second time around.

The fact that the men are uneasy and stand away from the stones is also foreshadowing.

Soon the men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes. They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.

The men are just chatting, but they are talking in that way that people talk when they are trying to avoid talking about something serious. They also do not acknowledge the boys or the stones. This will tell an astute reader that something is up regarding the stones, and that something is about to happen that makes the men uncomfortable.

Taken together, the incident of the boys collecting stones and the men not standing by them and awkwardly talking means the boys are not just collecting stones for fun. This is no innocent childhood pastime. Something is going to happen, and it isn’t something good.

In the third paragraph, the narrator includes the detail that the group of men begins to gather "away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed." It does not seem like a really important detail, that they gather away from the stones the kids have piled up, but if you consider the idea that they are purposely keeping their distance from the stones, then it begins to seem like foreshadowing. And given what the stones will shortly be used for, it is no wonder that people don't particularly want to be near them. They are a reminder of the gruesome spectacle to come. Further, the fact that their jokes are quiet and they are not laughing also foreshadows the future by giving us clues to their moods. It may be a bright, sunny day, but their moods are not sunny. They seem to talk and joke out of some sense of obligation, perhaps, rather than because they actually feel like it.

In addition, once the women arrive, they go to stand with their husbands and begin to call their children over to them. One little boy "ducked under his mother's grasping hand and ran, laughing, back to the pile of stones." The fact that the stones continue to come up, again and again, in reference to various individuals and groups of people foreshadows their importance later on.

In the second paragraph, we see that one child has "stuffed his pockets full of stones," and that other children are copying him and doing the same thing. This is a very direct example of foreshadowing: we see characters taking a certain action that doesn't immediately make sense. But it makes sense later when we see that they use the stones to kill the person chosen in the lottery.

Of course, the more interesting bit of foreshadowing in the second paragraph is that the children blindly copy the behavior of Bobby, the first child who starts to gather stones. Why are these kids just doing this behavior because the other kid is doing it? Doesn't that seem like a thoughtless, mindless thing to do? What else would they do if another child did it, or if an adult just told them to do it? This little bit of foreshadowing is more subtle. We might get the impression that the kids' copying behavior speaks to their whole society's willingness to blindly obey what they're told to do, even if it's irrational. And of course at the end of the story, that's exactly what happens.

In the third paragraph, we see how the adults behave: they stand around quietly, talking among themselves, and the women wear "faded" clothes. When we have a story as short as this one, we take every word as a potential bit of foreshadowing, so we might be looking too closely and interpreting things too much--but, by wearing "faded" clothing, these adults may be indicating that they cling too long to things, whether that's clothes that are worn out or traditions that are barbaric and should be abolished.

Although it's excellent advice to pay attention to how weather is described when you're on the lookout for foreshadowing, we don't see any of that here in the second or third paragraph. We're given a description of the warm, sunny weather in the first paragraph, which is not so much a foreshadowing of the story's dark ending as it is a contrast to it.

That the lottery is not an event of jubilance and excitement is ironically suggested by the date:  June 27 is a sunny, pleasant day in which things appear tranquil and peaceful set against the brutality of what will happen.  This date is also near the summer solstice, a time when many ancient people had their prehistoric rituals. That the lottery is such a old ritual is suggested in the first paragraph of Shirley Jackson's story:

...the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.The children talk and act normally as they break into "boisterous play," but, oddly, they fill their pockets with stones from a large pile; Bobby Martin select the "smoothest and roundest stones" as though he has practiced doing something with these stones before.

In a case of dramatic irony, when Bobby is called by his mother to stand with his family, he has to be called four or five times because he wants to run, "laughing," back to the pile of stones.

Of course, the introduction into the narrative of "the black box" that is old and splintered badly on one side seems foreboding as the villagers "kept their distance." Then, when Mr. Summers asks for help, there is "a hesitation" before two men come forward.  Jackson also writes that "so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded"; these line suggests something mysterious, something that is not typical, some ritual.

There is "a great deal of fussing" before the ritual begins.  Then a signing-in, a "ritual salute," and Mr. Summers acts "very proper and important as he talked...."  At this point the reader certainly wonders what type of ritual will occur.

When Mrs. Hutchinson arrives, she talks nervously, then taps Mrs. Delacroix "on the arm as a farewell" and makes her way through the crowd.  "A sudden hush" falls on the crowd as Mr. Summers clears his throat and looks at the list.  The people "grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously."  Again, there are suggests of something ominous to come.

In contrast to all the foreboding elements, the events of the story are related in such a matter-of-fact and objective way that is clearly ironic when considered against the purpose of the story to elicit much emotion and to lead the reader to question the morality of what occurs.

In "The Lottery," the reactions of the characters show irony.  For example, when Bill Hutchinson draws the black spotted paper, Tessie is incredibly upset and tries to argue that her daughter and son-in-law should also have to draw with the family.  On the first reading, a reader would be very confused by Tessie's reaction because lotteries are meant to win the lucky person a prize.  So, if Tessie's family were meant to get a prize, why would she be trying to pass off the good fortune to other family members?  So this ironic event is a clue that the lottery will "win" the drawer something other than a prize; the outcome of the lottery will not be beneficial.

With its pastoral setting, children running happily about, people with "jovial faces," ordinary men gathered around talking about the weather, tractors, and taxes, the reader is totally disarmed when the Jackson's story takes its dark turn.  Nevertheless, there are very subtle suggestions of an ominous nature:

1. Even though the "children assembled first," which seems innocent, Bobby Martin stuffs his pockets

...full of stones, and the other boys soon follwed his example selecting the smoothest and roundest stones.

2. When Mr. Summers arrives, he sets down a "black box" on a three-legged stool. This action seem ominous because 

[T]he villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool, and when Mr. Summers said, "Som of you fellows want to give me a hand?" there was a hesitation before two men...came forward to hold the box steady.....

3. There is a sinister air about the lottery that is conducted each year.  Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves--his name suggests death--make the slips of paper and place them in this "splintered badly" box. Then the box is locked in the safe of Mr. Summers's coal company (suggesting black, also).

4. The discussion about other towns doing away with the lottery, makes the reader wonder what is wrong with this custom:

"Some places have already quit lotteries," Mrs. Adams said.

5.  When Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late and argues that her husband was not given enough time to select the paper he wanted, there is a suggestion that there is something sinister about the activity in which the townspeople are engaged.