Narrative Elements In The Lottery

When you win the lottery, it is supposed to be a good thing. Imagine a place where winning the lottery is not. Well, in the story “The Lottery” winning means getting stoned to death by friends and family. This leads to the theme of “The Lottery” which is that things are not always as they seem. Some of the narrative elements that give to this theme are setting, tone, and symbolism. One of the largest contributors to the theme of “The Lottery” is setting. The setting of the story contributes to the story’s theme. In “The Lottery” the story starts with a clear, sunny, and nice summer day. This sets the story up to seem nice and peaceful when it turns out that the townsfolk are going to kill one of their own. Another example of how the setting effects and shows the theme of the story is that the lottery is taking place on June 20th during the summer. The summer is usually associated with fun. This helps show that the story seemed fun and nice, but was not. The setting of “The Lottery” set up the story to seem one way when it was another. The tone of the story is mellow, and this helps to contribute to the story’s theme. “Soon the men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes.” This quote from “The Lottery” shows that the men were acting as they would on a normal day and not a day …show more content…
One example is when Old Man Warner said, “seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery.” This makes him seem unlucky because he has been in the lottery 77 times and never won, but it is lucky because it means he has escaped death 77 times. Also, the dot on the lottery slip normally symbolizes winning and good things, but in “The Lottery” the dot symbolizes death. This shows that even though that is what it always looks like or seems like that’s not what is happening. Symbolism is a large contributor to the theme of the