Use Of Symbols In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

The short story, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson begins on a pleasant summer day on June 27. For over seventy years, in a small, obliging, rural community populated with approximately three hundred people, a seemingly innocent lottery occurs. Shockingly, the ending unveils an inescapable horrific event. Readers can see the connections with other stories, such as “Hunger Games,” “Logan’s Run,” and “Battle Royal” that convey this idea that unquestionable sacrificial traditions will be for the good of the collective group. In “The Lottery,” Jackson embeds meaningful, thought-provoking, impactful, and mysterious symbols. The three symbols, the black box, the three-legged stool, and the character, Tessie Hutchinson, are compelling to the story. The first symbol in Jackson’s “The Lottery” is the black box. Traditionally on June 27, Mr. Summers collects the black box out of its place of storage, such as a barn, the post office, or a grocery shelf. This black box has been utilized long before the village’s oldest man of seventy-seven years old. Distinctly, on this special day, Mr. Summers in his clean white shirt, the conductor of the lottery, loyally sets the black box on the three-legged …show more content…
Jackson’s effectively describes the black box as being worn and a hodgepodge of the original box, but it has endured the years. Additionally, the three-legged stool represents the religious trinity doctrine and its use of these beliefs to justifiably sacrifice one for the whole. The character, Tessie Hutchinson, symbolizes the scapegoat, but she did use her voice to question the barbaric practice of the lottery. All these symbols reinforce the idea of tradition enduring through the world, certainly in a small rural