The Deadly Lottery

The Deadly Lottery

“The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson. Every year this village has a lottery on June 27th. The only problem is that the winner gets stoned to death. Also, to much surprise everyone comes to participate with no questions why they are even still having such a thing. “The Lottery” can be analyzed by examining the elements of irony, symbolism, point of view, and theme.
Several things in this story are ironic. First, the title itself is ironic. Usually when someone thinks of a lottery they think about money or other good prizes, not dying. Another ironic thing is that the village was in a great season. The day is described as “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming provusely and the grass was richly green.” By that statement we can infer that the village was having a prosprous year. Usually when times are tough people seem to get mad and then maybe someone ...