Horror And Symbolism In Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'

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

She chose June 27th which is the summer solstice and can symbolize many things like the other traditions that went on years before this one. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a warm summer day” (Jackson 1). This date was the day that many ancient rituals where held on reaching all the way back to hundreds of years ago. All the rituals had to do with someone being picked in a miscellaneous way to be sacrificed like what is happening in the lottery. “June 27th, near the summer solstice, one of the two days in a year when the Earth is farthest from the sun” (The Lottery). The only other day when earth is farthest from the sun is the winter solstice. By adding this in there Jackson is comparing the lottery drawing to the ancient rituals that where held on the same day years ago. The lottery is an example of an old tradition carrying over to the new