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Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
What is the symbolism in the lottery by shirley jackson
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Throughout many works of literature, authors have used allusions for the reader to be able to make multiple connects between many different important works of art. In all types of literature, whether it is a poem, novel, or part of a casual/scintillating conversation, allusions are between the lines of most readings, connecting dots immediately due to their hidden, yet obvious meanings. Once one takes a closer look, the reader can observe that Jackson uses biblical allusions in her short story to create many references to different stories and facts in the Bible: such as sin, Jesus saving Mary, Jesus dying on the cross, and more. Making each statement count in her short story to touch the reader, she uses variety approaches of literary device to help conduct the allusions that she is implying. Using names, symbolism, and flashbacks, Jackson is tries to almost become identical to a few different events within the Bible.
First off, in order to understand the biblical allusions that are strongly expressed through Jackson’s literature within “The Lottery”, one must grasp that Jackson writes of the citizens within the town lacking unconditionally rich information that supports the reasoning behind the event of the lottery. Although most of the citizens within the town strongly believe that the lottery is just another assembly that they do every year, nowhere near close to the real answer, there were mixed thoughts as what the lottery was remembered for, all not fully capturing the plentiful meaning behind it. Some people remembered there had been a tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; while others believed that the official of the lottery used to stand just so when he said or sang it, others believed that he was su...
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...th Tessie coming into the Lottery, and Clyde Dunbar being out completely, it shows that they were both unclean, Tessie being the sacrifice and Dunbar being out broken by sin. With both of them being out, it puts forth the image that they were committing adultery and that is the true reason why Mrs. Hutchinson is late, knowing that the rest of the town were all together in one place leaving no one to catch them (Anonymous). In contrast, Tessie is the town’s scapegoat this year, and no one stops the stoning this time (Anonymous).
Works Cited
"Leviticus Chapter 16." LEVITICUS CHAPTER 16. Nov. 2007. 19 Feb. 2014 .
"Mary Magdalene." Mary Magdalene. Gospel-Mysteries. 13 Feb. 2014 .
Anonymous. PowerPoint. 14 Feb. 2014
Anonymous. Word Document. 14 Feb. 2014
Shirley Jackson wrote many books in her life, but she was well known by people for her story “The Lottery” (Hicks). “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948, in the New Yorker magazine (Schilb). The story sets in the morning of June 27th in a small town. The townspeople gather in the square to conduct their annual tradition, the Lottery. The winner of the lottery will stoned to death by the society. Although there is no main character in the story, the story develops within other important elements. There are some important elements of the story that develop the theme of the story: narrator and its point of view, symbolism, and main conflict. The story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, argues practicing a tradition without understanding the meaning of the practice is meaningless and dangerous.
Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery', is a story that is filled with symbolism. The author uses symbolism to help her represent human nature as tainted, no matter how pure one thinks of himself or herself, or how pure their environment may seem to be. The story is very effective in raising many questions about the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. 'The Lottery' clearly expresses Jackson's feelings concerning mankind?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 names of the lucky contestants.
Attention Getter: Shirley Jacksons, The Lottery, without a doubt expresses her thoughts regarding traditional rituals throughout her story. It opens the eyes of us readers to suitably organize and question some of the today's traditions as malicious and it allows foretelling the conclusion of these odd traditions. The Lottery is a short story that records the annual sacrifice ceremony of an unreal small town. It is a comprehensive story of the selection of the person to be sacrificed, a procedure known to the villagers as the lottery. This selection is enormously rich in symbolism.
Tradition is huge in small towns and families and allows for unity through shared values, stories, and goals from one generation to the next. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” carries that theme of tradition. The story follows a small town that performs the tradition of holding an annual lottery in which the winner gets stoned to death. It (tradition) is valued amongst human societies around the world, but the refusal of the villagers in “The Lottery” to let go of a terrifying long-lasting tradition suggests the negative consequences of blindly following these traditions such as violence and hypocrisy.
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery", is a story that is very colorful with symbolism and underlying themes. Centrally, there is a heavy emphasis on following blind traditions no matter what the consequences are, and Utopia and perfect society seem to be the goal of the community where the story is set. Harold Bloom argues that Jackson Hit a universal nerve and suggests that the shock effect achieved by Jason "depends upon tapping into the universal fear of arbitrary condemnation and of sanctioned violence (Bloom, 9). In response to readers being upset, Jackson responded that "she wanted to graphically dramatize the 'pointless violence' in people's lives to reveal the general inhumanity to man (Friedman, 64). "The Lottery", is about blind obedience
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a chilling tale of a harsh ritualistic gathering conducted by people of a small village. The word lottery would typically remind someone of a drawing to win a cash prize. A better comparison to the story would be the lottery used to select troops for the Vietnam War; a lottery of death. Another would be the human sacrifices the Aztecs willingly made long ago.
box. We do not always enjoy change, even if it might prove beneficial to us.
Jackson uses the lottery itself to function as an ironic symbol of tradition in the story. In today’s society, a lottery is an event that has positive connotations related to it. A lottery a game that is associated with fun, chance, fun, and expectation. Good things usually result from lotteries especially for those who win. Furthermore, those who don’t win have nothing to lose. Lotteries bring forth a feeling of great expectation of a wonderful outcome. Through out the story, the lottery is projected as a harmless and affable pastime, which is how it is used in today’s society; however, by the end of the story it ends with disaster.
"The Lottery" is "symbolic of any number of social ills that mankind blindly perpetrates" (Friedman 108). The story is very shocking, but the reality of mankind is even more shocking. Isn’t it funny that Jackson gives us a description of our nature, and not only do we not recognize it for what it is , but it shocks us.
In “The Lottery”, Jackson wrote about a special tradition of a small village. June 27th was warm and sunny, and it gave the impression like nothing could possibly go wrong. Everyone knows the lottery as an exciting thing, and everybody wants to win, but this lottery is unlike any other. This lottery was actually the tradition of stoning of an innocent villager; that year it was Tessie Hutchinson. Though the horrific ending was not expected, throughout the story Jackson gave subtle hints that this was not an average lottery. Jackson foreshadowed the death of Tessie Hutchinson with stones, the black box, and the three legged stool; she showed that unquestioning support of tradition can be fatal.
Immediately, the women of “The Lottery” seem to be a friendly group who stick by one another’s sides. However, as the plot uncovers, the reader discovers that each woman would easily choose tradition over friendship. The traits of the women include endorsement of the “dominant culture” (Hattenhauer, 45), value of tradition, and belief in fairness. As the lottery transpires, the women advise Tess to “be a good sport” (Jackson, 140) because they all “took the same chance” (Jackson, 140). This simple encounter provides evidence that the women of “The Lottery” would undoubtedly lose a friendship to preserve the morals of tradition. When Tess finally reveals the paper with the mark on it, Mr. Summers is quick to begin the final step in the Lottery. The women oblige, and are even quicker to grab a stone from the children’s pile. One woman even orders another to “hurry up” (Jackson, 141) before picking up a “stone so large” (Jackson, 141) it required the use of both hands. “The Lottery” ends with the town’s people stoning Tess to death. Among the killers are the women that Tess once called friends.
Everyone has their own way of solving problems; however, ritual is a form that people doing one thing in the same way. It defines as “the prescribed form of conducting a formal secular ceremony.” However if the meaning of ritual is mistaken, the consequence could be unpredictable." The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson gives us a lecture about a tortuous ritual. The story takes place in a small village with 300 citizens, they gather for a yearly lottery which everyone should participate. The story leads to a horrific ending by people forgetting the concept of ritual.
In conclusion, the use of symbolism, irony and setting in the Lottery is very evident, the author indirectly implicates the true darkness within the human heart. The Lottery remains relevant in society today because the overall vagueness of the city allows this story to be true to all people around the world. The short story shows us that humans are evil enough to follow traditions blindly, even if they cause pain and death in loved ones we know. Jackson also centers a lot of symbols and irony on religion and how they affect our culture and decisions. In this the reader can learn that sometimes it’s better for a person to follow his moral compass, and not just blindly follow his evil heart, and the evilness of others.
“The Lottery” is a story written by Shirley Jackson. By looking at the title you may think about money prize. In this story takes the readers expectation to another level. By the two words of the title there is no way the reader did not get hook to reading this story. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson, uses symbolism, irony, and imagery.
The primary message that Jackson shows in “The Lottery” is that people can be involved with such a violent act and think nothing of it. In the story all the people are happy, “they stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.”(244) All the people in the town gather together without question to perform this horrible act of murder. All the people think nothing of this terrible act. Mr. Summers the man that runs the whole lottery says, “guess we better get started, get this over with, so’s we can go back to work.”(245) This illustrates how they think of the lottery as an everyday occurrence. Old Man Warner says, “lottery in June, c...