Things Aren't Always As They Seem

Authors Note: The purpose of this piece is to explain a theme of the story The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson.

What would you do if you lived in a town where the lottery was not about money? The short story “The Lottery” is a story about how things are not always what they seem to be. For example, when thinking of a lottery, death does not come to mind but a grand prize like a new car or lots of money. In this short story the author, Shirley Jackson, uses irony to support the theme of things not always turning out to be what they first seem to be.

When reading the title, “The lottery” the thought of lots of money or a really grand prize comes to mind. After reading the story, the lottery really turns out to be a game of death and not luxury. This irony supports the theme since the lottery really did not turn out to be so grand as the readers expected it to be but one of the worst nightmares of the village residents.

All of the villagers are really scared of because they no it is not for money,it is for their lives.Another bit of irony in the story is that no resident of the little village wants to win the lottery. It could be inferred that no villager wants to win the lottery when said “‘you didn’t give him time enough to take any paper that he wanted. I saw you. It isn’t fair’” In these sentences, Tessie is saying that it wasn’t fair that they got the paper with the black spot on it indicating that they are the winners of the lottery. This is ironic that the townspeople don’t want to win a game that we would think of as grand prizes. This helps to support the theme since winning the lottery usually means winning grand prizes, but in this lottery, winning the lottery means losing your life.

Seeing that it means losing your life none of them want to win. In this short story, The Lottery, we learn that things are not always what they seem to be. For example when a lottery comes to mind, a grand prize is what is usually in store for the winner, but in this lottery, the winner wins the privilege to lose his or her life. Shirley Jackson uses irony to support the theme of things not always turning out to be what they first seem to be.