There are several instances of foreshadowing within the story. Many of the apparently innocent details throughout “The Lottery” foreshadow the story’s violent conclusion. In the second paragraph, the reader comes across an unusual line that goes, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones.

” Children putting stones in their pockets and attempting to make mounds of stones in the middle of town square hints at a possible occurrence of a barbaric or violent event, in the near future. In the story, “the children came reluctantly, having to be called four or five times” which is odd as lotteries in real life create excitement, but in the story, no one is excited or jolly before the town’s lottery event. Moreover, every single villager is on time at the lottery event, everyone except Tessie that is. This sets her apart from the crowd foreshadowing that she might be the victim of a vicious act. The remark Mr.

Summers makes upon meeting Tessie, “Thought we were going to have to get on without you”, also foretells Tessie’s foreseeable, unfortunate fate. Additionally, the box that contains the names of the villagers is black. Black, in literature symbolizes death. Thus, if all the dots are connected from the very first clue to the very last one, one can see how all the foreshadowing points to something bad happening to Tessie only. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens at the end because Tessie is in fact the one who gets stoned to death.