What makes stories special is the ability to portray the meaning between the lines. Each author has his own characteristics and spirit that he incorporates into each of his pieces. These can include character gender, symbolism, plot structure, and irony. Shirley Jackson writes a tongue-in-cheek story about a small village that participates in an annual lottery. The village looks forward to this day and the spirits are always high. However, when the reader reaches the end of the story, he is shocked to discover that the lottery is a drawing for those in the village who are stoned to death. In The Lottery, Jackson surprises his readers by inserting an ironic twist at the end of his tale, filling the story with warm articulations and lighthearted characters, but ending with a sad, dark death. One of the first writing techniques used by Jackson is warming articulation. Jackson opens his story by talking about the clear, cool, warm summer day when “the flowers bloomed profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson n.d.). In other literature, words such as bloom, richness, and warmth are positive and are often used to describe happy content or feelings. In The Lottery Jackson uses these words to set the tone for a happy or pleasant summer afternoon. Jackson also sets the mood when he describes all the villagers gathered in the lottery square, the same square where they square danced, the teen club, and the Halloween program. It looks like it's going to be an exciting event where someone wins something really big based on the excitement and magnitude of this event. From the way Jackson describes the scene, it seems that the townspeople are a close-knit group of people who work together and play... middle of paper... it's hot, the children are After school, the men talk, women are talking and there is excitement in the air. Then there is a winner. The next thing the reader learns is that the lottery is basically a drawing for who will be next to fall victim to a gang murder. The ending is so unexpected that it leaves the reader wondering, “What the heck just happened!” Shirley Jackson's literary writing technique leaves the reader waiting for an extraordinary reward for the long-awaited lottery. However, due to the real lottery results, the story becomes ironic. The Lottery is an impressive work because of the outrageously ironic conclusion. Jackson uses warm articulation, lighthearted characters, and a sad, dark death to shock his readers. Because of Jackson's writing style, the reader never sees what will happen and is left speechless at the end.