Shirley Jackson opens by painting a beautiful image: during a warm bright summer day with children at play, a small town gather for a traditional lottery. Yet things are not what they seem, as by the end of the story this lottery takes on a sinister role. Rather than winning riches, the winner of the lottery gets sacrificed, in one of the most barbaric ways possible: Stoning. A narrative filled to the brim with symbolism, Jackson ensures that most of what is depicted holds some meaning behind it, whether it goes noticed or not. She uses this immense amount of symbolism in the setting, characters and objects to conceal the true intention of the lottery till the end, depicting the historic problem of blind tradition following, despite the violence
…show more content…
(Wilson 140). The peaceful small town portrayed is in the midst of summer, a time for growth. The flowers are “blooming profusely” and the grass is “richly green”. (3) This adds to the horror as it really shows this kind of senseless sacrificial violence can take place anywhere, even in the most innocent of places. It is also mentioned that this is all taking place on june 27th: during a summer solstice, which was a time many prehistoric rituals would occur. Jackson was depicting how rituals were often continued to evoke a sense of unity and history among a community, despite their potentially barbaric nature. Plenty of evidence gives substance to this. The joy of the children playing with stones for one, also shows how family is already conditioning the next generation to carry on the tradition. Although there is an evident fear among the villagers with them “not looking around” and “turning [the paper] over and over nervously” (12) during the actually lottery process, rather than feel any sort of remorse, the people are simply jubilant that it wasn't them this year. Those who found out they weren't picked would simply laugh and grin while holding up the slit of paper above their head. Someone even gives “little davy hutchinson” some pebbles so he can stone his mother: something which no one stops to question the morality …show more content…
Summers seems to embody innovation in the village, something the villagers are rather reluctant to embrace. He calls for a new black box as the old one was getting “shabby”, yet no one took kindly to this. It may not be any surprize as to why, as the black box is pretty much a physical representation of the village wide tradition. He had more success replacing wood chips with paper slips with black dots, but what is paper but processed wood? Interestingly, with the black dot denoting death in the story, Jackson was most likely referencing the black death, where if people got black marks on their skin it signified their imminent death (Heilman 384). Yet when death is involved, there is no better stand in than the mysterious Mr. Graves. He is the postmaster of the village, which a position of enormous power controlling the communication with the outside world. Despite this he is never portrayed with much detail and never says a word throughout this dialogue-rich story, making him simply a walking symbol of where this lottery winners will end up. Yet this story is about tradition, and of course there has to be a character to stand in for this: old man warner. As the oldest man in the town, he truly feels the tradition of the lottery should not be changed at all. He mentions "used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns." (33) This shows his belief
(Wilson 140). The peaceful small town portrayed is in the midst of summer, a time for growth. The flowers are “blooming profusely” and the grass is “richly green”. (3) This adds to the horror as it really shows this kind of senseless sacrificial violence can take place anywhere, even in the most innocent of places. It is also mentioned that this is all taking place on june 27th: during a summer solstice, which was a time many prehistoric rituals would occur. Jackson was depicting how rituals were often continued to evoke a sense of unity and history among a community, despite their potentially barbaric nature. Plenty of evidence gives substance to this. The joy of the children playing with stones for one, also shows how family is already conditioning the next generation to carry on the tradition. Although there is an evident fear among the villagers with them “not looking around” and “turning [the paper] over and over nervously” (12) during the actually lottery process, rather than feel any sort of remorse, the people are simply jubilant that it wasn't them this year. Those who found out they weren't picked would simply laugh and grin while holding up the slit of paper above their head. Someone even gives “little davy hutchinson” some pebbles so he can stone his mother: something which no one stops to question the morality …show more content…
Summers seems to embody innovation in the village, something the villagers are rather reluctant to embrace. He calls for a new black box as the old one was getting “shabby”, yet no one took kindly to this. It may not be any surprize as to why, as the black box is pretty much a physical representation of the village wide tradition. He had more success replacing wood chips with paper slips with black dots, but what is paper but processed wood? Interestingly, with the black dot denoting death in the story, Jackson was most likely referencing the black death, where if people got black marks on their skin it signified their imminent death (Heilman 384). Yet when death is involved, there is no better stand in than the mysterious Mr. Graves. He is the postmaster of the village, which a position of enormous power controlling the communication with the outside world. Despite this he is never portrayed with much detail and never says a word throughout this dialogue-rich story, making him simply a walking symbol of where this lottery winners will end up. Yet this story is about tradition, and of course there has to be a character to stand in for this: old man warner. As the oldest man in the town, he truly feels the tradition of the lottery should not be changed at all. He mentions "used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns." (33) This shows his belief