What if your winning lottery ticket led you to your death? In the short story "The lottery" by Shirley Jackson, friends and family stone the person who has the winning lottery ticket to death. Jackson uses foreshadowing, irony, and symbolism to develop her theory that people depend too much on paper to determine their lives.
             Foreshadowing is demonstrated by Jackson with the young boys collecting stones, "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones; the other boys soon followed"(1). The reader thinks the boys are playing a game, but they're really going to use the stones on Tesse Hutchinson, the lottery winner. Another example of foreshadowing is Tesse's reaction to winning the lottery: " 'Its not fair! Its not right' " (4)! This gives the reader a hint that the lottery isn't such a good thing because why would Tesse complain about winning. Jackson uses foreshadowing to prove her purpose that paper shouldn't determine your future.
             Irony is covered in "The Lottery" through out the story. Especially at the end when they kill Tesse: " ' it isn't right!', Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and they were upon her" (4). That is ironic because the reader doesn't expect the lottery prize to be death. Another example is Mrs. Delacroix choosing the largest stone to kill Tesse: " Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with two hands" (4). Mrs. Delacriox is Tesse's best friend and she picked the largest stone to throw at her and that is ironic. By Tesse picking a piece of paper which declares her the winner, changes the friends and families actions, and that helps prove Jackson's theory.
             Symbolism is illustrated with the black box that is used every year to hold the tickets in which people select from: " The black box grew shabbier each year; by now it was no longer completely black&qu...