Symbolism In Shirley Jackson's Short Stories

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Shirley Jackson, a short story writer, uses many symbols in her tales. A few of her most famous stories are The Possibility of Evil, The Lottery, and The Order of Charlotte’s Going. These different kind of adventures all include a little bit of evilness whether it is hidden or not. Jackson’s symbols tend to do the same. The author manages symbols to represent a character. This can also give the reader hints to what might happen next in the story. A couple of symbols that are important are the roses in The Possibility of Evil, the black dot on the scrap piece of paper in The Lottery, and the notes in The Order of Charlotte’s Going. Roses from The Possibility of Evil represent Miss Strangeworth’s reputation. For example, in the beginning of …show more content…
The symbol is clear to show whether the family is chosen. The story displays, “By now, all through the crowd there were men holding the small folded papers in their large hand, turning them over and over nervously” (Jackson 5). This indicates how everyone is anxious about the lottery and they do not want to die. Then, Tessie, one of the main characters, had been called out for her scrap piece of paper. She was picked to be beaten to death with rocks. For instance, the tale explains, “Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mister Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up, and there was a stir in the crowd” (Jackson 9). Tessie was in shock. Misses Hutchinson started yelling about how it was not fair and everyone, then, turned against her. The mob managed to have the brutal beating done quickly given from these statements in the short story, “A stone hit her on the side of the head” and “then they were upon her” (Jackson 9). Clearly, the black dot on the paper in The Lottery, determines the fate of one’s …show more content…
One event is when Charlotte, who is dying, opens a letter from an anonymous person. As she gently ripped the envelope, two spiders came crawling onto her. When Anne pretends to be a loyal assistant to Charlotte, she says to herself, “I stepped on one of the spiders and took the second one off her arm and squeezed it between my fingers; I’ve never done such a thing in my life, but for some reason this particular spider just made me sick” (Jackson 291). Though the reader may not know it at the time, Anne wants to frighten Charlotte to help her sickness stop her heart. If the young girl is successful with this, she will receive Charlotte’s riches. In another occasion, Anne sends her a note to get out of bed and go see the fresh, new rock garden. The young helper of Charlotte thinks to herself, “By the end of August our garden was so lovely, I would have liked to die there myself” (Jackson 294). Anne takes the ill girl out and Charlotte is bitten by a milk snake, which is very poisonous. Therefore, the sick lady had died because of Anne’s doing. The youthful Anne had become envious of her wealthiness and had took it upon herself to be a backstabbing friend and kill Charlotte for all of her

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