Humans can make interpretations.
We don’t have to take everything literally; we can see below the surface of events, and we can “read between the lines.” Symbolism is one important tool authors use for conveying meaning “below the surface.” By being able to “read” symbols, the reader can understand the main themes or messages about life that the author is suggesting. Symbols can also clue us in about future events in the plot.
Although the ultimate ending of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” is a shocking surprise, a closer re-reading of the story shows that the author has foreshadowed the terrible outcome. [Thesis statement; the last sentence of the first paragraph – underlined. Be sure to put your keyword in your thesis statement.]After giving the reader lots of red herrings, or false hints that suggest a happy ending, Jackson finally gives us real, though very subtle, forshadowings of the eventual horror.
In hindsight, these examples of foreshadowings become clues, clues that we are meant to miss the first time, but are meant to gradually hint the true ending. For instance, we soon learn that the children’s sense of liberty “sat uneasily on most of them” (pgh. 2).Why uneasily? A few sentences later in the same paragraph, we see that Bobby Martin “had already stuffed his pockets full of stones.” The mention of stones is our first clear example of foreshadowing of the eventual stoning.
Also in the same paragraph, the reader notices the children playing “in the dust.” Dust is a clear foreshadowing of the dust of the grave. The grave is also mentioned in other ways later on in the story.Besides the mentioning of the stones and dust, Jackson provides foreshadowing in the names of some of the characters, beginning with Jackson’s odd focus on the name “Delacroix,” which the narrator goes to the trouble to tell us how to pronounce it.
[How might this name be an example of foreshadowing? Since Jackson takes some time to discuss its pronunciation, we can guess that the name is symbolic, which means it is an example of foreshadowing.]Some of the other names are more direct examples of foreshadowing. Perhaps the most obvious name is . . . [Here we can examine the symbolism (foreshadowing) of the various significant names that Jackson uses.
Give these as evidence in the rest of this paragraph.]The characters’ behavior around the black box can be foreshadowing of their fear of death. [In this paragraph, give evidence of foreshadowing by showing how people act around the black box—as examples of their uneasiness and repressed fear.]The black box is probably the most obvious hint or foreshadowing in the story. Notice how the box is described. It is clearly a symbol for .
. . . And even the papers that fall onto the ground, where the breeze caught them and lifted them off” is a good example of foreshadowing (60).
[Explore the symbolism of the black box and the papers that fly away as examples of foreshadowing.]But, perhaps, the strongest example of foreshadowing refers to the victim of the lottery, Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson. We are given a specific clue of Mrs. Hutchinson’s fate when she arrives and is the “latest” one of all (8).
[Look closely at every action and conversation that Tessie has for examples of foreshadowing about her fate. You want to make this paragraph as strong as you can since it is your final paragraph.
