Tradition is a practice carried on for many generations. The meaning on the other hand, is altered to every person's own perspective. Christmas is traditionally a religious holiday where people gather to celebrate and acknowledge the birth of Christ. However, in modern society most people celebrate Christmas solely for the exchange of presents; the true meaning of Christmas is disappearing in people's minds. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" focuses on tradition, exposing to the reader that the meaning of many traditions nowadays may have been lost. "The Lottery" is filled with irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing. Through these techniques, Jackson reveals the true intentions of the story.
Jackson sets "The Lottery" in a small village where it is "clear and sunny." Immediately, the reader has been set up for a surprise. The "warmth of a full-summer day" is ironically going to end in someone's brutal death. Irony is used so that Jackson can better impact the reader to express the true meaning of the story. Jackson's attempts start even at the title, "The Lottery." The title along with an appealing opening immediately leads the reader in believing a wonderful and pleasant story when to their surprise a horrific death occurs. The story is filled with irony. It is unbelievable that "the meaning of June 27th" is Old Man Warner's ""Seventy-seventh year"" being in the lottery; it is incredible because he has seen what is to happen seventy-six times, yet he still wants the tradition to continue. It is also ironic that he has never won the lottery for over seventy-six years. Along with irony, Jackson foreshadows the future events when "Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones." The reader when reading this the first time may think that Bobby is just playing with stones. These foreshadowing techniques provide the reader with hints of what is to come. Although at first these hints seem irrelevant, they become obvious at the end.