Symbolism In The Lottery
Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, clearly expresses her feelings concerning traditional rituals through her story. It opens the eyes of readers to properly classify and question some of today’s traditions as cruel, and allows room to foretell the outcome of these unusual traditions. “The Lottery” is a short story that records the annual sacrifice ceremony of a fictional small town. It is a detailed narrative of the selection of the person to be sacrificed, a process known to the townspeople as “the lottery”. This selection is extremely rich in symbolism. Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to make readers aware of the pointless nature of ...
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friend to Tessie Hutchinson, the woman ultimately selected for the sacrifice, but turns on her at the end along with the rest of the townspeople. Delacroix is not angry with Hutchinson, but helps kill her because of the tradition. The symbolism here is apparent. The church, usually seen as a positive influence, can sometimes turn on a person in the name of ritual and tradition.
Mr. Adams, another character, is the first to draw from the lottery box. His name, Adams, coupled with the fact that he is the first man to draw from the lottery box,
indicates that he is biblically representative of humanity. Like the other characters, he is supposed to stand for the average person. This illustrates that the story is universally applicable to everyone.
Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves also have symbolic names. Mr. Summers, the owner of a coal business, runs all the civic activities, including the lottery. His name is a representative of the lottery itself, which occurs every summer. ...
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splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained. (230)
The condition of the black box represents the slow transformation and decay of the religious ideals that were the foundation of the lottery concept. Not one person in the little town questions the origin of the black box, but they accept it as a tortuous part of their lives.
The effects of the passage of time are also evident by the passage regarding how the chips for wood that were used for generations had been substituted for a direct descendant, slips of paper (230). The black spot drawn on the deciding slip of paper is black to represent the death it brings. The pieces of ...
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"Symbolism In The Lottery." Essayworld.com. June 8, 2007. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Symbolism-In-The-Lottery/66138.
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