The Lottery Symbolism

Improved Essays
Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery takes its readers down the slippery slope of an uncivilized society. Taking place in the 1900’s, a non-descript village continues to practice it’s established customs for the sake of preserving tradition. Every member of the village must attend the lottery, and every person must draw their ticket. Through Shirley Jackson’s work, the story is revealed through the eyes of Tess Hutchinson, a housewife living in the village. Readers will find out if Tess prevails against all odds, or if her luck has abandoned her in The Lottery. At the beginning of the story, it seems to be a happy day in the village. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers …show more content…
For example, Mary Ellen Judd speculates that the story “is an allegory for how random life can be” ( 2 ). The town itself represents the fear of change, since the lottery continues to operate, even though it is morally wrong in every aspect. This contrasts sharply with Mrs. Hutchinson, who is the only member of the village who is willing to revolt and rebel against the lottery. “Not about the fact if the lottery, but that it unfairly resulted in her family being chosen.”, Steven Judd remarks. ( 2 ). This symbolism is supported by the fact that other towns have ceased the lottery, and the town described in the story is the only village that hasn’t abandoned their lottery. The villagers continue the operation of the lottery, just as they have done so in the past. Athira notes that the oldest man in the village believes “the lottery is the best thing that ever happened” ( 2 ). This symbolism suggests that the author is trying to convey to the reader that people should not be afraid to embrace new ideas, instead of always following the past traditions. Bryan Francoeur mentions that, “ What ‘The Lottery’ is really about are the broader issues of not blindly obeying authority and not doing things just because they are tradition. The people of the town don 't even stop to think about why they are killing someone, and we never find out through the course of the story” ( 3 ). Diana summarizes: “ The underlying message of Jackson 's story is just as relevant today as ever” ( 1

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Themes In The Lottery

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “The general population doesn’t know what’s happening, and it doesn’t even know that it doesn’t know”(maybe say smth like “said” or start the quote like “Noam Chomsky once said that “”) Noam Chomsky. When one blindly follows someone or something, he or she can easily turn away from the path of basic humanity without even knowing. Similarly, in “The Lottery” regular citizens murdered someone each year by blindly following their traditions. The overall theme of "The Lottery" is the dangers of blindly following traditions and the theme was supported by three main literary aspects.…

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The story symbolizes tradition, unquestioned traditions that exist not just in the society of the Lottery. The Lottery suggests collective mentality, despite Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson being married he participates in the stoning of his wife, as do her children and friends. When a group is set in a tradition, people lose their individuality and may succumb to peer pressure. The fact that Mr. Hutchinson and her friends in the town can go from being neighbors and casual with each other one moment, to stoning her the next, show how quickly people can have a change of heart. The heavy emphasis on religious traditions and symbols make Shirley Jacksons the Lottery a dark and mysterious short story that leaves a lasting impression on the…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Lottery” was published just after World War II, where numerous slaughters of innocent humans occurred, which was majorly the result of people aimlessly follow the idea of Nazism. Jackson wants to relate the cry for justice of Mrs. Hutchinson to many innocent victims during World War II so the audience at that time could empathize and understand how the victims of wars felt when they were killed through no fault of their own. As this and the above passages show, Shirley Jackson is pointing out the immorality of random and pointless killings, reminiscent the Holocaust and bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which resulted from blindly following ideology and…

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In most cases, people earn money from a lottery, except for the characters in the short story “The Lottery”. In this tale, the villagers in a small community are participating in their annual lottery. However, it turns out that the winners may win a lot less than they hoped for. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the author uses symbolism to foretell what would happen later on in the story.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in the month of June in 1948. The story is about an annual tradition, called the lottery, held in an anonymous small village. All of the villagers gather for the annual event and Mr. Summers conducts a quick roll call. Each one of the residents of the village draws a piece of paper from the black box. As this happens, the villagers start to talk with one another how some nearby villages have stopped following the tradition of the lottery.…

    • 1379 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Each short story has its own style, form and content although authors tend to add their own little touches to them, which makes each one somewhat different to the others. A good example of an authors touch within a short story would be "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, since she uses a fair amount of symbolism in order to relate the contents of the story to the story itself, such as the names of the characters, objects as well as certain events. Symbolism is used a lot in many different writings, but how can symbolism within "The Lottery" help reflect on what the short story will eventually lead to? I believe that symbolism that is used within that short story will give the readers hints about the story and will also broaden their thoughts…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jackson 's short story written in 1948 follows this theme throughout the exposition to the resolution of the story. In “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson a diminutive farm town follows an important tradition. Each year a “lottery” is held in order to bring fruitful crops during the annual harvest. The winner of this “lottery” undergoes a painful death by stoning by the townspeople and their family members.…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Misleading tradition In the short story, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, people in the village gather around for the annual lottery. In the end, Tessie, the wife of Bill Hutchinson, is the one to receive the black dot on her slip and everyone stones Tessie to death. Readers who read this tragedy may wonder why the community does this brutal event. Originally, the lottery was a sacrifice for the crops to flourish, but as time passed the ritual became a tradition. First off, the original purpose of this brutal event was to sacrifice a person for the corn crops to thrive.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson explains to us the way the lottery is worked. Shirley Jackson used many different elements and rituals to create this story. Shirley Jackson is trying to get us to understand the meaning of each symbolism he has said the story. In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to illustrate the themes of the lottery box and stoning which in turn help enhance the action of the plot.…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    First and foremost, the use of the color black plays an important role in this story. Black is culturally used to portray darkness, evil, and death. With the removal of light, darkness prevails. The black box that people draw the slip of paper for the lottery is one of the objects that Shirley Jackson uses to foreshadow the end of the story. The black box represents the tradition of the lottery in that village.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In her short story, “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson describes a small town’s obedience to tradition as villagers gather to determine which one of them will become that year’s human sacrifice. The lottery (considered a civic community event) takes place in the village square, in the corner of which is a pile of stones. As the villagers gather, the adults avoid the pile, but the young boys play near it, taking small stones to fill their pockets. The trappings of the lottery are described in detail – a black box so old that it is splintered and faded, placed on an unsteady stool; pieces of paper, one of which is marked, (replacing the previously-used wood chips); a speech that is no longer given – all painting the picture that the lottery is an…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Traditions have been a vital part of the world since the beginning of time. Whether it be cutting down a Christmas tree at Christmas time or trick or treating at Halloween, traditions come in all shapes and forms and are celebrated all around the world. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, a society continues a tradition that has went on for many years. Not only is this such a skewed tradition, it is one that can cause potential harm to those who participate. Jackson reveals Mrs. Hutchinson character through the setting, irony, symbolism, and theme as a result of a blind eye towards the lottery tradition.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Shirley Jackson, in her short story “The Lottery,” emphasizes the importance of standing up for what one believes in. Jackson exemplifies her message through Tessie Hutchinson, who believes the lottery is unjustified and does not conform to the village’s belief of human sacrifice for a successful harvest. Tessie Hutchinson anticipates her own death and as a result expresses her affliction to the village. On the verge of her death, Tessie Hutchinson utilizes her last breath to voice her opinion towards the lottery: “‘It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,’ Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her” (7). Jackson’s short story apprises her readers to stand up for their beliefs, regardless of fear for being rejected by society.…

    • 118 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Shirley Jackson 's "the Lottery" is a short story about the faults of tradition, dealing with multiple forms of traditions. Given that the "the Lottery" presents the idea of tradition as superfluous in circumstances regarding social negativity; also given the time period that the short story, "the Lottery" was published--the year of 1949--which is only one year before the second wave of feminism began (from 1950-1970) with these two givens one could assume that one of the traditions that the short story was eluding to was the traditional gender roles within the society of the story itself, and the society of those who read it. Through "the Lottery" Jackson conveys a feminist perspective via three themes: sex and gender, family, and tradition.…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” we read about a fictional small town which observes other communities both small and larger, throughout a contemporary America. Throughout this story we learn about a ritual which is known as “the lottery.” Throughout this paper I’ll be discussing the climax, main conflict and how this story relates to ‘The Hook’ in a scary and suspenseful way but first starting off with a short summary of the story. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” a classic American short story with a shocking twist ending as well as its insightful interpretation on cultural traditions.…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays