Symbolism Illustrated In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

In her story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson manages to catch the readers’ attention and ultimately shock them with an unexpected ending; all of which help her emphasize her critique toward the dark side of human nature and the evil that resides, sometimes, in those who we less expect it from. Jackson uses symbolism throughout the story that helps her set the mood and also makes the readers wonder and analyze the senseless violence and cruelty in their own lives.

The villagers' boys learn as they grow up that the practice of stoning a person every year is part of life. The young boys select the "smoothest and roundest stones" (Jackson). This implies that to them, the lottery is like a sport. One would think that the boys were gathering stones in innocent play. However, this adds to the surprise that Jackson established in the beginning. In the end, the actions of these boys show the corrupted minds of the villagers. This practice was embedded from young to old, because "someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles" (Jackson). The people can't reasonably explain why they are picking up stones, and then killing someone--it just becomes a cold unfeeling motion. From their very first lottery, the young boys are trained to practice such a barbaric ritual. This explains why the boys do not analyze the motive for the lottery while while growing up. The tradition has been implemented into the minds of vulnerable

In the short story “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson uses symbolism and imagery to convey the message that blindly following traditions can negatively impact society. While reading this story, there begins to be a more powerful meaning behind the words. It starts to emerge when the author uses imagery like this “ Because so much of the ritual forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips substituted for the chips of wood that have been used for generations.” The theme emerges with this image because the people don’t really know or care about why they are the following a certain tradition.

The author uses foreshadowing throughout this story to highlight the negative effects of blindly following tradition. At the beginning of the narrative, children of the village are stuffing their pockets with stones, which to the reader seems like harmful play, but in the end the reader finds out that its importance is to predict the

When most people play the lottery today, they think about having wealth. Generally, people who win are happy about it whether they win one dollar or a million. The lottery in our society has grown to support education and it is often worth several million dollars. Usually, the winner of the lottery gains a lot of recognition for the money they win. But what would happen if there was a small town where people held a yearly lottery in which the “winner” was the member of the town who was not sacrificed? This question is answered in Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery.” In reading this story, and reading literary criticism about the story, there were many symbols and much symbolism in this story.

Symbolically the battered black box represents the death that it brings to the community as well as a worn out tradition. The box is mentioned repeatedly throughout the story, which is a sign of its importance, although we are kept in the dark about its ultimate function until the very end. It is described as "…no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places [is] faded or stained." (Jackson 75). This seems to also describe the lottery itself- old, faded, and stained with the blood of all those who have died in years past. Ironically, the black box used in the story was said not to be the original box and the papers that they used were substitutes for the old wood chips. This is a sign that the tradition is so old and meaningless that it can be constantly added to or taken away from. "Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box…[and] every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything being done" (Jackson 75). Perhaps Mr. Summers's idea symbolizes a need for a new tradition.

smooth stones. “ The towns people try to get the smooth rocks so that way they

The black box is not only Alliteration, but it is also a symbol in “The Lottery”. Martine Ma declares, “The black box holds the key between life or death for every single one of the townspeople”. Inside the black box is a “slip of paper” (Jackson1870) with “a black spot” (Jackson1870) that would declare the death of a villager and the sacrifice for the harvest. The black box also represents ‘evil’ in “The Lottery”. Seth Cassel stated, “The villagers have become entranced in the gruesome tradition of stoning people.” Proving that the black box has manipulated the townspeople into killing their fellow villagers because of the lottery the black box

Authors use symbolism in order to substitute a hidden meaning within an action, person, idea, object, or setting. Symbols carry the weight to make a story more meaningful and can be used to help the reader make connections between the story and the outside world. On the 27th of June, a village gathers to conduct a lottery, where one chosen person will be stoned to death. This ritual, done each and every year, is planted in biblical roots and exemplifies the role of tradition within the town. This sacramental ceremony in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” has many aspects which all possess a symbolic meaning and incorporate another degree of depth to the story.

The writer keeps talking about the black box in a way that makes us suspicious of the true intentions of the villagers and the theme of this story. We feel that there is some mystery surrounding the black box and as it is black we assume it is a dark mystery. Another example of symbolism used in this text are the names. The name, Graves symbolises tombstones, death and sorrow. The irony behind the name, Summers is evident as you'd expect someone with the name, Summers to be a good person because when we think summer we thing happiness, warmth, new life.

In addition, the black box is used for many years. It made by “residual wood ”, this detail also suggests that the lottery has changed and deteriorated. it is pretty complicated. Of all the symbols and meanings, the most important thing is the plot of the story - as a ritual murder. " The lottery" at the beginning of the story, describing a beautiful

Shirley Jackson 's 'The Lottery ', is a story that is filled with symbolism. The author uses symbolism to help her represent human nature as tainted, no matter how pure one thinks of himself or herself, or how pure their environment may seem to be. The story is very effective in raising many questions about the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. 'The Lottery ' clearly expresses Jackson 's feelings concerning mankind?s evil nature hiding behind traditions and rituals. She shows how coldness and lack of compassion in people can exhibit in situations regarding tradition and values. Jackson presents the theme of this short story with a major use of symbolism. Symbolism shows throughout the setting of 'The Lottery, ' the objects, the peoples actions, and even in the time and the names of the lucky contestants.

This statement supports what Jackson was trying to convey because rather than the villagers knowing the meaning behind the ritual, they can only remember the murderous, violent part of it. This ceremony had become so customary and routine that even the children had made “piles of stones” ready to participate in the lottery. Children are supposed to be considered innocent and uncorrupt but in this story it just goes to show that cruelty is inherent. Jackson’s story also displays the theme of hypocrisy. The author uses the story’s target Tessie Hutchinson to represent that theme. The audience could assume that Tessie is well known village woman who only any normal day would partake in this event. When Tessie discovers her fate as the winner she becomes self-serving saying “it isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (Jackson 7). It is duplicitous because if she was not the victim then she would have no objections, but now that she is the fatality the lottery suddenly is corrupt. The author aimed to indicate that society has a predisposition to become habituated to unkind things so long as they believe they will not be negatively affected by it.

An allegory is a story where all characters and events are symbolic. Allegories have the remarkable ability to take a basic story and make it complex by adding a symbolic aspect, like a person’s name or a physical object. “The Lottery”involves a small, agricultural community, where they have an annual drawing. The winner of the lottery gets death as its prize. They believe that if they sacrifice a person, they they will have good crops. Shirley Jackson includes many symbols and allusions in “The Lottery” in order to convey her message: traditions can lead to mob mentality if they are not stopped.

Likewise, the black box is symbolic in the short story. It is a prehistoric box in which the villagers draw the slips of paper but do not want to replace it to avoid “upsetting tradition.” The black box is a symbol to the villagers because many people before them have practiced the lottery. “The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born” (Jackson 1). Lending confidence to the villagers, the black box reminds them to trust in their forefathers. Not only are the stones and black box symbolic, but also the marked slip of paper. It is with a single dark dot that indicates who the next victim of the lottery will be. The dot appears to look like a spot or a blemish on a piece of paper. These are frequently associated with disease and so the marking of the dot symbolizes the marking of a person for destruction. The paper itself also manifests the pointlessness of the lottery; it was created by Joe Summers who though of it the night before on a scratch piece of paper with a pencil. It is this mark, made by a random human, that determines the fate of a person. The marked slip of paper holds no power, but rather the power that