Symbolism 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.

Many of the small, undetected details throughout “ The Lottery” seem to foreshadow a disturbing ending to the story. In the beginning of the story children gather around and form piles of stones in the time square. This comes off as very child-like and innocent and does not lead the reader to feel any way suspicious about these children’s purpose for piling the stones. The real purpose of the stones is obviously is revealed toward the end of the story. Tessie seems to show up late to the lottery, which kind of shines a light on her, and makes her stand out from the crowd. Mr. Summers makes a comment on how they were going to have to start the lottery without

?Most have become completely desensitized to the murderous rituals. In paragraph two, the children are so desensitized that they are actually enjoying themselves while they are collecting rocks as a sadistic prize for the lottery?s winner. Although they are very young they remember some aspects of the ritual. Bobby Martin stuffs his pockets full of stones as if it were money and not a murder weapon. Three of the villager?s children eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against raids of the other boys. The children know that they are

Shirley Jackson exploits a true form of human nature in this story. The lottery, a deadly tradition, is a draw for death. The selfish need to survive is shown by all the townspeople, who stone the chosen one to death, be it their friend or family, with only the thought that they themselves survived. Every lottery, the people look at the black box, and desperately hope that they aren’t chosen. It is a gruesome reminder of what they have witnessed and taken part of; the murders of innocent

Jackson’s short story mirror’s the traditional archetypal plot patterns. As presented in the beginning of ‘The Lottery’ everything is in the golden age which is the perfect world “The morning of June 27th was a clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” Jackson, 1. This line generates an image of a perfect day, rich green grass, flowers blossoming, with the heat of the sun beaming down; it paints a seemingly perfect picture. The parents and older children of this ill minded event, they are already numb to the yearly event of the lottery and now passing down the numbness to the children. “[…] still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.” Jackson, 1. Events such as these, society thinks minimally and carelessly within the village, in order that they can make it home for dinner after harming people, just like a normal day. The loss of social and childhood innocence is a critical factor within ‘The Lottery’ the boys gathering stones seem to believe this is a fun activity, some too young to understand the situation, for others it is a major shock to their loss of innocence. The children’s mind will cloud itself in vivid tones, their body will turn numb, either cold or heat will flood through their blood and fear will be implanted into their brains to remember the moment of throwing stones at a member of the community, although they will not ask questions, they will realize this is the normal annual event.

When many people think about a lottery, they think about the possibility of winning million dollar jackpots. Lottery ticket buyers hope that eventually one day, they will be the lucky winner to take home enough money to afford their greatest dreams and desires. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” the lottery that takes place drastically differs from the common win big lotteries of the modern day; rather, in this lottery, the citizens win big if they don’t get chosen for the lottery and get to keep their lives. Leaders of this village tell the citizens that they need to go through with this tradition In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” from 1948, she uses a Darwinism lens, criticism from current historical events, and literary elements such as foreshadowing and symbolism to show that human nature mindlessly follows tradition to be accepted in society and to survive.

Within the first few lines of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" we are faced with such adjectives as clear, sunny, fresh and warmth. She goes on to paint a picture of small children just out of school for the summer, as the townspeople gather for the annual Lottery. This leads us to believe that the rest of the story is as cheery as the summer day initially described. We as the readers are virtually unaware of the horrible senseless events that lie ahead. Through the use of symbolism Shirley Jackson reveals the underlying decay of ethics that results from an empty ritual followed by narrow-minded people.

can be interpreted in a different way. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short

In stories there will be objects that will constantly be mentioned within the story. This is what is known as Symbolism. Symbolism is the use of object, name, or person to represent an idea. If a name is being use, a name such as autumn can represent the adulthood of a human. Creatures such as an Eagle, represents ‘Freedom’ and ‘America’. Even inanimate objects can represent ideas; the light bulb represents ideas that just sparked into a character’s head.

(Quotes: “Bobbie Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones and the other boys soon followed his example selecting the smoothest and roundest stones.” [pg147] “The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready. Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, she held her hands up desperately as the villagers moved in on her, ‘It isn’t fair,’ she said. A stone hit her on the side of the

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.

All around the world today thousands of people die from murder and the numbers increase every year. Our world is filled with violence and tragedies that keep increasing, just like in, Shirley Jackson's story “The Lottery.” The characters in a small village choose someone to stone to death each year because of tradition. As this tradition continues, more and more people die as time passes. All of the towns folk grow more and more nervous, hoping not to get picked. They gather in the town square to choose the person who is killed in this unfortunate event as you meet characters like the hutchinsons, Mr. Graves, and Mr. Summers as they go through the fear of being picked. As the children pile up stones that they use for the killing. All

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.

Symbolism is used throughout The Lottery in the character names. Author, Shirley Jackson, uses the name of, Mr. Graves, to foreshadow the story and explain what “The Lottery” really is. Mr. Graves is the one who carries the three-legged stool which could indicate two things: the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or it could mean the past, present and future, saying that “The Lottery” will always be among the people of the village. In addition, he is also the owner of the post office and as the Postmaster, he delivers the news of the lottery on who will get stoned to death. Mr. Graves name signals the tombstones, death, and a cemetery. As well as Mr. Graves, Mr. Summers name also serves a symbolic purpose. He runs clubs and

“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. "Come on," she said. "Hurry up."( (Jackson)