Essay On Symbolism In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The Lottery, demonstrates the complex feelings of a community engaging in a ritual event, in which they feel obligated to participate in. They appear to be experiencing a conflict with not breaking tradition with their fear of dying. Throughout this story there are numerous descriptions of characters dealing with anxiety, commitment, hope, and relief. The lottery stirs strong emotions within most of the characters Shirley Jackson

In 1948, when the New Yorker published Shirley Jacksons piece, “The Lottery,” it sparked outrage among readers, but could arguably be known as one of her most famous pieces of writing. In this short story, Shirley Jackson used literally elements such as imagery, diction, and symbolism to foreshadow the negative and harsh ending of the story; the harsh ending that sparked such outrage by society in the 1940’s.

Jackson The Lottery By: Yarmove, Jay A. Explicator. Summer94, Vol. 52 Issue 4, p242. 4p. Reading Level (Lexile): 1230. , Database: MasterFILE Premier

Shirley Jackson a very popular author well known for her short story called “The lottery” which always leaves the reader thinking. “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948 which is just weeks after it was written. Some other pieces written by Jackson are “The Haunting of Hill House”, “We have always lived in the castle” as well as “Life among the savages”. Jackson tends to write about horror and mystery and has many other pieces with supernatural themes. Many pieces written by Jackson have a small-town setting that end with horror. The short story “The lottery” is about a small village that has an annual lottery in which the winner gets stoned to death. Many of the townspeople know this is inhumane, but they choose not to speak out because their name isn’t picked. Jackson uses direct characterization to describe all the characters in the village and uses symbolism throughout the story. Not to forget about the vivid description of the setting in the beginning of the short story. Shirley

The lottery tells us a story about a yearly tradition practiced by the villager of a small town and that their tradition is becoming pointless over time. The lottery is foreshadowing the violent conclusion in the story. The children would put stones in their pockets and make a piles of stones

The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story of horror and realism. On June 27th on a late summer morning, the villagers of a small New England village gatherd together in the town square to conduct their annual lottery. There is a black box on a stool and in the box there is pieces of paper in the box. Each person from a family get one paper from the black box even the children get a piece of paper and every stayed quiet and nervouse. Then Bill Hutchinson looked at the paper and notice that he got the black dot. So then Tessie starts to complain that the drawing was not set up properly (Jackson). In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses the symbolism, characterization, and theme to develop this short story.

The short story, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson proposes an annual lottery drawing in a little village set in New England. However, unlike any usual lottery, the winner is stoned to death by their fellow townsmen, women and children included. The lottery seems to have been a custom around the area for over seventy years. While other towns are starting to go away from this method, this village continues the tradition. Although it may seem like a simple story, Shirley Jackson implemented various symbols incorporated into the names, objects, and scenario in the story to hide the meaning and intention behind the lottery.

“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is a very suspenseful, yet very shocking short story. This story is set in a small village, on a hot summers day in June. Flowers are blooming, and the towns people are gathering for the lottery, which is a tradition the town does every year. As the reader reads the first paragraph they think this is a happy story. The title also says, “The Lottery” which is a word often used for winning something or receiving a prize. It’s a beautiful summer day and everything seems perfect, but as the reader keeps reading they come to realize that this story is not as simple and straight forward as the title suggest, rather it is a horrifying and dark tale. Shirley Jackson is forwarding the theme on tragic it can be to blindly follow traditions by using foreshowing, symbolism, and dialog.

“The Lottery” is an realism/horror story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about some villagers of a small New England town who follow the tradition of making a lottery every year. When it comes, they like to celebrate it with the correct rules and the correct objects so they can feel more comfortable. Everyone need to take a slip of paper from a small black box, and the paper with a black dot in it means that the family is the winner, then they raffle again; Bill Hutchinson, who was the husband of the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson picked a paper with a black dot in it, that meant that Tessie was the winner of the lottery, then she starts complaining because the drawing was not conducted properly. At the end, the townspeople moved off to a cleared spot outside the town and they begin stoning her to death (Jackson). In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses characterization, symbolism and themes to develop the action of the short story.

By definition the word lottery means a process or thing whose success or outcome is measured by chance (“lottery”). To most people winning the lottery would conjure up excitement and overall good feelings. However, in the short story The Lottery written by Shirley Jackson, the lottery has a twisted and horrific meaning. Jackson weaves the theme of tradition and peer pressure together, until they clash and explode on the unfortunate Tessie Hutchinson. Jackson uses many literary elements to get this image in the minds of the reader. Using elements such as foreshadowing, characterization, irony, setting, themes and many more, the reader is transported to this event to witness a tradition, of seventy-seven

When it comes to tradition, nearly everyone has some tradition that he or she follows in one form or another. Whether it be a tradition of how to spend the holidays with family, the tradition of passing on a family name, or even religious traditions, nearly everyone will participate in at least some tradition during his or her lifetime. However, if not carefully understood, these traditions may become blindly followed for no good reason. Traditions may even become obsolete and no longer beneficial or useful, and instead, cause harm to their participants. In “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, tradition is a major theme illustrated. Shirley Jackson reveals the theme

The black box that is old and “[grows] shabbier each year,” represents the old traditions that are held with high esteem (540). The box has been repaired multiple times. There are talks about creating a brand new black box but those always fade away being as everyone wants to stick with the old box. The people do not want to break tradition. Everyone keeps “their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool” where the box sits (540). They revere the black box. Another use of symbolism is the lottery itself. The lottery represents traditions and ways of thinking that society goes along with because of how they are raised. The townspeople blindly go on with the tradition without truly knowing the significance. Mr. Adams suggests they give up the lottery like the neighboring towns, and Old Man Warner has to remind him of the significance saying, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, a story about the tradition of a small village, is painted in impeccable details of peace, and serenity on a warm summer day, as everyone follows the tradition they have known since a long time ago despite the true intentions and meaning of it forgotten. The Lottery taking place annually is like no other lottery, it paints the true picture of the horror that epitomizes the tradition that none of the villagers dare to question, despite it creating separation between gender and families and ruining

‘The Lottery’ is a story about tradition and sacrifice. However, even though the NY times article is about sacrifice, they are for different things. Such as money vs. good luck. ‘The Lottery’ talks about this small, peaceful village that have no problems and has mainly positive dialogue. But this village has this really weird tradition. This tradition is based on a lottery. There would be this lottery and every family has their name on it by force since it is a tradition and the family that gets picked would have to do another lottery to see which one in the family dies. To know which person in the family dies every person in the family gets a paper and the paper with the black dot dash. In the lottery someone picks out a family name and the family name that year was the Hutchinsons. The Hutchinsons were pretty mad and mostly Tessie Hutchinson, who started shouting that this is unfair. Then they proceeded to the final lottery, which was the one based on who will die. Every person in the family got a paper and the person with the black dot was Tessie Hutchinson, who then started shouting this is unfair and everyone started throwing rocks at her until she died. The whole story is ironic itself because the tone of the story is a place that’s perfect. The dialogue is mainly positive. The title “The Lottery” also gives the reader a positive perception of the story, that the lottery is a contest, not an execution, but it is in fact an execution at the end. In the article it talks

First, ‘The Lottery’ is open to diverse interpretations. Some people might wonder why this is a standard for a good writing. I believe that art (novel, movie, music, drawing, etc.) is completed when its artist and its audience work together to develop its meaning. Each individual relates to an artwork in unique ways and I believe through this process, the artwork comes alive. However, while there are artworks that are appropriate for this, some artworks are not. ‘The Lottery’ falls into the former category. To begin with, the story lacks information. It sounds like a weakness, but it isn’t. As ‘The Lottery’ is a short story, the author doesn’t expound each and every detail. There is a ‘vacuum’ in the story, but it is a desirable vacuum. It leaves a room for diverse imaginations, accommodating an active participation of its readers. For example, the author doesn’t give much information about the lottery or characters. All we know about the lottery is that it is an old tradition that involves