Symbolism In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery
Ana Bruges
“The lottery” The Lottery, a short story written by Shirley Jackson explains two of the most important aspects of humanity: traditions and rituals. The story takes place in a small town in New England where every year a lottery is held, most people would relate lottery to wining cash. In this lottery one person will be randomly choose to be stoned to death by the people in the village including their own family members. The lottery has been practiced for over seventy years by the townspeople and even though the villagers do not know the purpose of this tradition or the origin of it, they keep it to show respect to their ancestors ignoring the fact that is cruel and it is turning the whole village into murderers.
The author, Jackson uses symbols to explain the true meaning behind the lottery; she uses names and objects to explain the story. The black box symbolizes death and the tradition itself, even though the box is deteriorated the people from the village refuse to replace it, just like the tradition, it is antique and it doesn’t make much sense but people is willing to follow it blindly. The names from the people also hold an important meaning. Jackson uses symbolic names to indicate what type of lottery is being …show more content…
This story might sound as fiction, but Religious Persecution have always happen in every part of the world. The Lottery remains relevant in our society today because the symbols in the story were never fully explained. Just like religion people follow it blindly without needing any reasons. The story itself symbolizes tradition, unquestioned traditions that exist not just in the society of the Lottery but on ours everyday. The heavy emphasis on religious traditions and symbols make the Lottery one of the darkest and most mysterious stories to
“The lottery” The Lottery, a short story written by Shirley Jackson explains two of the most important aspects of humanity: traditions and rituals. The story takes place in a small town in New England where every year a lottery is held, most people would relate lottery to wining cash. In this lottery one person will be randomly choose to be stoned to death by the people in the village including their own family members. The lottery has been practiced for over seventy years by the townspeople and even though the villagers do not know the purpose of this tradition or the origin of it, they keep it to show respect to their ancestors ignoring the fact that is cruel and it is turning the whole village into murderers.
The author, Jackson uses symbols to explain the true meaning behind the lottery; she uses names and objects to explain the story. The black box symbolizes death and the tradition itself, even though the box is deteriorated the people from the village refuse to replace it, just like the tradition, it is antique and it doesn’t make much sense but people is willing to follow it blindly. The names from the people also hold an important meaning. Jackson uses symbolic names to indicate what type of lottery is being …show more content…
This story might sound as fiction, but Religious Persecution have always happen in every part of the world. The Lottery remains relevant in our society today because the symbols in the story were never fully explained. Just like religion people follow it blindly without needing any reasons. The story itself symbolizes tradition, unquestioned traditions that exist not just in the society of the Lottery but on ours everyday. The heavy emphasis on religious traditions and symbols make the Lottery one of the darkest and most mysterious stories to