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The Lottery As An Allegory - Online Term Paper

The Lottery As An Allegory

Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery" is an excellent example of an allegorical short story. In this story, the reader learns of a town’s "lottery" that takes place once a year, every year. It has been a tradition in this small rural town for many years and the villagers never question these activities, they just blindly go along with it. But what the reader doesn’t know is just what kind of prize the winner is going to obtain. Jackson’s use of symbolism is shown through the description of the characters, significant objects, and the actions in the story. These elements are used to represent the death that is associated with the lottery.
The first allegorical use is ...

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be associated with the word testy or tizzy. Which means someone who is in an angry or rebellious state. The name Warner can be seen as a literal warning against ceasing the tradition of the lottery. "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon." (236) Mr. Warner says this after Mr. Adams speaks of a neighboring village who has given up the lottery.
The objects depicted in the story are another good representation of the death associated with the lottery. All of the blackness makes the reader think of death and evil. The family which draws the black dot on the paper is the family marked for death. The slips of paper are held in a black box which signifies the horrible outcome. Everything that is terrible and evil is shown through the color black. If someone gets the color black, then they are going to die. "It’s Hutchinson. It’s Bill." (236) Everyone in the village knows what’s to come for the Hutchinson family.
The actions involved with the lottery are symbolic also. At ...

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The Lottery As An Allegory. (2004, February 22). Retrieved January 9, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Lottery-As-An-Allegory/3477

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 2/22/2004 07:14:23 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 567
Pages: 3

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