"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a tale of disturbing evilness.

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"The Lottery"

The short story ,"The Lottery", written by Shirley Jackson is a tale of disturbing evilness. The setting is a small village consisting of about 300 residents that gather every year for 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 in which it takes place. From start to finish there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the author's in depth use of foreshadowing .

The first hint that something strange is happening is in the second paragraph . After Jackson describes the summer morning, she alternates 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.

He eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys" (page 222). The first question that must be asked is why are the boys piling stones up in the village square? At the very least you know that the stones will play an important role in the concluding tale.

One particular line on page 224 gives the reader direction in realizing the lottery payoff. Jackson describes Mrs. Hutchinson's entrance saying, "She tapped Mrs. Delacroix on the arm as a farewell and began to make her way through the crowd." The word "farewell" is used as

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foreshadowing to the climax of the story. Normally when a person enters a crowd of people they are greeted, but not Mrs. Hutchinson for she is obviously leaving.

The stones that...