"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a story about people who simply follow along without questioning, like sheep to a slaughter. The story is very ironic, and instances of foreshadowing are present throughout the story.
Irony is an unexpected twist in the story. Irony is often achieved by letting the reader feel comfortable before shocking the reader. At the beginning of the story the writer paints a pretty picture by describing the day as being "clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green." This is where she makes the reader feel comfortable, before the shocking part of the story. The dramatic irony is how Mrs. Hutchinson is late to the lottery, and she then says" "Clean forgot what day it was." Then unexpectedly her family gets the paper with the black dot, and Mrs. Hutchinson get the second paper with the dot; which means she will be stoned to death. Makes the reader think, "if only she had stayed home." Her forgetting what day it was shows how she did not expect what was coming to her. Another example of irony in the story is when the author stated " The children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles." It's shocking, because this is her own child, and they expect him to participate in the killing of his mother too. It shows how they didn't even stop to think about this mindless tradition.
When an author foreshadows something this means they"re giving clues to the climax of the story. The first instance of foreshadowing is when it says" "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones." This makes the reader think "what is he doing collecting stones? And why are the other boys doing the same thing? The writer emphasized on how there was plenty of stones around. The passage where it says" "They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet, and they smiled rather than laughed.