Importance of Setting in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery :: Shirley Jackson Lottery Essays

Importance of Setting in Shirley capital of Mississippis The Lottery The setting in the beginning of The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, creates a mood of peacefulness and tranquillity. The image portrayed by the author is that of a typical town on a normal spend day. Shirley Jackson uses this setting to foreshadow an ironic expiration. First, Jackson begins by establishing the setting. She tells the reader what time of day and what time of year the story takes place. This is important to get the reader to focusing on what a typical day it is in this small town. The time of day is set in the morning and the time of year is early summer. She too describes that school has just recently let out for summer break, letting the reader infer that the time of year is early summer. The setting of the town is depict by the author as that of any normal rural community. Furthermore, she describes the grass as richly green and that the flowers were blooming profusely (196). These description s of the surroundings give the reader a serene felling about the town. Also, these descriptions make the reader feel comfortable about the surroundings as if there was nothing wrong in this superannuated town. Upon reading the first paragraph, Shirley Jackson describes the town in general. The town is first mentioned in the opening paragraph where she sets the location in the town square. She puts in panorama the location of the square between the post office and the bank (196). This visualizes for the reader what a small town this is, since everything seems to be centralized at or almost the town square. This is also key in that the town square is the location for the remaining part of the story. The town square is an important location for the setting since the ending of the story will be set in this location.Also, Shirley Jackson creates a comfortable atmosphere while describing the residents of the town. First, she describes the children gathering together and breaking into b oisterous represent(196). Also, the children are described as gathering rocks, which is an action of many normal children. She described the men as gathering together and talking about position and rain, tractors and taxes(196). Finally, she describes the women of this community as exchanging bits of gossip(196) which is a common stereotype of women. She creates a mood for the reader of the town and residents of this town on a normal summer morning.