Foreshadows and Suspense the Lottery

some of the seemingly innocuous details throughout The Lottery foreshadow the hot conclusion. In the second paragraph, children put stones in their pockets and make piles of stones in the town square, which seems like innocent play until the stones true purpose becomes crystallize at the end of the story. Tessies late arrival at the swaning off instantly sets her apart from the crowd, and the observation Mr. Summers makesThought we were going to have to demoralize on without youis eerily prescient virtually Tessies fate. When Mr. Summers asks whether the Watson boy exit draw for him and his mother, no reason is given for why Mr.Watson wouldnt draw as all the other husbands and fathers do, which suggests that Mr. Watson may have been last categorys victim. capital of Mississippi builds suspense in The Lottery by unrelentingly withholding explanation and does not reveal the true nature of the draft until the first stone hits Tessies head. We learn a lot about the lottery, in cluding the elements of the tradition that have survived or been lost. We learn how important the lottery is to the villagers, oddly Old Man Warner. We go through the entire ritual, hearing call and watching the men approach the box to select their papers.But Jackson never tells us what the lottery is about, or mentions any kind of prize or purpose. She begins to reveal that something is awry when the lottery begins and the crowd grows nervous, and she intensifies the feeling when Tessie hysterically protests circulars winning selection. And she gives a slight clue when she says that the villagers still remembered to hold stones. But not until the moment when a rock actually hits Tessie does Jackson show her hand completely. By withholding information until the last thinkable second, she builds the storys suspense and creates a shocking, powerful conclusion.