The Symbolism Of The Stones In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson there are many different types expressed throughout. Immediately, there is Dramatic Irony with the title of the story because we associate the Lottery with the winning of a grand prize that will improve the life of that person. Although in the story the winner is stoned to death by the village catching the reader off guard. Over the course of the story we are alluded to believe this occasion is a joyful time with children playing in the village, “square dances, the teen club, {and} the halloween program” (pg.1). Additionally, it is ironic that when Mr. Hutchinson is ask come upstage his wife is eager and encourages her husband to chose which in reality leads to her death.

The author Shirley Jackson wrote “The Lottery;” a village conducts an inhumane lottery to pick out one individual. The quote unquote “winner,” in this case, Mrs. “Tessie” Hutchinson, gets stoned heartlessly to death by all the 300 villagers, including her kin. This lottery began as a ceremony long ago to choose a villager to be sacrificed to Earth in exchange for a large harvest. Now, it became an annual tradition, a tradition that is too deep to be changed.

If you’ve ever purchased a lottery ticket, you may be shocked to learn that there is a 96.9% chance that you have purchased a losing ticket. Before you go out there and spend all of your spare income on Powerball tickets on the 3.1% chance you will win 175 million, keep in mind that the expected value of playing the game is winning $1.78, according to a Business Insider article “Three Math Facts That Every Powerball Player Needs To Know.” Most play with the hope they’ll win, but it’s all in good fun. But what about playing a lottery in which the “winning” results in your death by stoning? Chances are you would pass.

In “The Hallowe’en Party” by Miriam Waddington and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, symbols are used to enhance the importance of traditions. It is inevitable to say that “The Hallowe’en Party” is a major symbol itself. The party represents togetherness; a time for friends to get together, leaving cultural clichés aside. Mr. Luria is opposed to his children from going to the party, but even he has to give in because after all, “… [they will] only remember the fun they had at MacNeils” (Waddington, para 34). The excitement described by David goes on to reveal that they indeed had a pleasant time; hence, also evolving Mr. Luria’s views.

“The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson. The story commences with a vivid description of the summer day in the town, giving us the idea that the day will be good. When the lottery begins, families begin to draw slips of paper from the black box. Finally, when Bill Hutchinson withdrew the slip of paper with the black dot, his wife Tessie starts yelling that it wasn 't fair. When the second drawing was held only among the Hutchinson’s family, Tessie gets the same piece of paper with the dot and is stoned to death.

In the same way that a painter uses aspects of visual arts to create a painting, a fiction writer uses elements of narrative to create an artistic effect in fiction. These elements are used to enhance and further develop stories. If all elements are strong, the piece will be powerful and entertaining. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a perfect example of how a seemingly civilized society can commit the worst of crimes without even knowing. The story is about a traditional lottery which takes place in an ordinary village every year.

The Danger of Tradition Traditionally many ancient societies would kill their people to sacrifice to God in order to obtain rain or a good harvest. These mindlessly, followed traditions were never critically thought about and therefore citizens died year after year. A similar tragedy occurs in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. This story features a civilization much like our own but with one small difference, the town’s people hold a lottery every year and the town stones who ever loses to death.

Religion is an almost universal institution in human society and an integral part of our lives. Every religion preaches morality and love for everything around us. Religion teaches compassion and helps to find ourselves. It affects both: on the processes which are taking place within society and on each person in the whole. Many of us consider religion universal and, this means, a significant institution of societies.

Literary devices like conflict, simile, and characterization are used in stories to show us a different meaning or a theme. These literacy devices are used to make an idea clearer and relate it to another idea. The short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson uses theme to explain that in life you shouldn’t follow tradition blindly because if you trust anyone blindly then you may be listening to a bad influence, which can lead to devastating actions. Shirley Jackson uses the literary element, characterization to express the theme in the story. One of the main characters Tessie is a very strong person when she stood up to the whole town and protested against tradition.

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.

Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” tells us how the people of the town get together on June twenty seventh every year to perform a ritual that was started back in the day by their ancestors. The children would gather to the town square first and start piling up rocks in a corner. After the children the men would show up and then the women would show up last. Mr. Summers would call each family in alphabetic order to draw a slip of paper from the box, for the ritual. Once everyone had a piece of paper in their hands, they would look at the slips, who ever had the black dot got stoned to death.

In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," the author has demonstrated each symbol and the meaning that holds behind them. The black box is culturally known as a dark and evil color. It represents the fate of the people in town, and the three-legged stool is used as a support for the black box to lay on top of the object. Stoning is ancient.