Throughout the ages, we have seen that a symbol in literature can suggest more than its average run of the mill meaning. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” she uses several different symbols for their realistic and symbolic meanings. On the realistic level, each symbol sets as a part and that has its own place in the story but represents a hidden thought or idea upon closer inspection. She uses symbolism for these items in the story to create a sense of foreshadowing and to create some flashbacks, so we can better understand the tradition behind “The Lottery”. These items to provide that sense are the stones, the worn out black box, and the dreaded black dot.
The stones not only provide the reader with a sense of foreshadowing of later events …show more content…
Again, the color black means death and that someone is going to die but another symbol that we miss with this one is that while it represents death; it also represents a certainty of it. It represents the fear and hopelessness that one feels whenever they are close to death or in their last moments. In the short story the people say that they have forgotten the origin of the lottery, the rituals that go with the lottery and have substituted things in for more modern devices such as the slips of paper instead of wood chips (Jackson255, 259). This alone represents that the lottery has always been and always will be a part of their life thus having no ending of it in the near future. The dot is a circle with no ends. Therefore, the black dot represents the death one must face at the end of the lottery because it has been set before them and for those after them to always follow. Once the black dot has been drawn the drawer’s fate has been set and there is no escaping it. They feel fear and hopeless at the thought of being stoned to death because there is no other way around it and thus their fate is sealed. So, in this case the black dot represents the certainty of the death but also the fear and hopelessness one might feel whenever it is drawn, and their fate has been sealed …show more content…
The reader can assess that these go along with the tradition in the story but upon closer inspection can realize why they go with the tradition the story has set. Thus, the reader can then understand the hidden meanings behind these important symbols. They can decipher the darker meaning behind the
symbols and realize that winning this lottery doesn’t result in money or fame or glory. It results in death and that winning it means winning a permanent date with death.
Jackson, Shirley “The Lottery.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, edited by X.J. Kennedy, and Dana Gioia, Pearson, 2016, pp.
The stones not only provide the reader with a sense of foreshadowing of later events …show more content…
Again, the color black means death and that someone is going to die but another symbol that we miss with this one is that while it represents death; it also represents a certainty of it. It represents the fear and hopelessness that one feels whenever they are close to death or in their last moments. In the short story the people say that they have forgotten the origin of the lottery, the rituals that go with the lottery and have substituted things in for more modern devices such as the slips of paper instead of wood chips (Jackson255, 259). This alone represents that the lottery has always been and always will be a part of their life thus having no ending of it in the near future. The dot is a circle with no ends. Therefore, the black dot represents the death one must face at the end of the lottery because it has been set before them and for those after them to always follow. Once the black dot has been drawn the drawer’s fate has been set and there is no escaping it. They feel fear and hopeless at the thought of being stoned to death because there is no other way around it and thus their fate is sealed. So, in this case the black dot represents the certainty of the death but also the fear and hopelessness one might feel whenever it is drawn, and their fate has been sealed …show more content…
The reader can assess that these go along with the tradition in the story but upon closer inspection can realize why they go with the tradition the story has set. Thus, the reader can then understand the hidden meanings behind these important symbols. They can decipher the darker meaning behind the
symbols and realize that winning this lottery doesn’t result in money or fame or glory. It results in death and that winning it means winning a permanent date with death.
Jackson, Shirley “The Lottery.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, edited by X.J. Kennedy, and Dana Gioia, Pearson, 2016, pp.