Shirley Jackson depicts a special day, June 27, in the lives of the inhabitants of a small, apparently serene village. The use of foreshadowing is applied extensively to hint to the reader that despite the seemingly festive occasion, there is something morbid about the lottery that causes the people of the town to be uneasy. Jackson foreshadows the ironic conclusion with specific examples and both ominous and tense diction.
The earliest indication of the peculiarity of the day’s lottery is the little boys had “already stuffed [their] pockets full of stones” (422).
One knows that a lottery in modern societies definitely does not involve rocks, so the idea that the town’s lottery is much different than the ones known in today’s world is introduced. The fact that the men who begin to gather for the lottery stand “away from the pile of stones” shows that the stones are not a jovial part of the day’s events (422).
These examples give the reader the idea that there is something important, yet shady about the pile of rocks. And although the men told jokes, “they smiled rather than laughed” (422).
If the lottery was a carefree event, the men would have had no problem with laughing. The description of the actions of the group of men creates the impression that the lottery is a serious event which is not about laughing matters.
During the lottery, after most of the men had chosen and drawn their scrap of paper, they sat “turning them over and over nervously” (425).
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... the north village was talking about giving up the lottery, Old Man Warner snorted, "Pack of crazy fools. Listening to young ... all they knew was that it was just an event that happened every year. After all, villages, tribes, or ... sheet of paper, gets stoned to death. The villagers believe that if they have a lottery before cropping season they ... In the days of Jesus through the mid 1900's, people had ...
If the lottery was being conducted to give out some sort of reward or prize, they would have seemed eager, not nervous. Jackson also describes the way Mr. Summers and Mr. Adams grin at each other as “nervously” (425).
The repetition of the word nervous reinforces that the lottery is not one of fun and games. In addition, Mrs. Dunbar’s anticipation for Mr. Summers to “hurry” shows that the lottery is not the type of occasion the people enjoy participating in and would rather get over with quickly (425).
Therefore it is obvious that the lottery would not have a pleasant outcome. Instead, the lottery must have some sort of negative outcome that is serious
enough to make the entire town nervous.
The most significant sign of the abnormal nature of the lottery is the introduction of the “black box” (422).
In most people’s minds the color black is associated with death. When it is revealed that there are scraps of paper in the box, the reader is also exposed to what the box is used for: to hold the papers which the villagers will draw. In essence, the connotation of the color black creates the impression that when the villagers draw from the box, they are drawing for a chance at death. This example foreshadows exactly what will happen when the story concludes. Next Jackson describes the lottery as being a “ritual” that once involved a “chant” (423).
The connotation of these words also supports the idea that the lottery revolves around death. When one thinks of a ritual, pictures of Ancient Aztec or Mayan sacrifices come to mind. And when one thinks of chanting, images of hooded figures preparing someone for a sacrifice surface. So through the use of ominous nouns and adjectives, Jackson is explicitly stating what is going to happen as a result of the lottery; a human sacrifice is going to take place.
Although as the story progresses there is more and more of a feeling of doom, the reader does not become acutely aware of what takes place after the lottery until Mrs. Hutchinson cowers in a corner with the mob approaching her. If one analyzes the color of the box and its purpose, it is possible to predict the outcome of the lottery, but otherwise all other methods of foreshadowing provide the reader with a strong feeling that something disturbing is going to occur.
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