In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, irony is an underlying theme used throughout the story. Shirley Jackson engages residents in preparing to follow a long-standing traditional lottery process. However, this turns out to be a different type of lottery as the winner receives a different form of gift. This is unknown to the reader of the story until the story is almost over. The residents gather at 10 am in the square located between the bank and the post office awaiting the arrival of Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves who conducts the lottery. These residents are very determined to carry out the lottery despite the fact that the reasons for the lottery tradition are fading away and thus losing their importance and meaning. Shirley at the beginning of the story creates a peaceful atmosphere of a representative city on a normal day in an atypical city. This setting serves as a good omen for the ironic ending. Irony is a primary theme applied in Shirley Jackson's lottery story. The first element of irony is present in the first paragraph of the introduction; the setting is presented as a "clear and sunny day" while the day ends with the death of a housewife which occurs with a brutal stoning. The whole concept of lottery in layman's language involves winning money or prizes, as a result, the reader is forced to be in a situation where he expects that at the end of the day a resident will take home a prize. but in reality they will be stoned by the rest of the residents. It is very ironic that despite the severity of the lottery results, residents do not make a big deal out of it. Additionally, most lottery traditions such as recitals and...... middle of paper......are aware of the fact that their mother is about to be executed. In conclusion, Shirley Jackson creates the atmosphere of a typical town through the setting of the story. By applying the finer details he is able to foreshadow the ironic ending using the setting of the story. For example, he set the story on a normal summer day in a typical town. Secondly, it describes the children and the whole town in a normal way. Third, there is no presence of religion or authority in the story. These aspects should help the reader understand the strangeness of the setting. The ending is ironic from the start as every resident in this city commits an illegal act by stoning an innocent human being. Works Cited Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. Literature: structure, sound and meaning. Ed. Laurence Perrine. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 2004. 40-47.