Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is an amazing fiction short story. This story is highly focused on symbolism, imagery, and allegory. These three literary devices are what make this story as successful as it is and what keeps readers interested throughout the story. In fact, this story relies heavily on these three elements
The first object which holds these three elements is the three-legged stool the black box is placed upon. Critic Helen Nebeker, argues that the three legs of the stool are like the three aspects of the Christian Trinity and that the use of the stool to support the black box represents the manipulation of religion to support collective violence (Nebeker, 1974). The stool could also represent other trinities such as the Three Norns of Norse mythology (McCoy, N.A.) or the Three Fates of Greek mythology (Britanica Editors, 2017). These women determine the fate of both mere mortals and of the world. This relates to how the contents of the box determine who gets stoned to death.
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The black box is a physical manifestation of the villagers' connection to the warped tradition of the lottery. It states in the story the people believe the box to be made of pieces of previous boxes and the original box itself. The box can also be read as almost a metonymy of the lottery itself. Like the lottery, the black box has no function except during these two hours every June. This alerts us to the fact that the purpose of the box, like the lottery itself, has become obscured by the passage of time. It's well worn, but the villagers are reluctant to let it go. The villagers' treatment of the box represents their thinking of the lottery as a whole: they're a bit terrified by both the box and the lottery, but they're also too frightened, and possibly fascinated to drop either
The black box is a good representation of the central idea to the story. The box is painted in black, which has always been a universal symbol for evil and death.
The lottery itself is conducted in a black box using paper-slips. The color black represents death, as the future of someone’s life will be decided from it. The dark mood is felt when it is introduced. A general feeling of nervousness is spread throughout the crowd, the younger people in particular.
The box is symbolic of our loathing of change; it is old and splintered showing
In conclusion, the use of symbolism, irony and setting in the Lottery is very evident, the author indirectly implicates the true darkness within the human heart. The Lottery remains relevant in society today because the overall vagueness of the city allows this story to be true to all people around the world. The short story shows us that humans are evil enough to follow traditions blindly, even if they cause pain and death in loved ones we know. Jackson also centers a lot of symbols and irony on religion and how they affect our culture and decisions. In this the reader can learn that sometimes it’s better for a person to follow his moral compass, and not just blindly follow his evil heart, and the evilness of others.
Shirley Jackson wrote many books in her life, but she was well known by people for her story “The Lottery” (Hicks). “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948, in the New Yorker magazine (Schilb). The story sets in the morning of June 27th in a small town. The townspeople gather in the square to conduct their annual tradition, the Lottery. The winner of the lottery will stoned to death by the society. Although there is no main character in the story, the story develops within other important elements. There are some important elements of the story that develop the theme of the story: narrator and its point of view, symbolism, and main conflict. The story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, argues practicing a tradition without understanding the meaning of the practice is meaningless and dangerous.
The short story “ The Lottery ” the author Shirley Jackson uses symbolism and imagery to develop a theme the brings forth the evil and inhumane nature of tradition and the danger of when it’s carried out with ignorance.
The word “black” can be noticed as bad things, and the “box” is stereotyped when people are powerless to change the old custom. Therefore, the “black box” symbolizes for the villagers, who keep following nonsensical tradition even it murders one’s life. In the story, the box is old, stained, and “no longer completely black.” That means the tradition is faded and no longer as needed as it used to be. Evenly, the villagers changed to use “slips of paper” instead of “the chips of wood,” so why they do not change the aim of this lottery.
Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town was born” (Jackson). The black box symbolized death. The color of the box also represents death or evil. That gives the readers a clue that something bad is going to happen in the story. Another symbol the box has is that it’s old and ugly. The box being old and ugly represents that it has been used for many years. The black box was used to put all the little pieces of paper that were going to be drawn out. This black box was put in the middle of the circle made by all the villagers.
While “The Lottery” seems like a short story destined for a happy ending, the setting, tone, and symbolism, demonstrate that the ending is actually quite ironic. The setting would make the reader believe that the story is going to be bright and have a happy ending. “The Lottery” occurs on June 27th and the environment is described as a beautiful, and flowers blooming, which in turn could influence the reader’s to think of positive things, even though the ending is inevitable of sacrificing one of their own town’s people. The tone of “The Lottery” starts off as cheerful and the kids running around and playing with rocks and people greeting each other like they would at any event, not thinking about how their days is going to change. During reading the story the reader might not think about what the objects in the story symbolize such as the black box or even calling the event the lottery.
As far as symbolism in objects, the most prominent and often mentioned is the “black box” from which the names are drawn from (Jackson 573). The box itself represents the townspeople's fate; being black in color refers to their impending death. After many years of use the box is in very poor shape and described as “shabby” (Jackson 573). In that sense, the splintering of the wood and chipping of the paint is parallel to the falling apart of the tradition since what was once a high honor is now a dreaded consequence. Jackson's mentioning of replacing the old wood chips with slips of paper symbolize the increasing loss of tradition and emerging new ways.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the theme is apparent through the scenarios that are posed to the reader while also connecting to a wide range of age groups. The balance between the setting of the quaint village, understanding where the narrator speaks from, and the type of writing that is used in order to convey this classic story. A dual understanding of theme and the different elements of literature in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, allows the reader to find a balance between dangers that may occur and the traditions that need to
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, is a short story about an annual lottery draw in a small town. The story sets place in a small town in New England. Every year a lottery is held, in which one person is to be randomly chosen to be stoned to death by the people in the village. The lottery has been practiced for over seventy years by the townspeople. By using symbolism, Jackson uses names, objects, and the setting to conceal the true meaning and intention of the lottery.
Shirley Jackson’s famous short story, “The Lottery,” was published in 1948 and remains to this day one of the most enduring and affecting American works in the literary canon. “The Lottery” tells the story of a farming community that holds a ritualistic lottery among its citizens each year. Although the text initially presents audiences with a close-knit community participating in a social event together on a special day, the shocking twist at the work’s end—with the death of the lottery’s “winner” by public stoning—has led to its widespread popularity, public outcry and discussion, and continued examination in modern times (Jackson). One potential critical theory that can be applied to Jackson’s “The Lottery” is the reader-response approach. This analytical lens is a “theory ... that bases the critical perspective of a text on ‘the reader’ and his or her personal interpretation” of that text (Parker 314). Reader-response criticism was coined by literary critic Louise Rosenblatt in the mid-20th century. It soon served as a cornerstone of literary movement in the 1960s and 1970s that later became intrinsic to the study of other schools of literary thought today. In using reader-response theory to examine “The Lottery” in a contemporary context, one might perform reading surveys and metacognitive questionnaires to determine whether the short story still proves resonant and thought-provoking. Therefore, just as “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson evoked an explicit and even fierce reaction in the past, so too does the use of reader-response criticism today help reveal that the short story may still hold the ability to sustain both its rising tension and surprising turn at the end.
In Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" symbols are used to enhance and stress the theme of the story. A symbol is a person, object, action, place, or event that in addition to its literal meaning, suggests a more complex meaning or range of meanings. (Kirszner & Mendell 330) The theme of the story is how coldness and lack of compassion can be exhibited in people in situations regarding tradition and values. That people will do incredibly evil and cruel things just for the sake of keeping a routine. Three of the main symbols that Shirley uses in the story is the setting, black box, and the actual characters names. They all tie together to form an intriguing story that clearly shows the terrible potential if society forgets the basis of tradition. The story also shows many similarities between the culture of the village, and the culture of Nazi Germany. How blind obedience to superiors can cause considerable damage to not only a community, but the entire world. Symbolism plays a large role in "The Lottery" to set the theme of the story and make the reader question traditions.
Consider taking a deeper look into the lottery you can see the minor peaceful village of 300 people. Throughout the story you can see the peace within the village diminish little by little. The story of the black box was constructed when the first people settled down to make the village. Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and the original black box (Jackson,7) it wasn’t always like that. The lottery was a big event just like a school dance, Halloween program, and teen club hosted by Mr. Summers and it only took about two hours to set up (1).