The Lottery Symbolism

“The Lottery”, written by author Shirley Jackson, is short story about a small village that holds a lottery every year. All the people who lived in the village, men, women and children, would come together in the town square at a specific time on a specified day in June each year. Each head of the families would draw a ticket. The family with the marked ticket would draw tickets to see who the final winner would be. The person to draw the winning marked ticket was stoned to death in the square by the entire town. The ending of the short story shocks most readers, as one usually views the winner of a lottery as being lucky instead of unlucky. In “The Lottery” written by Jackson, symbolism is used throughout the story through objects, traditions

As new generations were born, few questioned or made an attempt to change this cruel tradition, but the people in this village had participated in the tradition of the lottery for so long that it had become who they were. People like Old Man Warner, did not agree with stopping the lottery. He felt they should continue holding the lotteries. Warner had become accustomed to this tradition and did not see the need for it to change. In the article, “Shirley Jackson’s Use of Symbols in ‘The Lottery’”, Danielle Schaub states “The villagers ' fear of changing either the course of the lottery or the ritualistic objects discloses to what extent they are caught in the web of

Tessie Hutchinson was upset, but when she complains, it is her husband Bill who tells her to shut up. Mrs. Dunbar said “Come on” and “Hurry up” as Mr. Dunbar told her “You’ll have to go ahead and I’ll catch up with you (Jackson 5).” Old Man Warner was heard saying, “Come on, come on, everyone (Jackson 5)”. In “The Lottery: Overview, Linda Wagner-Martin states “Clearly, opinion within the community is divided as to the usefulness and the efficacy—not to mention the humanity—of this lottery”. Everyone participated in the stoning, including her husband and three children. The stoning happened directly after the lottery drawing and was not a sad event as one would think it would be. Maybe the people were just relieved that it was not them that had drawn the ticket with the black