Foreshadowing is the technique an author uses to create suspense and hint at events that will occur later in the story. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” foreshadowing is used from the beginning of the text.
In paragraph 2, the narrator says one boy “had already stuffed his pockets full of stones,” and he and some others had made a “great pile of stones in one corner of the square,” which they now guard. This is the reader’s first introduction to the stones that will later be used in the ritualistic killing of Tessie Hutchinson. The fact that the stones are piled neatly suggests they will serve a special purpose, but the reader doesn’t yet know what that is.
In paragraph 3, the narrator describes the behavior of the adults, whose “jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.” This indicates that the adults are uneasy at this public gathering, which suggests that they are only making jokes to break the tension. While they may be engaging in small talk, their minds are elsewhere. When Bobby Martin doesn’t come immediately to his family’s side, his father speaks “sharply.” This shows that the occasion is serious, and the adults don’t want their children playing around during such a time. This obviously foreshadows the real purpose of the lottery, since the reader might initially expect the lottery to be something positive.
When the reader discovers that the selected actually loses his or her life, it defies common expectations. However, Jackson’s masterful use of foreshadowing subtly underscores the nefarious purpose of the lottery from the very first paragraphs.
In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson makes use of foreshadowing to create a twist ending that is well known among students and writers of short stories.
The most obvious example in paragraphs two and three is the following, in paragraph two: "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—the villagers pronounced this name "Dellacroy"—eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys." Upon a first reading, this might seem like innocent play and competition among young boys, especially as the day seems so beautiful and good, but it becomes alarmingly clear later that they are gathering these rocks in order to stone a resident of the village. This foreshadowing not only hints at what will happen later but also contributes to the story's message that this lottery is very normal to the villagers, and the normalcy of the event should be alarming and scary to readers. Something that seems totally normal to readers at first then becomes something horrifying.
Other examples of foreshadowing are more subtle, but still contribute to the foreboding and even hostile tone of the story.
In paragraph three, Jackson writes, "Soon the men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes. They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed." We know from the very beginning that it is a "clear and sunny," beautiful summer morning, and the children are playing. The men also seem to be talking about very normal things. It seems out of place, then, that the men are so quiet and reluctant to laugh. This lets readers know that they are anticipating an event that makes them nervous, subdued, or unwilling to have too much fun. By pointing this out along with the indicators that is a beautiful, relatively normal day, Jackson is still setting up the horrifyingly normal nature of the lottery to these villagers and preparing the reader so the twist ending is not unbelievable or too much of a surprise.
Another example from paragraph three reads, "Bobby Martin ducked under his mother's grasping hand and ran, laughing, back to the pile of stones. His father spoke up sharply, and Bobby came quickly and took his place between his father and his oldest brother." Again, this reads as potentially normal family interactions, but it also indicates a sense of uneasiness in the characters, letting us know they are unsure exactly how the events awaiting them are going to unfold. It also again points out the stones, indicating their importance to the narrative.
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