Hit the Jackpot When It Comes to Setting Your Story's Mood
- Olivia
- Sep 18, 2015
- 3 min read
Sometimes when writing, its useful to look at another's writing style to understand how to best implement writing techniques. I think this is especially true when it comes to setting the mood and tone of your fiction. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is a perfect point of reference for effectively creating the right mood for a story.
When Shirley Jackson first published this short story, she received an unprecedented negative response in the form of hate mail and phone calls. Many readers even cancelled their subscriptions to The New Yorker. The audience was stunned by the inhumane violence in the otherwise tranquil setting. In your initial thread, please discuss:
The shift of the tone in “The Lottery” as well as the words or actions that represent this shift for you
Your emotional response to the story.
Your favorite character from the story.
The tone in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” shifts from peaceful and calm to cautious, and then finally horrific. This comes about in large part due to Jackson’s use of description and her word choices. Ron Rozelle explains that “often the prevailing mood doesn’t come from a character at all, but from the setting itself” (156). Description in the lottery establishes the mood and tone of the story, and it’s shifting nature.
At the beginning of the narrative, the author tells the reader what time of day it is and in what time of year the story takes place – it’s a morning on an early summer day. She lets us know that school has just dismissed for summer break. This serves to ground the reader in the typical day in the small town where the story takes place, making the reader comfortable about the surroundings as if there were nothing amiss in this town. Note how Jackson almost from the first sentence deliberately misleads us into thinking that this story is going to be something very different from what it actually is: “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day. The flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson n. pag.).
This creates a happy, cheery kind of tone and as we read on and discover that the villagers are gathering together, we expect the lottery to be some form of festival. Note too how the children, men and women engage in "normal" kinds of activities - the men swap jokes, the women engage in gossip, the children play with stones.
Everything seems idyllic in this small town. Yet, if the reader looks more closely they can discover the subtle hints through wordsmithing that there is something off about this quaint town. For example, the author points to key buildings around the town square, yet fails to describe a church or a courthouse, which are buildings common to most communities. Also, it’s a bit odd about their observance of holidays – the residents of this town does not celebrate Christmas or Easter, but do observe Halloween. This gives the reader a hint to the fact that there is something odd about to happen.
The shift is tone turns with the introduction of the black box. Its symbolism is sinister given the fact that the villagers keep their distance from the box. It is in this moment that the mood and tone shift. The villagers become uneasy and the mood changes from serene to ominous.
Shirley Jackson also uses names to convey mood and tone. For instance, Mr. Summers conducts the lottery, and summer is the time of year during which the narrative occurs. Mr. Summers is helped by Mr. Graves, who stores the black box for the lottery. His name foreshadows a sinister event.
The mood created by the residents at the end of the story is totally opposite to that of the beginning of the story. For example, the residents pelted Tessie Hutchison as she screamed. The mood created at the end of the story is of misfortune and pain which is the opposite of the mood or tone created at the story’s beginning.
In terms of an emotional response, I have read this story several times for a variety of reasons, but despite its horrific ending, I always find it pulling me in because of Ms. Jackson’s ability to subtly weave tone shifts in the description of the town through her word choices. I like the skewed tone because it creates an unexpected reaction. It’s the same reason I found Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn so interesting.
Works Cited:
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." PDF File. Web. 03 Jun 2015.
Rozelle, Ron. "Using Description and Setting to Drive the Story." Description & Setting: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Believable World of People, Places and Events. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest, 2005. 152-62. Print.
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