Shirley Jacksons Symbolism in The Lottery :: Shirley Jackson Lottery Essays Papers

Shirley Jacksons symbolisation in The LotteryShirley Jacksons The Lottery, is a story that is filled with symbolic representation. The author practices symbolism to help her represent human nature as tainted, no study how pure star thinks of himself or herself, or how pure their environment may seem to be. The story is very effective in raising more questions about the pointless nature of humanity regarding custom and violence. The Lottery clearly expresses Jacksons feelings concerning world?s evil nature hiding behind traditions and rituals. She shows how coldness and lack of compassion in people can exhibit in situations regarding tradition and values. Jackson presents the theme of this short story with a major use of symbolism. Symbolism shows throughout the setting of The Lottery, the objects, the peoples actions, and even in the time and the name of the lucky contestants. The setting of the story helps to magnify its impact on the lector because it is set in a small to wn similar to the one many of us may know of, and that is symbolic of everything that we consider to be right in America. The story begins on a wonderful summer day in a small town. The author describes the day as very joyful but strikes a contrast between the milieu of the town and the atmosphere of the people gathered in the square. The atmosphere is dangerous, where the adults ?stood together, onward from the stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather then laughed.(268) This, in just the terce paragraph, is a indication through symbolism of the townsfolk?s sober mood that something was amiss. The setting for the lottery also takes place in the homogeneous place as the square dances, the teen-age club, and the Halloween program.(268) This unifies our lives with those of the story sense we can preserve to those types of events, and is symbolic in showing that even though this dastardly rubric happens here that it is still the main place of celeb ration. Showing how easy it is for us, as human beings, to clean our conscientious by going back to a place that, on June 27, is a place of death and make it a place of delight. The black box is a good representation of the commutation idea to the story. The box is painted in black, which has always been a frequent symbol for evil and death.