Shirley Jackson was an author who used the elements of the short story to write. He adds a twist to his stories to draw the reader in. In his short story "The Lottery" Jackson uses irony, allegory, foreshadowing, and suspense to make this story interesting to the reader. One of the literary techniques used in “The Lottery” is irony. Irony is a contrast between two things. For example, the irony of this story is that normal people are capable of great brutality. A lottery is generally considered something good because it usually involves winning something of value such as money or prizes. In “The Lottery” it's not what you win but what you lose that matters. The point of view in this story is ironic to the outcome. Jackson used the third. We use irony when we respond to an unintelligent idea by saying "what a good idea!" Another example is when someone breaks something, we say "Oh great!" instead of getting angry about the situation. Irony is also used when people have a large object and call it small, and vice versa. To know if you use irony in life you have to be aware. It is difficult to identify its presence in everyday life, even if we find an example of allegory in political debates. Former US President George W. Bush's statement was allegorical when he used the term “Axis of Evil” for three countries and later the term “allies” for those countries that would wage war against the “Axis” (www. literarydevices. net). Foreshadowing may be one of the easiest to spot in everyday life. When it becomes cloudy outside we foresee the rain that is about to arrive. Even a gloomy face can tell us that someone is angry or about to give us bad news. We all know that when we foreshadow it is part of everyday life. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction. It can work whenever a suspended drama is perceived or a chain of causes is left in doubt, tension being a primary emotion felt as part of the situation.