Irony And Symbolism In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Throughout the course of human history, people from a variety of cultures have crafted their own cultural, religious, and familial traditions based on communal beliefs. To this day, people from around the world continue to carry out rituals from hundreds of years ago that their ancestors held to be both beneficial and necessary in maintaining a thriving society. These practices, however, have the potential to be malicious and harmful to society. As one of the most famous short stories in American literature, The Lottery provides the reader with a tale about the practices of a small, fictional town that holds an annual lottery each year. Through Shirley Jackson’s use of irony, symbolism, and setting in The Lottery, I found the main theme to

be the danger of blindly following tradition.

            The first literary device that I felt was evident throughout the course of this entire short story was that of irony. The prime example of irony in Jackson’s short story is in the title itself, which is, at first, very deceiving. In modern American society, winning the lottery is seen as an accomplishment; however, the winner of the lottery in this situation ends up getting stoned to death. Another concept I found to be incredibly ironic in this short story is the normalcy with which the lottery is held each year. Jackson says that “The lottery was conducted- as were the square dances, the teen-age club, the Halloween program- by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities” (Jackson, 444). The lottery was considered a “civic” activity and just like another club in the city. People would talk, laugh, and joke while participating in it, even though they knew they might be the ones who are stoned to death. Jackson even says that “Mr. Summers was very good at all this; in his clean white shirt and blue jeans, with one hand resting carelessly on the black box, he seemed very prosper and important as he talked interminably to Mr. Graves and the Martins” (Jackson, 445). The author describes this lottery as another social event through which people only spent a couple hours in the morning before lunch. Everyone was smiling and talking to each other, all the while accepting this horrendous tradition. It is not until Tessie is chosen as the one to die that she argues that “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (Jackson, 449). Because there had always been a lottery for as long as they could remember, the villagers feel compelled to continue to practice this horrifying tradition. I also found the names of many of the characters, such as Mr. Summers, to be ironic. Mr. Summer may be seen as the antagonist; when one thinks of summer, they think of happiness and freedom, although Mr. Summers draws the slips of paper that sentence an innocent person to death. Another concept I found to be incredibly ironic is Old Man Warner’s attitude towards the Lottery. When Mr. Adams told Old Man Warner, who has participated in the lottery for over 70 years, that people in the north village are thinking of giving up the lottery, he admonishes them. In fact, he referred to them as a “‘pack of crazy fools’” and replied by saying that “‘Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work anymore, live that way for a while…’” (Jackson, 446).  Old Man Warner believed that if the village had abandoned the lottery, they would become uncivilized again, when in reality, practices such as this are barbaric, savage, and immoral. Throughout the course of The Lottery, Jackson uses irony to help depict the main theme of the danger of blindly following tradition and the established way of doing things. Because this ritual was a cultural tradition, people did not think twice before doing it, and felt compelled to continue practicing this horrifying tradition

            The second literary device that I found to be evident throughout the course of this short story is symbolism.

Even though there are a plethora of symbolic objects in this story, I felt that the black box, by far, served to be the most symbolic of them all. The color of the box, which is black, represents evil, death, and pessimism, and as the years went by, “…The black box grew shabbier each year; by now it was no longer completely black, but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained” (Jackson, 444). The black box is a physical manifestation of reluctance of the villagers to break away from tradition and even replace it. The three-legged stool upon which the black box is rested on represents the trinity in the Christian faith and the practice of some people to use religion to support violence. Mr. Summers’ name is representative of the optimistic façade his name provides to hide the evil and corruption he continues to uphold every year. The method of stoning people to kill them represents the backwardness of this tradition and goes to show how this ritual has been practiced since medieval times. Jackson stated that “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones… [the boys] eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys” (Jackson,

443). Even the little children participated in this ritual and had fun doing it; Jackson’s depiction of the boys gathering stones to throw at their elders is something that is both symbolic and ironic. Even Tessie’s son, Davy Hutchinson, was the offered some of the first stones to throw at his own mother. The author goes on to say that “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones” (Jackson, 449). The stone symbolizes death, as well as the villagers’ support of the lottery tradition. I feel that the overall symbolism of the lottery itself is the danger of following tradition without questioning its practicality, morality, and purpose. In the Lottery, Shirley Jackson utilizes the literary element of symbolism through the objects, characters, and the names in this story to help convey the main theme of the danger of blindly following tradition.

The last literary device that I found to be evident throughout the course of The Lottery is setting.

Shirley Jackson successfully uses setting to foreshadow an ironic ending. At the very beginning of the story, she describes the setting by saying “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson, 443). The setting of the story was very optimistic, although it contrasted with the end, which led to the death of a housewife. This excerpt provides the reader with peaceful and tranquil tone. The fact that Jackson chose the summer solstice, also known as the longest day of the year, as the day that the lottery takes place each year shows the ritualistic undertones she wanted to convey. Jackson goes on to say that “School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play, and their talk was still of the classroom and the teacher, of books and of reprimands” (Jackson, 443). The kids were filled with excitement for summer, and felt a sense of liberty. Jackson wants the reader to believe that the town was ordinary and innocent, although the story ends with an ending of a terrible stoning. The fact that this story is located in a “village”, although it does not have any specific name shows how attached to tradition the villagers

were.

Since the beginning of time, mankind has been in a constant search for perfection and a utopian society. To this day, people from around the world continue to carry out rituals from hundreds of years ago that their ancestors held to be both beneficial and necessary in maintaining a thriving society. As one of the most famous short stories in American literature, The Lottery provides the reader with a tale about the practices of a small, fictional town that holds an annual lottery each year. Through Shirley Jackson’s use of irony, symbolism, and setting in The Lottery, I found the main theme to be the danger of blindly following tradition. As Albert Einstein once said, “Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”