Essay On Symbolism In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson shows the theme of the violence within a small village through symbolism to show that even the most ordinary people can commit violence, which can eventually lead to killing innocent individuals. The imagery of the black box in “The Lottery” provides readers a descriptive explanation of one of the most important objects in the story; making it clear to see that the Black box is an asset to the tradition. As the author is describing the black box , it is clear to see that it is old and worn out. One out of the numerous descriptions that were provided about the black box was that it was “splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained.” This simply states that the black box has been around for many generations since the beginning of the lottery. It also shows how the original tradition has over the years; lost its original meaning, and the participants still do not question the idea of stoning individuals in their community.

Black is culturally known as a dark and evil color, the choice of using black for the box is a perfect fit for the theme of the short story, foreshadowing the coming death of the citizen. No one in the village surely knows how the lottery started, but they kept on following through with it because it is what has always been done. Another representation of symbolism would be the stones that give an access to all the citizens in the village to throw stones at the selected winner of the lottery. As the narrator observes, "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones." (Jackson 114) in which stoning is ancient and one that costs a great deal of punishment.

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a small town with an unexpected dark tradition. When you first start reading you associate the lottery as a good thing. As you read on the story slowly starts eluding to a darker outcome. The further you read, the more you get foreshadowing lending a sense of impending doom. When the story comes to its conclusion that the one selected in the lottery is going to be stoned to death, you have the questions come to mind of, why do they do this, to what end?

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” describes a quaint town with perfect, homely citizens that nonchalantly participate in an annual, gruesome tradition. The short story deceives the reader through ironic descriptions of the characters, the character names, and the setting in order to heighten the dramatic effect of the horrific conclusion. The nature of tradition also occurs in the short story by focusing on the superstitious nature of people and the fear of changing the customs. Through the use of ironic descriptions and the overlying nature of tradition, Shirley Jackson creates an engaging story with relatable characters and personal beliefs to maintain culture only to shock the reader once the grim reality of the lottery. Shirley Jackson utilizes irony in her descriptions of people and the village in order to

Imagine a society where killing somebody for the sake of a tradition is acceptable.In the short story “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson describes an ordinary village with normal people, but as the story progress the details of their yearly practice known as “the lottery” unravels to be more disturbing.The author subverts the readers’ expiations by persuading the reader into assuming “the lottery” is a ordinary tradition until unusual details and the behavior of the characters come into place. In her short story “The Lottery,” Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear so, it is inherently barbaric. Through her use of setting,

In these ways, he is qualified as a romantic character.Furthermore, the three ideas levels of parable to the understanding of symbolism of The Black Veil is to let people understand that that's the way you show your secret sins, this could represent the secret sin that all people carry in their hearts, and the black veil is a symbol of secret sin and the darkness of humanity. The symbol of “The Minister’s Black Veil” is the black veil itself, but what it symbolizes is more complicated than it seems to either Hooper or the townspeople. To the townspeople, Hooper’s veil is a clear sign that he is trying to atone for a grave sin. Yet Hooper implies that he intends the veil to be a symbol of mankind’s general sinfulness, not any specific wrongdoing and that everyone has their own rights. At the same time, the veil — a thin article of clothing, is a symbol of the Puritan

The person that got the paper with the black dot would get stoned to death. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson uses irony, symbolism, and tone to develop the plot of the story. The word irony is use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning (Irony 1). Dramatic irony is when a character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better (Research 2). It occurs when Tessie objects

The Lottery In the short story “The Lottery”by Shirley Jackson, the characters of the story all have mixed emotions about this lottery. The character, Tessie Hutchinson, her emotions about this lottery is that she thinks it is unfair. Mrs. Hutchinson thinks the lottery is unfair because they didn't give her family enough time to pick a slip. But i think it was fair because everyone takes their own time. All Mrs.Hutchinson was doing was trying to protect her husband from getting the “black dot”.

The Social Impartiality in ´´The Lottery´´, by Shirley Jackson Have you ever witnessed a manifestation of injustice, but had preferred to step aside? If this is such a terrible attitude to assume, imagine how worst everything could be when the case is about a whole town keeping its arms crossed in the situation. In the story ´´The Lottery´´ by Shirley Jackson, we can appreciate diverse uses of the literary elements of symbolism, theme and foreshadowing, used by the author to represent the degradation of a society immersed in the impartiality.

Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing in the short story “The Lottery,” by painting a beautiful picture of utopia, and building suspense and horror to keep the reader anxious to find out what is won in the lottery. Shirley Jackson gives the reader hints throughout the story that come together at the end. Most often lottery is recognized as a winning, and not often is the winner truly the unlucky one. The Author wants the reader to understand that things are not always as they seem. Shirley Jackson leaves the reader in suspense and

This story is the best because of the entire mystery of it that makes you read until the very end. A number of things can be said about the mysterious lottery in the story. Instead of the lottery beginning it is withheld. No one speaks of the lottery, except for the occasional whispered words that leave readers confused. Furthermore, everyone is required to attend and all men must participate.

He did not mind of course for he wanted it to succeed and he could see it in the eyes of the officials and guards that they were terrified of the rebellion and they know that the government is losing the game of cat and mouse which they played with the rebilion. Michael lost track of time completely and soon did not even remember what the outside looked, for now, he only cared about surviving the beating and the questionings that were set up by the officials. He swore that he would never crack and so far he never did and just nodded his head. He knew how much he angered the officials and sometimes he believed that they called down the sergeant to terrify him but yet he is never

“‘...remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’”(103). One sometimes just do things to fit in but there are those who are walking through the crowd. This can be seen in a novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. First idea is being intolerant and tolerant to society classes. Next, would be rumors that are prejudice and injustice.

Children run around finding stones and placing them in the town square, and everyone is talking about a strange black box and how ratty it has become but will not be replaced because it is a tradition. Jackson pokes holes in the devoutness of tradition by stating that this wasn’t the original box that at some point had become lost and that the town agreed to switch from the traditional woodchips to pieces of paper being drawn. If the town was so set on the traditions for fear of the unknown happening to them then why were these factors allowed to be altered with no consequence? The blind tolerance of the village lottery condones a horrific murder of a citizen each year. The lack of reason for this lottery shows how dangerous it is to act so thoughtlessly.

The town doesn’t care who was picked they just want death to the person and everybody involved can take part. Old man Wagoner could believe that the lottery helps with crops. But for everybody else they just do it out of blindness and evilness. This town blindly follows these customs, not because it’s a tradition but because the lottery is so ingrained in their culture that they cannot let go of it, and they don’t view killing an innocent neighbor as wrong but just “another clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer