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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
In seven pages this paper analyzes how the author employs the literary device of irony throughout her 1948 short story. Eight sources are cited in the bibliography.
Page Count:
7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGlottery.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
work are in sharp contrast to the authors meaning. Irony is an effective means by which an author can lull a reader into a false sense of security and
then deliver a shocking finale that is completely unexpected. This is what is meant by situational irony, which is when a reader has a preconceived expectation of what is
to come, when in fact the outcome of the situation is the complete opposite. There is perhaps no author with a greater understanding of the power of irony than
Shirley Jackson. Her short story, The Lottery, still packs a considerable descriptive punch more than a half-century after its publication. It begins innocuously, but concludes in a manner
so chilling, that even an awareness of the outcome does not soften the blow. In this story, irony is apparent from beginning to end and everywhere in between to
convey the authors message of social hypocrisy and disdain for a democratic Christian society that does not practice the equality, compassion, and progressiveness it preaches. Ironies are evident in
the setting and atmosphere, in the symbolism closely associated with the ancient social and religious ritual of human sacrifice, in the authors careful selection of names and how they reflect
the personalities of the characters, and in the hypocritical nature of the characters expressed by their own observations and actions. The author painstakingly increases the storys irony particularly effectively in
her uses of "setting and atmosphere" (Shields 411). Jackson opens the story with a warm atmospheric description of what appears to be a happy town gathering: "The morning
of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the
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