In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the black box is a symbol of the town’s adherence to a strong yet poorly understood tradition. Jackson shows the strong attachment to the tradition when describing the current condition of the box. The current box is hardly a remnant of the original and yet, the townspeople refuse to make a new one, even though it is needed. Furthermore, Jackson uses the imagery of the black box to explain how the tradition has lost its potency over time. Finally the author shows the poor understanding of the tradition when the villagers use the character Tessie as a scapegoat to commend their local tradition. Throughout the short story it becomes apparent of the town’s misunderstanding of a tradition, symbolized by the
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The point of the author adding this is to show irony given the village’s currently partaking in primitive acts with the stoning of a villager for a plentiful harvest. Old man Warner only mentions the purpose of the lottery once claiming it is for a plentiful harvest. Jackson does this to show that the harvest may have been the original reason for the use of the lottery, but it has since faded over time similar to the box. Similar concepts are voiced in “DIAMOND RINGS Capitalizing on Social Trends,” describing how diamond rings did not always represent a symbol of love but rather,“filled the hole left by the defunct breach of promise actions, which had provided women with financial security at a time when many people still viewed marriage as more of a career path than a romantic relationship” (Kohles 29). This demonstrates how the tradition differs from what most Americans today believe is the reason for the diamond ring. This is similar to the villagers in “The Lottery” with a flimsy understanding to the origins and most of the reasons behind the …show more content…
Tessie Hutchinson is the unlucky candidate in the story and through the death of her character, the primitive nature of the selfish and confused humans is revealed. Although the celebration of the lottery is to promote a plentiful harvest the following season, the killing of an innocent person is an egregious event and the town fails to see that. Without the mention of any law enforcement to stop such an act in the story, it can be reasoned that the lottery is a purge of all of the town’s aggression in one act to make the need of law enforcement obsolete. With the death of Tessie Hutchinson, not only is the nature of the villagers revealed, but also it is shown that she is not a very strong willed character, claiming multiple times “it wasn’t fair,” (Jackson 5) when chosen. Once sentenced to death Tessie immediately changes past views supporting the lottery and refusing to follow the town’s tradition. The author writes about this to not only mention the changed opinion of the targeted, but also show that the clarity of mind towards the lottery does not come unless targeted by the lottery. This leaves the town in an eternal practice of the lottery due to the provincial minds of those not yet chosen. Similar scapegoat situations are seen in contemporary works regarding the usefulness of the Calvary. As
The point of the author adding this is to show irony given the village’s currently partaking in primitive acts with the stoning of a villager for a plentiful harvest. Old man Warner only mentions the purpose of the lottery once claiming it is for a plentiful harvest. Jackson does this to show that the harvest may have been the original reason for the use of the lottery, but it has since faded over time similar to the box. Similar concepts are voiced in “DIAMOND RINGS Capitalizing on Social Trends,” describing how diamond rings did not always represent a symbol of love but rather,“filled the hole left by the defunct breach of promise actions, which had provided women with financial security at a time when many people still viewed marriage as more of a career path than a romantic relationship” (Kohles 29). This demonstrates how the tradition differs from what most Americans today believe is the reason for the diamond ring. This is similar to the villagers in “The Lottery” with a flimsy understanding to the origins and most of the reasons behind the …show more content…
Tessie Hutchinson is the unlucky candidate in the story and through the death of her character, the primitive nature of the selfish and confused humans is revealed. Although the celebration of the lottery is to promote a plentiful harvest the following season, the killing of an innocent person is an egregious event and the town fails to see that. Without the mention of any law enforcement to stop such an act in the story, it can be reasoned that the lottery is a purge of all of the town’s aggression in one act to make the need of law enforcement obsolete. With the death of Tessie Hutchinson, not only is the nature of the villagers revealed, but also it is shown that she is not a very strong willed character, claiming multiple times “it wasn’t fair,” (Jackson 5) when chosen. Once sentenced to death Tessie immediately changes past views supporting the lottery and refusing to follow the town’s tradition. The author writes about this to not only mention the changed opinion of the targeted, but also show that the clarity of mind towards the lottery does not come unless targeted by the lottery. This leaves the town in an eternal practice of the lottery due to the provincial minds of those not yet chosen. Similar scapegoat situations are seen in contemporary works regarding the usefulness of the Calvary. As