Starting that the very beginning Jackson managed to make the …show more content…
Because it didn’t seem like the author was writing in symbolism until the very end, the contrast between the holiday atmosphere and cheerfulness and the cruel horror that was actually going on was such a dramatic shock that readers thought ‘that is horrific and gruesome’ and ‘this would never happen’. (Heilman) If anything were unrealistic about the story it is that no one is trying to leave. If this were really going on people would try to go to a different town or try and escape the day before the lottery. Everyone is too willing to sacrifice themselves or their family members to ‘secure better crops’. Even in Aztec days, they had to guard the victim’s day and night so they didn’t escape before the ritual. This makes the story seem more symbolic rather than realistic. (Friedman) In conclusion, the paradox of the lottery is that the readers wanted the story to be positive from the beginning so badly that they skipped over the many bits of irony and symbolism within the story. Jackson was so careful with her wording that she made endless ways to interpret the meaning of this story, whether the readers realized it or