The Danger of Tradition Imagine doing something over and over again, but there does not appear to be a true purpose behind it. A person does something just because his ancestors did it before him, but the reason why has been lost. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, they reveal the idea of following a certain tradition, but the characters do not really need the tradition anymore. In “The Lottery,” Jackson writes about a town coming together right before the harvest, and they have a lottery.…
Throughout the story “The Lottery” the black box is the most notable and prevalent symbol that reoccurs in the book. The Black Box represents the illogical blind loyalty to society's ways. We can see this through many unexplainable actions made by the population of the town. Not only has a whole group, but the actions of a single person as well.…
The first symbolic device in “The Lottery” is the black box seen on page 1 paragraph 1, “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). Here the author states that Mr. Summers recommended making a new black box because the one they'd been using had been worn out and rusted, but the villagers did not want to replace it because it would change a part of their tradition of the annual lottery. This shows the readers that the villagers were very strict and devoted to their tradition and not even the smallest things could be changed about it. What we learn from this example is that some things changed or not really does not matter because if the villagers would have gotten a new box it really would not have had changed anything to their ritual. Additionally, Shirley Jackson uses another form of symbolism in “The Lottery” and it's found right in the title!…
“The present black box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it…” and that it has been there “even before Old Man Warner” (1). It is an object used to perpetuate tradition. In reality, people use objects like the stones in traditional punishments. Symbols in such stories represents dark elements from cultural traditions. In “The Lottery”, the characters, the lottery tradition, and the material objects are example of those elements.…
The black box represents a tradition this village has been doing for years, somehow it has gotten lost along the way. The tradition is fading away from this village like how the box is starting to look like. “The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago.” (140) The black box has broken pieces from other previous boxes, “there was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it.”…
Firstly, the box is described as an old, splintering, black box. The exact nature behind the box is a mystery, as the townspeople have different theories of where it came from. Usually, the color black is associated with death; therefore, it is an apt description that the black box is a bringer of death. One person’s entire fate rests upon what the black box contains, and this black box rests upon the three-legged stool. In her article, “The Lottery” Symbolic Tour de Force, Helen Nebeker says “…the significance of the three-legged stool- as old as the tripod of the Delphic oracle, as new as the Christian trinity.…
The black box contains the slip of paper that sentences the person to death, and the stones are what is used to kill the person, or stone them to death. This is proof because both show examples of death, and death is the key theme in “The Lottery”.…
In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses an old decrepit black box as to highlight the parable in her plot. At first, the meaning of the black box was not certain and unclear. The box was older than the oldest man in the village and…
In this quote we see that even though the town believes that this is an important tradition, that is really not the case. ‘Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.’ In this quote it is shown that nobody actually cared why or how this traditions came to be but they continued it anyway because in a sick way they enjoyed the stoning to death. That was the only thing they did correctly, the killing. Nobody in this society understands that a life is a very precious thing and that it should not be gambled like this.…
That this black box is special to the village, even though it got shabbier each year, it was no longer black, splintered baldy on one side of the box, showing the original wood color, and that some places on the box was either faded or stained. Even though this box is growing old and might break one day, the people still want to use the box as their culture and tradition, to keep it alive to the people and the whole…
Shirley Jackson uses symbolism in this short story by using objects, names, and the setting to tell the meaning of the lottery. The objects in the story represent symbolic meanings to The Lottery. Helen E. Nedbeker states “The present box has been made from pieces of the original (as though it were salvaged somehow) and is now blackened, faded, and stained…
This black box symbolizes the tradition of the very old town. Everyone is whispering in the town about the lottery because they are too afraid to speak out in front of the town. In the text it states, “Seems like there is no time at all between lotteries any more, Mrs. Delacroix said to Mrs. Graves in the back row. Seems like we got through with the last one only last week.” (94)…
The timelessness of certain traditional values offer a sense of comfort. In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson uses the shabby black box to symbolize of the resentment society feels towards change (SparkNotes Editors). This is demonstrated by the villager’s refusal to replace the black box, despite the fact that it is old and decrepit. The villagers have used the same black box in the lottery draw for generations. As a result, the black box is described as, “faded, badly splintered and shabbier each year” (Jackson 134).…
Both “The Lottery”, and “One Friday Morning” are great and developed stories. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson shows suspense, and a great use of imagery. But overall, “One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes is the best choice and should be chosen for the 1940’s unit because of the character development, and the breathtaking symbolism. The first reason why “One Friday Morning” should be a part of the 1940’s unit is because of the character development in Nancy Lee.…
In the short story, “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses imagery and symbolism to show that evil can be present in the most innocent environment, resulting in society being tainted with dark illusion. Superstitious tradition symbolized an important role to the people in this village. Mr. Summers a man that was in charge of the majority of the events in the town, always spoke about making a new black box but never did. (134) The people of the village would rather keep the same box rather than upsetting tradition with something new.…