Literary Devices In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Another symbol that Baldwin uses throughout the story is the symbol of lightness and darkness. Lightness and darkness usually symbolize good and evil. One example of darkness that Baldwin uses in “Sonny’s Blues” is when Mama, the narrator’s mother, was telling him about the death of his and Sonny’s uncle. After Mama told the story of the brothers’ uncle being run over and killed by a car full of white men, she said, “Your Daddy says he never in his life seen anything as dark as that road after the lights of that car had gone away” (58). In this example, Baldwin uses the darkness of the road to create a deeper meaning behind the uncle’s death and the father’s sadness. The reason the father felt as if nothing could ever be as dark as that road is because he experiences his only brother dying in front of him. Death, especially murder, is considered to be a very “dark” subject. When there is a funeral, mostly every person is wearing black or dark clothing because he is mourning over the death of a loved one. Another example is when the narrator reminisces on the days when all of the ‘old folks’ would sit around in the living room after church. “They would all sit in the chairs while the night is creeping up outside, but no one knows it yet…everyone is looking at something a child cannot see” (56). Baldwin uses the darkness of night as a symbol of death in this

it as window into Poe’s dark and tortured soul as a man with psychological and addiction issues. Beyond that, the story has a very well explained theme: that no one can escape death and if you run away, it will come for you sooner or later. The guests thought that, being in a refuge with nothing coming in or out, they would be safer; however, it turns out that the Red Death came after them and hunted them down. The clock symbolizes time of their death, as if the time for their death came closer each time. It seems like the higher social classes always have a bigger chance of surviving because of the easy access to resources. However, the higher class always seems to go down faster. The color of rooms also come in play to all this as every color seems to give a certain mood, and very few dared to enter the seventh dark room as it may represent death, and they were afraid of

For example, the narrator describes the first room as, “in blue- and vividly blue were its windows” [3]. The direction of the rooms, beginning at the east, clearly symbolizes the beginning of life, similar to how the sun rises in the east. The color seems to stand for the idea of stability and security, while the windows themselves represent something quite similar: the perspective of confidence and intelligence. The blue colored windows leave the people attending the masquerade ball looking out into the real world, with the windows serving as a filter painted with optimism and intelligence. It allows the people to continue to ignore reality. Likewise, the following quote vividly describes the last room: “The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceilings and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon the carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet- a deep blood color…” [3]. This room remained empty until the last scene of the story, as no one had dared to enter this apartment. Because the color black is associated with death and because the eerie ebony clock had towered in this room, the apartment symbolized

The color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet --a deep blood color” (Poe 18-21). These rooms are not just representing the colors of each room but the stages of life. Each room is a different color of life. While prince Prospero is going through each room talking to guests he sees a shade and tries to scare it away and even kill. “Solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple --through the purple to the green --through the green to the orange --through this again to the white --and even thence to the violet, ere a decided movement had been made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers” (Poe 74-77). As he tries to kill it though he goes into the black room where he dies. The black is representing death with its blood red windows and the black colors on the wall as if it was part of the underworld. The rooms in this story represent the stages of life and most importantly, the black room represents

The story takes place in a abbey will seven different halls that the prince and his closest friends lock themselves in. The rooms all have diverse colors the first Blue, then purple, green, orange, white, violet, and finally black. Blue is the symbol of birth, the color of a blanket a baby boy is swaddled in. Purple is a child's way for describing violet, so it represents childhood. Green is adolescence, orange is adulthood, summer is when the brightly colored fruit on trees ripen and mature, adulthood is when you are fully matured. White is old age when your hair turns white, violet is the the last bit of your life before you die it’s the sickness and sadness of your final days. Finally black is death, “...the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes was ghastly in the extreme…” black is darkness, what people wear to funerals, what monsters and ghosts hide in, it is the final stage in your

In the story “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, it shows a prince trying to hide from a plague in his castle with the rest of the royals. In the castle there are seven rooms that are lit in different colors, each room to the readers mean something or have a meaning. Some say that the rooms mean nothing and are just colors that were choosen, but if you look at Poe’s history and the struggles he went through then you will see that those colors do have a symbolic representation of his emotions. Every room in the castle is a representation of what Poe felt throughout his life and still did up to that point.

Poe reveals the allegorical message of the rooms to prove that wealthy people are selfish. The different colors of the all the rooms in the abbey is an allegorical message. From east to west, the colors of the rooms represent the beginning of life to the end of life. The seventh room “was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet --a deep blood color” (Poe 4). Poe shows that the seventh room represents death and sorrow. Using allegorical phrases, he shows that wealthy people are selfish because they are partying in all of the rooms, except the black room which represents death. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the masquerade ball is an example of masking the death and despair on the outside of the duke’s castle. It is an example of Prince Prospero’s first attempts to hide from death. Wealthy

Then there is white which symbolizes the elderly, and then the violet room was for the dying. The final room was black and that is where death took place. In the story once the characters enter the castle-like abbey of Prince Prospero, nobody could enter or exit because of the welded locks that kept all evil from the outside world out. Another example of Poe’s symbolism is when he is describing the clock and its effect on the guests,

Symbolism is used to set the tone for the story as well. The so-called “Red Death” (Poe 516) is a clear reference to the black plague that killed so many people. Poe changes the color of the plague and some of the details but the symmetry is undeniable. The way Poe describes the blood that symbolizes the plague as coming from the pores on the face, but not flowing grotesquely, produces a powerful image. Inside the abbey, there are seven rooms. Each of the areas is themed in a different color. The rooms lead one into another and have stained glass windows that match the color of the rooms. Oddly, though, the windows are set in the corridor and not facing outside which creates more of a dramatic effect. The rooms start at blue, then purple, green, orange, white, violet, and lastly, black. The different spaces can symbolize the different stages of life with the beginning starting with blue; purple is the color of royalty, green symbolizing spring or youth, and finishing with black symbolizing the end or death. To make his point clearer and more dramatic, Poe had the stained glass windows in the last room be scarlet instead of black. All the

A second symbol is Satan's staff. It is portrayed as being crooked and black like a serpent. A serpent is thought of as being an evil creature so it is appropriate that Satan be carrying such a staff. It is also symbolic that every living thing Satan touches withers up and dies. This demonstrates how this evil apparition can suck the beauty as well as the life out of anything with which it comes in contact. The dark forest itself symbolizes the dark and evil nature of goodman Brown's journey.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short story which describes the proceedings of an annual lottery which takes place in a small town. The lottery has been going on for many generations and although there have been talks about abolishing it, it seems as though the community would do anything in order to make sure that they keep up with their traditions. In this short story, Jackson’s overall writing style and the usage of symbolism, irony and theme helps make the reader understand the true essence of the story. The story begins in a nice warm day in June as the villagers are coming together to participate in a lottery.

One symbol is it was a black and red room the black represented death and the red represented death. Know guess wanted to go in the room because they knew the black room symbolized death so everybody was scared to go in it so everyone tried their best to avoid it. Everyone is young and no one think their ready to die.

Also in story “Tell-Tale Heart”, it has imagery to emphasize a dark tone. In the story the author stated “His room was as black as pitch with

A strong symbol in the story is the painted face of the innkeeper. “One side of the face blazed an intense red, while the other was black as midnight.” While the colors of red and black represent a war theme and are more symbolic of the era and setting

Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” has been described as "one of the most famous short stories in the history of American literature". Jackson tells the gripping story of a fictional small town which observes an annual ritual known as "the lottery". The seemingly peaceful town houses the dark tradition. Readers are kept on the edges of their seats. Shirley Jackson does this by creating a feeling of suspense through her use of point of view, withholding information, and symbolism.