Symbolism In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

In her story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson manages to catch the readers’ attention and ultimately shock them with an unexpected ending; all of which help her emphasize her critique toward the dark side of human nature and the evil that resides, sometimes, in those who we less expect it from. Jackson uses symbolism throughout the story that helps her set the mood and also makes the readers wonder and analyze the senseless violence and cruelty in their own lives.

“The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson was written in 1948. Jackson declared her purpose for writing the story was “to shock the story’s readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (pg. 250). The main characters in this story are Mr. Summers who draws the names out of the black box; Mr. Graves the post master that assist Mr. Summers; Bill Hutchinson, Tessie Hutchinson who were chosen in the lottery; and the townspeople. Jackson uses the bright and friendly atmosphere set the tone of the story. The story starts off on a clear and sunny morning on June 27th. It was a beautiful day with the flowers blooming and the grass green in a small little town of 300 people. In this town the townspeople felt strongly about upholding traditions. Tradition is important to small towns, a way to link families and generations. Following traditions blindly is what can turn into something terrible. The lottery was held each year where one person was

    "The Lottery," a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale about a disturbing social practice.  The setting takes place in a small village consisting of about three hundred denizens.  On June twenty-seventh of every year, the members of this traditional community hold a village-wide lottery in which everyone is expected to participate.  Throughout the story, the reader gets an odd feeling regarding the residents and their annual practice.  Not until the end does he or she gets to know what the lottery is about.  Thus, from the beginning of the story until almost the end, there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the Jackson's effective

The story The Lottery although is gruesome and gloomy in many ways focuses on one character named Mr. Summers who is a man of power, lonely, but seemingly callous. First, we see how Mr. Summers is a man of power, In the first sentence of paragraph four it was said “The Lottery was conducted - as were the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program - by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities.” I say he is a man of power not only because of the activities he conducts but because he is in charge of the black box in which each town members name goes into. Second, We see that Mr. Summers is a lonely man in the second sentence of paragraph four “people felt sorry for him, because he had no children and his

     Furthermore, Old Man Warner is horrified at the thought of ever stopping the lottery. When another villager speaks of other towns that have done away with the lottery he says, ?Pack of crazy fools? (Jackson 369),and ?Nothing but trouble in that? (Jackson 369)

When most people play the lottery today, they think about having wealth. Generally, people who win are happy about it whether they win one dollar or a million. The lottery in our society has grown to support education and it is often worth several million dollars. Usually, the winner of the lottery gains a lot of recognition for the money they win. But what would happen if there was a small town where people held a yearly lottery in which the “winner” was the member of the town who was not sacrificed? This question is answered in Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery.” In reading this story, and reading literary criticism about the story, there were many symbols and much symbolism in this story.

Within the first few lines of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" we are faced with such adjectives as clear, sunny, fresh and warmth. She goes on to paint a picture of small children just out of school for the summer, as the townspeople gather for the annual Lottery. This leads us to believe that the rest of the story is as cheery as the summer day initially described. We as the readers are virtually unaware of the horrible senseless events that lie ahead. Through the use of symbolism Shirley Jackson reveals the underlying decay of ethics that results from an empty ritual followed by narrow-minded people.

can be interpreted in a different way. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short

In the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, a village has just entered the month of June, meaning that the lottery is to begin. When everyone was present, the heads of the households’ names were called one by one to pick up a slip of paper. It was then discovered that the

Shirley Jackson 's 'The Lottery ', is a story that is filled with symbolism. The author uses symbolism to help her represent human nature as tainted, no matter how pure one thinks of himself or herself, or how pure their environment may seem to be. The story is very effective in raising many questions about the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. 'The Lottery ' clearly expresses Jackson 's feelings concerning mankind?s evil nature hiding behind traditions and rituals. She shows how coldness and lack of compassion in people can exhibit in situations regarding tradition and values. Jackson presents the theme of this short story with a major use of symbolism. Symbolism shows throughout the setting of 'The Lottery, ' the objects, the peoples actions, and even in the time and the names of the lucky contestants.

In the story, “The Lottery”, the characters are introduced in a carefree way. One character, Tessie Hutchinson, was introduced as a woman who had forgotten an important day in her community and was late to the event. Throughout “The Lottery”, Mrs. Hutchinson displays two main traits. First, Mrs. Hutchinson displays being carefree. Mrs. Hutchinson was very calm when she walked up to the crowd as she said, “‘Clean forgot what day it was’” (Jackson). This shows how common an ordeal the lottery was in their way of life. The lottery did not seem to make anyone super nervous. This shows how Mrs. Hutchinson developed as a character throughout the story. Mrs. Hutchinson was also frightened. When Mr. Hutchinson unfolded his slip of paper Tessie began to scream of unfairness (Jackson). Mrs. Hutchinson shows how frightened she is for her life because she knows that she has a higher chance of dying once her husband is shown with the only special slip of paper. Another character in “The Lottery” is Mr. Summers.Mr. Summers shows two main traits while in the story as well. Mr. Summers is a married man, without children, that “...[has the] time and energy to devote to civic activities”, which makes him responsible in his town(Jackson). This is important to the story because he is the proctor of an age-old tradition that kills people. Mr. Summers almost acts as if “The Lottery” is just like any other community event like a county fair. He acts with no remorse because it is traditional to have the lottery. Mr. Summers also is traditional. As he is setting up for the lottery to begin, he remembers and performs a lot of rituals that occur during this event like using the same black drawing box or calling up each male head of household or making up the family lists after everyone was gathered (Jackson). Mr. Summers is knit picky about what happens as the day moves along because if anything goes wrong, he is responsible and could possibly be disciplined for the mistake. If there was a mistake the result could quite possibly be death because that is the whole purpose of the lottery, to rid the community of a person, by stoning. Therefore, Mr. Summers would not stray from the traditional ways of performing the lottery at all. The

The lottery the town is converging for being by a man named Mr. Summers, who supervises the local coal business.He came carrying the old black ballot box with the postmaster Mr. Graves. He and a couple of the townsmen prop the box on a stool brought by Graves.The stool has existed as long as the older lottery than Old Man Warner. Mr. Summers has mentioned copious times of making a new box, but never follows through. The ballot takes place by using pieces of paper, as opposed to the wood chips of the past.Summers mixes up the paper in the box for the lottery. He and Graves have already made the lottery slips the night before. Mr. Summers is then sworn in but without the salutes and songs of the past.

Through use of having community events, celebrating traditions, and repeating the traditions, Shirley Jackson is able to prove that the townspeople are not as cruel as the audience may think. They have many community gatherings that are happy, unlike the lottery. “Jovial man” Mr. Summers conducts the lottery, “the square dances, the teenage club, and Halloween program.” It is very obvious that Mr. Summers, is not a bad man, so he cannot, and should not be blamed for the lottery. Shirley Jackson is trying to prove that although the lottery itself is bad, the people who participate in it are not. Even though the lottery appears to be horrid, Jackson attempts to make the town look civil and human. All the town does the lottery so that they can have good crops that season. The saying goes “lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” People are considered “crazy fools” if they do not continue with the lottery. Jackson tries to show that the people who second guess the lottery are not popular with some people in town. Also if the town has a bad crop year townspeople will probably blame the doubters. The townspeople have always had a lottery, so it is unknown what would happen if they decided to skip it. Old Man Warner is the town’s oldest townsperson, and he is most experienced with the lottery. No one‒Old Man Warner included‒ ever remembers a time where there was not a lottery. “There’s always been a lottery”

Shirley Jackson’s use of characters is very detrimental to keeping the theme of the story lively. Whether they play a minor or significant role to the story each character reveals a lot of information about the tradition of the lottery and its intentions, varying from subtle to obvious details. One of the most important characters is Old Man Warner, an elderly man who is very conservative about the preservation of this tradition He holds it dearly to his heart, despite the fact that this tradition is slowly deteriorating in villages around him. Old Man Warner represents the stubborn nature of all the townspeople who are reluctant to

Symbolism is used throughout The Lottery in the character names. Author, Shirley Jackson, uses the name of, Mr. Graves, to foreshadow the story and explain what “The Lottery” really is. Mr. Graves is the one who carries the three-legged stool which could indicate two things: the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or it could mean the past, present and future, saying that “The Lottery” will always be among the people of the village. In addition, he is also the owner of the post office and as the Postmaster, he delivers the news of the lottery on who will get stoned to death. Mr. Graves name signals the tombstones, death, and a cemetery. As well as Mr. Graves, Mr. Summers name also serves a symbolic purpose. He runs clubs and