In any story symbols contribute heavily to the overall meaning and take away from that literary work. In “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, one very symbolic article is that in which the slips are actually drawn from; that is the black box itself. Representing darkness and danger the black box incorporates and truly represents the fear and blindness following of the societal ways.
Every year as society “advances”, if one shall even call it that, the societies ways and values are forgotten more and more. The black box itself is described as deteriorating by growing “shabbier each year” and now it was “no longer completely black but splintered.” In a way, society is the exact same. Every year the undeveloped town is forgetting its roots and …show more content…
In the story so much of the ritual in fact had been discarded the Mr.Summers had been “successful in having slips of paper substituted” for the “chips of wood” that had been used originally. In a sense by forgetting or “losing” the origin of the tradition the society really has no idea the purpose of it. If the origin of the tradition is lost then what is the real point of following? Not knowing the true meaning of doing something but following it out of fear has been the pivotal breaking point of many societies in the past and often are the origin of nasty and horrible things. Look at something as horrible as the Nazi Genocide in the early 1900’s. Millions of people were killed yet the group was still being followed heavily and supported by thousands. Most of the people controlling the prisoners were not truly fond of the act but they still followed “tradition” at the point in time out of fear. This corresponds directly to the story because although many of the people in the society may not know the origin of tradition they still blindly follow others lead and kill innocent people. By blindly following the role of other “leaders”, they are as guilty as everybody else. Overall if the origin of the tradition had been loss awhile ago and new pieces are being implemented, what is the point of having the original ideas of the tradition still occur if the true meaning is not
Every year as society “advances”, if one shall even call it that, the societies ways and values are forgotten more and more. The black box itself is described as deteriorating by growing “shabbier each year” and now it was “no longer completely black but splintered.” In a way, society is the exact same. Every year the undeveloped town is forgetting its roots and …show more content…
In the story so much of the ritual in fact had been discarded the Mr.Summers had been “successful in having slips of paper substituted” for the “chips of wood” that had been used originally. In a sense by forgetting or “losing” the origin of the tradition the society really has no idea the purpose of it. If the origin of the tradition is lost then what is the real point of following? Not knowing the true meaning of doing something but following it out of fear has been the pivotal breaking point of many societies in the past and often are the origin of nasty and horrible things. Look at something as horrible as the Nazi Genocide in the early 1900’s. Millions of people were killed yet the group was still being followed heavily and supported by thousands. Most of the people controlling the prisoners were not truly fond of the act but they still followed “tradition” at the point in time out of fear. This corresponds directly to the story because although many of the people in the society may not know the origin of tradition they still blindly follow others lead and kill innocent people. By blindly following the role of other “leaders”, they are as guilty as everybody else. Overall if the origin of the tradition had been loss awhile ago and new pieces are being implemented, what is the point of having the original ideas of the tradition still occur if the true meaning is not