Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The stones that the boys gather in the beginning are a good source of symbolism. “...the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones…” (Jackson 1). Their choice of these certain rocks symbolizes how cruel this tradition is. The purpose of these smooth rocks is that they will cause a long painful death which was taught by their elders example. A black box that is used to pull the slips of paper out of, to determine the winner, is a strong source of symbolism. “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box” (Jackson 1). She also writes “The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained” (Jackson 2). Black is the color of the box, but black also represents death that the tradition holds. She states that the box grows shabbier every year. This could be compared the tradition itself. Every year this tradition gets shabbier, and other villages have gotten rid of this horrific tradition. Eventually the box will fall apart and never be rebuilt in hopes that the tradition will too.

A lottery is a process that is entirely controlled by chance, whether there is loss or success is dependent on luck. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a small town that holds an annual lottery. The lottery itself is an age long tradition that started so long ago the ritual had been mostly forgotten. The villages around them have shut down the lottery, because of how old and forgotten the lottery is. This shows how people will blindly follow tradition no matter the age of it.(Jackson, “Read The Lottery...”).

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is set in a small town with a population being around 300 people, in this town everyone seems to be familiar and kind towards each other. Each year there is a lottery in this town which is a yearly tradition and everyone is there to participate in it. As all the villagers’ were gathered together, Mr. Summers had finally arrived with the black box to begin the lottery. The box had folded slips of paper inside of it and one of those papers had a black dot on it and to win the lottery you would have to pick that certain paper. The winner of the lottery this year was Tessie Hutchinson and out of no where all the adults and innocent children had ganged up on Mrs. Hutchinson and started to throw stones at her until her death. The author’s tone is what made this short story’s ending so unanticipated and the village had suddenly turned from being quiet and peaceful to completely violent and gruesome. The way everyone including her family had turned on Tessie

Would you stone your neighborhood to death for the sake of tradition? Shirley Jackson wrote The Lottery in 1948 to tell a story about how savage people can be for tradition. The story is about a small town who has a yearly lottery and the winner gets stoned to death by their neighbors. The thought is that if you have a lottery, then you will have good crops that season. This short story tells the tale of poor Tessie Hutchinson who is stoned by her own town, her son helps too. In the short story The Lottery, Shirley Jackson argues that all people, regardless of how civilized they may seem, are capable of great evil by contrasting seemingly pleasant and relatable details of the town with the shocking barbarity of their tradition.

Shirley Jackson also utilizes literary devices to good effect in “The Lottery,” especially that of symbolism. By keeping the setting devoid of any identifying details, Jackson frees the reader to imagine that it could be any place. The only constraints that the author places on her readers’ creativity are that the town is decidedly rural, perhaps narrowing the critique to the cultural scene most frequently associated with small town America. Other symbols include the box from which the lottery slips are drawn (an old and black object which heralds death), stoning as a method of execution (a particularly old and excruciating way to kill someone), and ritual itself (a series of often ill contemplated actions for which one needs no particular reason to follow). All of these, with their marked reference to age, clearly refer to tradition.

Almost everyone has gone to a funeral before, and they have witnessed their loved ones passing on. For example, when you go to a funeral everything is dim, bitter, and depressing. In “The Lottery” the characters have a drawing of cards on who is going to die. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson uses descriptive language to show how the characters won’t change tradition even though it is inhumane.

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a story littered with warnings and subtext about the dangers a submissive society can pose. While the opening is deceptively cheery and light Jackson uses an array of symbols and ominous syntax to help create the apprehensive and grim tone the story ends with. Her portrayal of the town folk as blindly following tradition represents the world during World War II when people’s failure to not mindlessly accept and heed authority lead to disastrous consequences. . Shirley Jackson uses a large array of techniques to help convey the idea that recklessly following and accepting traditions and orders can lead to disastrous consequences.

    "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

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a terrify story about a small town and their traditions. The Ending of the lottery is the most shocking many of its readers have ever read. Why is it so shocking. Well Shirley jackson uses sybolism and simple narritive and her normal life to convey such a shock.

To a first time reader, Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” seems simply as a curious tale with a shocking ending. After repetitive reading of Jackson's tale, it is clear that each sentence is written with a unique purpose often using symbolism. Her use of symbols not only foreshadow its surprise and disturbing ending but allows the reader to evaluate the community's pervert traditional rituals. She may be commenting on the season of the year and the grass being “richly green” or the toying with the meanings of the character's names but each statement applies to the meaning and lesson behind her story.

Shirley Jackson wrote the story “The Lottery” back in 1948 to show us how ridiculous it could be to blindly follow certain traditions. In this story the author uses symbolisms to warn and prepare the reader about the gruesome ending of the lottery. There are a lot of symbols in the story and the main are the items, the lottery and the character names.

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.

What does tradition mean exactly? Well tradition is the passing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, and more, from generation to generation, by practice or speech. When looking at Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” one of their traditions is a lottery that is done annually, where one randomly chosen person dies. One example of a real life tradition that also occurs annually, is a Celebration called días de los muertos or day of the dead, in which we celebrate our departed ancestors. Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery uses characters as a symbol to convey an underlying message that tradition should be questioned, for the idea followed, may have illogical purpose and cause harm.

Shirley Jackson?s insights and observations about society are reflected in her shocking and disturbing short story The Lottery. Jackson reveals two general attitudes in this story: first is the shocking tendency for societies to select a scapegoat and second is the idea that communities are victims of social tradition and rituals.

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a story of an unusual town caught in a trap of always following tradition, even when it is not in their best interest. Jackson uses symbols throughout the story that relate to the overall theme. This helps the reader clearly understand her main message. Jackson uses setting, tone and symbols to convey a theme to her audience. By doing so she creates significant connections to the theme using old man Warner and the black box as examples.