Previous
Dialect
Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Foreshadowing
Explanation and Analysis—Villagers’ Anxiety:
While Jackson gives very few hints of what the lottery process is leading to, she does foreshadow the fact that “winning” the lottery has a negative, rather than a positive, connotation. She primarily does this by noting how anxious the villagers are as they go up to choose their slips of paper, as seen in the following passage:
The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions: most of them were quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around. Then Mr. Summers raised one hand high and said, "Adams." A man disengaged himself from the crowd and came forward. "Hi, Steve," Mr. Summers said, and Mr. Adams said, "Hi, Joe." They grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously.
Here Jackson describes how these people who are so familiar with the lottery that they “only half listen to the directions” are “quiet,” “wetting their lips,” and “not looking around.” This signals that the community members who know the ritual well are anxious about what will happen, but not in a positive way (which might lead to them laughing, looking around at each other, or otherwise expressing excitement). It is notable, too, that when Mr. Adams walks up to take his slip of paper, he and Mr. Summers (who is leading the proceedings) “grin at one another humorlessly and nervously.” Again, Jackson makes it clear to readers that this tradition is centered on something anxiety-provoking rather than exciting.
The fact that the entire community is still participating, despite being “quiet,” “nervous,” and “humorless”—and despite knowing that all of this is leading to the murder of an innocent person—communicates the power (and terror) of the tradition.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Collecting Stones:
Near the beginning of the story, the narrator describes children collecting stones, foreshadowing the fact that someone will be stoned as part of the lottery ritual. The following passage captures this moment of foreshadowing:
Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix […] eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys.
Here the narrator describes one child “stuff[ing] his pockets full of stones” and other boys joining him, such that they create “a great pile of stones in one corner of the square” that they end up guarding. The fact that the children specifically select “the smoothest and roundest” stones foreshadows the fact that these stones are being selected for a specific purpose, though most readers likely would not imagine they would be used to kill a member of the community.
This passage is significant in that it communicates how normalized the lottery has become—children select rocks and guard them from others as if this were a game. (Most likely, readers do assume at this point that the boys are collecting rocks for a game.) This sort of juxtaposition of playfulness and cruelty adds to the horror of the story.
Related Themes:
