Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” Symbolism & Imagery

Shirley Jackson’s short tale “The Lottery” was initially published in the April 1948 edition of “The New Yorker.” One of the most straightforward short tales ever written in American literature, so the saying goes. The title of the novella, “The Lottery,” alludes to an unchallenged tradition that occurs every year in a tiny rural village and requires all residents to select names from a hat to choose a “winner.” Unfortunately, the lottery winner must be stoned till they die because of an old, unfounded belief that doing so would make their crops grow. However, the majority of the residents in the town are unaware that this is the reason they still carry out the ceremony. In this essay, I contend that Shirley Jackson employs symbolism and irony in “The Lottery” to illustrate the challenges the villagers have while striving to accept changes to their ingrained customs.

Shirley Jackson uses symbolism in The Lottery to assist her readers understand the message she wants to get through. There are other examples of symbolism, including the black box. The black box is an illustration of symbolism since it stands for tradition, which explains the villagers’ resistance to replacing it despite its shoddy condition. Implicitly, the box also represents death. However, the box’s function rather than its aesthetics is what gives it its symbolic significance. Its darkness represents death. The box serves as a reminder of the community’s past. The parents are reminded that the lottery must continue because of the sacrifices made by their ancestors; they are attempting to avoid being held accountable for disrupting the ongoing cycle of lotteries that has made the community prosperous. The box’s unkempt, dilapidated condition demonstrates that, if it ever had a purpose, this practice is obsolete and pointless. The utilization of the box during the lottery may serve as a metaphor for their impending destiny.

Stoning was a second illustration that was used in the narrative. The short story’s stoning scene is a crucial one. The act of stoning needs many individuals to participate. Everyone, including adults and children, is participating in the stoning (the main ones collecting big stones). The first resources utilized by homo-sapiens were stones, which have been around for a long. Since the biblical ages, the act of stoning has been a significant part of history. The use of stones against religious organizations or believers then evolved into a method of mass murder. To support the villagers’ views and beliefs, it stood for the exclusion of all beliefs than their own.

One instance of symbolism employed in Shirley Jackson’s narrative is the names of the characters. The names Mr. Graves, Mr. Summers, and Mrs. Delacroix that appear in the tale text are a few more signals that cannot be disregarded. Graves, for instance, is self-explanatory in that it may stand for death. As the season when the lottery is conducted, summers may be a metaphor. Delacroix is a French phrase that meaning “of the cross,” which is significant since it may be a spiritual allusion in a community that practices both highly traditional Christian rituals and pagan rituals including human sacrifice. Another emblem is the three-legged stool. The ability to locate a stool with three legs is uncommon. The majority of individuals use four-legged stools. The narrative becomes even more bizarre since the author took the effort to point out that the stool only had three legs.

In her novel “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson focuses on the dangers of blindly adhering to customs and rituals. While Jackson does not imply that all customs and rituals are harmful or dangerous, she does highlight the dangers of mindlessly adhering to traditions only for the sake of doing so. In Jackson’s tale, the nameless town still practices a cruel ritual in which each resident is compelled to draw a slip of paper and runs the danger of being stoned to death by their neighbors if they fail to draw the slip with the dot on it. Jackson highlights the senselessness of the lottery by pointing out the many facets of the custom that have been lost to time and, therefore, the undeniable reality that the ritual is based on an antiquated superstitious belief.

One of the rare characters in the novel who is rigid about the customs and who refuses to accept any kind of modification to the yearly ceremonies as they enforce mindlessly following the nonsensical tradition is Old Man Warner. The heartbreakingly cruel death of Tessie Hutchinson underscores the dangers of mindlessly adhering to tradition, as Jackson intended. Her narrative makes readers reevaluate the morality and effectiveness of certain customs and warns them against the dangers of mindlessly adhering to social norms. A lottery is often seen as positive since there is always the possibility of earning money or other rewards. It’s what people lose in this lottery, not what they win, that matters. Ironically, Old Man Warner thinks that being civilized implies continuing to do what has always been part of their traditions, namely, killing people. Without the lottery, he believes, people would behave in a savage manner.

In conclusion, the lottery tale served as an example of how people treat one another badly. Tess Hutchinson just had bad luck with the lotto since she first arrived late, saying that she was cleaning dishes, and ultimately won the black dot after her husband won the dot the first time for the family, sadly. The villagers don’t often deviate from their long-standing customs and are averse to making changes to what they are already used to. Even Tess’ closest friend picked up the largest stone she could locate to hurl at her while the peasants stoning her showed no remorse. The youngsters seemed to like stoning the most. The narrative opens with children gathering stones, but you wouldn’t have assumed that they were doing it to be stoned. People could assume that it was intended for used while skipping stones on the lake. When the slips were drawn to determine which family would be selected, the narrative changed from happy folks to poker faces displaying no emotion. Shirley Jackson employs detailed descriptions to make it easier for the reader to picture what is happening as the tale progresses. As the reader progresses through the narrative, the tone and setting that were established at the beginning of the tale shift. The author used a variety of literary techniques, including imagery, symbolism, and others, to more effectively express the idea she was attempting to get over.