificed, which proves that there is darkness in the world. Although this story isn’t real life, it could become reality easily. Take the holocaust for example. Hitler mercilessly murdered Jews, and only because it was what he believed in. Although belief is strong, that doesn’t make his actions any better. Humanity is plagued with darkness that can only be vanquished by hope and goodness. Does humanity have enough light to counteract the dark?