Blog #5

Both of these stories use suspense to build to somewhat bizarre climaxes. Looking at one of the stories, discuss how the ending was foreshadowed by the text, and what sort of lesson the author is hoping for the reader to gain.

Part 1)
I think "The Lottery" is an interesting short story. It is very well written, but the end is really depressing! Was this a real ritual? Because if it was, that's really disturbing! The ending is just really bizarre. It's bad enough that she is picked to be stoned, but then it's terrible that the one's who stoned her are her own townspeople, including her youngest son!!!! Looking back at the story was unsettling, because everything that seemed normal, like children gathering stones, was really twisted into something horrifying.

Part 2)
"The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson, begins by painting a picture of sunny day in a small and pleasant village. The people in the village seem very close and friendly towards each other. The children play together while the parents talk and joke. The main excitement in the village is the lottery that will be conducted later in the day. Everything that has to do with this lottery seems to be a happy and fun excitement. However, at this point, the reader is unaware of exactly what kind of lottery it is. The fact that the lottery is described as a "ritual", foreshadows that this is not the typical lottery. Also, the reader begins to question why the specifics of the lottery are so vague. After the lottery begins, the actions of the characters foreshadow that something is amiss. The narrator describes the crowd as, "quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around." There is an excitement about this lottery, but it is a nervous and fearful excitement. The reader gets a further clue to the negative nature of the lottery when the winning family is not excited. The wife, Mrs. Hutchinson, objects, saying, "It wasn't fair!". This foreshadows that winning the lottery is not a good thing, but the reader is still unsure as to why. When the village runs out to get the pile of stones, the reader finally learns the consequence of the lottery. Although there were many clues to the ending, they were subtle, resulting in a shocking and bizarre ending. The author wants a shocked reaction in the reader to show that everything is not always as it seems. People need to look hard at the situation to predict the ending. What appeared to be a fun town event turned out to be the opposite.