Foreshadowing of Death in "The Lottery"
             In Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery," there is a significant amount of emphasis put on death of the culture and society's destiny. In the story, a village conducts an annual lottery. While the reader has no idea exactly what the winner of the lottery receives, he does know that it will not be good. At the climax of the story, one reads that Mrs. Hutchinson, the winner of the lottery, is stoned to death. The foreshadowing of her death throughout the story exemplifies the fact that without changing ideas and ideals, society is destined to die by its own rules. This forewarning transpires three distinct times in "The Lottery." It occurs when in the first line of the story, when the village boys are gathering rocks, and when the men of the village are acting strange (Joyce 74, 76, 77).
             In the first line of the story one reads, "The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blooming profusely and the grass was richly green" (74). Jackson uses this imagery to show how the setting for the story is obscure. She uses the word profusely to describe the blooming flowers. Usually when one thinks of "profusely" they think of blood bleeding profusely. The flowers she talks about have a certain hue, and this bright color is showing in overabundance. Also, Jackson tells the reader "the grass is richly green" (74). This along with the profusely blooming flowers shows that something related to death has
             happened in the village's past. Jackson is showing that death has occurred and that the grass will soon be rich with the blood of another lottery winner. She is furthermore telling the reader this society is not changing its ideas and ideals, and therefore must continue the eternal process of dying and coming from death back to normal
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