Week 5, Question 2

Week 5, Question 2
Consider the literary device foreshadowing. How does Jackson use foreshadowing to set up the climax and resolution in “The Lottery”?
The foreshadowing in “The Lottery” begins with the author, Shirley Jackson, initially describing June 27th as “...clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day: ...”(Jackson 837). She foreshadows the senseless events of the day by going into great detail about the box used in the lottery and the need for replacement, but the refusal of the town’s people due to not wanting to accept change. The weather which is initially seamless begins to change as the lottery gets underway which is evident by the statement, “Mr. Graves had selected the five slips and put them in the box, and he dropped all the papers but those onto the ground, where the breeze caught them and lifted them off” (Jackson 242). This is an example of foreshadowing of the dark events of the day that are about to take place. The resolution of the story is foreshadowed using the paragraph “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready: there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box. Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. “Come on.” She said. “Hurry up” (Jackson 843). At this point in the story the reader is given this paragraph to foreshadow the fact that the violence that is to come will not be prevented. Tessie Hutchinson had represented a voice of questioning in that society and the powers that be wanted her eliminated.