Literature

The Lottery

In the short story "The Lottery," the author's tone is distant and ironic. The instant tone in this story is the way that the write says about the character because I can feel a space between the author and the characters. I also think that this story has ironic tone because in the beginning of the story, the people in this town seem very nice, however, they actually believe in doing such a very unpleasant ritual that could kill town members.

The tones of the story help the author's purposes by making the story unpredictable. For instance, the distant tone gives the readers very hard time to guess what the characters would do next. Then, the ironic tone surprises the readers by giving such a very unpredictable ending for the story.

Some of the items in the story have significance beyond their literal meaning. First, the old and new black box probably has negative meaning because of its black color. It possibly means that something in that box will bring bad luck to old and young villagers. Next, the slips of paper, in my opinion, refer to the sakes of people in town. Finally, the black spot on the paper refer to the unfortunate victim.

People's names also have significance. First of all, the name Summer would become very important when summer arrives. Next, the name Graves suggest that there would be death in this town. Finally, when you combine both names, you would get "death in summer," which refers to the two people who take care of the black box.