Symbolism In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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

to tradition (Shields, 411-416). Throughout the story, the issue of social justice and Utopia are depicted and it details just how evil human beings can be to each other either directly or indirectly (Coulthard, 1990). The setting of this story is the small New England town of North Bennington, Vermont. The setting highly contributed to the story because new England was where the Witch Trials of the 17th century happened, in which many innocent people were burned at the stake after being accused of witchcraft and dark magic. As yarmove argues, "These were essentially conducted out of fear and involved selecting certain individuals to be executed as scapegoats for the good of the community" (Yarmove, 1994). In "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson is extremely clever because she reveals effective symbols, such as, the black box, the three-legged stool, and stones, in order to expose the horrific tradition. 
The black box in "The Lottery", is the first and foremost example of symbolism used in the story. The mysterious community is shrouded with tradition, and nothing represents that more than the black box. The black box is old and in terrible shape. The box does indeed represent the history of the town, and no one wants to be responsible for breaking the tradition that has made the town successful. The black box symbolizes death and fear, the color black resembles death and so does the box itself. The villagers fear the black box because of the tradition of the box and the history it has. The people of the town are picking paper out of the box, which leads to someone being stoned to death. The black box represents the moment of truth, the moment that all of the villagers wait for, it indicates who lives and who dies. Throughout the story, it is suggested that the people make a new box, the subject is "allowed to fade off without anything being done". This emphasized the history of the ritual and the box (Wilson 142-144). The fact that the box is so old and replacing it is so discouraged, gives an idea as to how long the people in this community have been following this ritual. The people of the town do not wish to replace the worn-down box, just like they are unwilling to stop participating in the lottery (Wilson, 142-144). The black box is almost displaying an element of mind control because although the people could in a sense just walk away or change, they choose not to. The slips of paper that are drawn out of the black box represent the town's folk and how they have this inability to change (Wilson, 142-144).
The three-legged stool is a huge symbol in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery".

In fact, the black box and the three-legged stool go hand in hand. They represent the danger of blindly following traditions no matter what the cost. It is also made apparent that the villagers of this town do not know the origin of the lottery, but they still continue to follow the tradition (Nebeker, 171-173). The villagers keep their distance from the box in order to secure their fate. The reason the three-legged stool and the black box go hand in hand is because the box sits on the three-legged stool for support. Together, this represents the manipulation of religion to support collective violence (Nebeker, 171-173). This representation in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery", adds a cult-like theme to the story. Helen Nebeker argues that the cult theme is apparent and represented in the three legs of the stool which depicts the Holy Trinity in Christianity, God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It can also mean that the lottery will always follow the tradition of the villagers because the three legs on the stool also mean the past, the present and the future. The correlation between the two is ironic because the Christian Trinity represents holiness and purity, while the black box represents evil, death and

fear.
The next form of symbolism in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery", is the stones. The stones are mentioned five times in the beginning of the story, and five times at the end of the story. Jackson refers to the stones as some symbolic significance. The first human tools were made from stone and in this story the stones are used as murder weapons and represent violence. No one is too young or too old to participate and using the stones as weapons. Stones were used in execution rituals that have a historical and biblical significance (Wilson, 142-144). Stoning is the oldest form of execution that is included in the bible as well. The first Christian martyrs were executed by stones. This act requires a crowd of people that must work together and this shows who the enemy truly is. The villagers are known as the enemy in this story “The Lottery.” Early in the story, the children are seen carrying the stones, as they are seen as weapons. "Martin", Bobby's surname is a middle English word signifying ape or monkey. Harry Jones is juxtaposed in all its commonness. Mrs. Delacroix is portrayed as very friendly and kind, and is seen picking up a huge stone with both hands. This shows how even the kindest and quietest of people are not so innocent (Nebeker, 171-173). Early in the story, the boys make a pile of stones in a corner of the square. This image is showing how men control the lottery, and the stones are making everyone turn against each other while making the male the more powerful gender (Gehlschlaeger, 175-177). This element that Gehlschaeger discusses about "The Lottery", is iconic in that the male has always been see as the dominant power figure, and many times has turned his civilization against each other to gain power and maintain control. This is seen in many societies around the world, even in our modern times. To further argue this "Big Brother" or "The Man" element in "The Lottery", there is the fact that a woman was chosen to win the lottery and be executed. Many critics believe that a woman was chosen to be stoned to death because of societies view on how men have always been more powerful than women. 
The black box, the three-legged stool, and the stones are the three main objects used in the symbolism of "The Lottery". All three of these objects are the direct personification of a ritual and speak in volumes about this town's tradition. The element of men being in charge with females falling victim to these rituals is also highly representative of the Salem Witch Trials and many conflicts around the world, arguing a feminist standpoint. Shirley Jackson is extremely clever in "The Lottery" because she reveals how effective these symbols and themes truly are, just to expose the evils of this horrific tradition (Gehlschlaeger, 175-177). Shirley Jackson's use of symbolism in objects justifies the way the villagers follow tradition and how the symbols truly indicate what kind of people these villagers truly are, and how they live their lives. The enemy in this story are the villagers themselves because they choose to follow the tradition of stoning each other to death. The use of symbols is significant because it makes the story a lot more relatable to societies in everyday life. Around the world, there are many societies with their own "lotteries" and forms of punishment. As discussed earlier and by many critics, "The Lottery" is depicting how societies ruled by religion are viewed as cults. The small town of North Burlington, Vermont and its strange ritual can be used to symbolize the Salem Witch Trials, Jim Jones and his followers, the Branch Davidians in Texas, and even the Rashneesh's in the 1980s. The cultism, rituals, and objects help the audience understand how justifiable this tradition is, and how the tradition is followed.