The Importance Of Connotation In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

Typically, when someone thinks of a lottery they think of something positive and exciting but contrary to this idea in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the connotation has an entirely different meaning. As the story begins, readers lean towards the belief that the town in which Jackson depicts is filled with happiness and joy. “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 247) We soon realize that this notion is far from the truth. As the townspeople gather in the square for the annual lottery, which sole purpose is to stone someone to death by randomly pulling a paper out of a black box with a black dot on it, it is learned

One being Tessie Hutchinson and the other being Old Man Warner. While their roles both held significant places in setting the tone of the story their character traits were completely opposite to one another. While Tessie’s character was more unruly Old Man Warner’s seemed to be more traditional believing that the lottery was a good thing. He is the oldest man in the town and has been around to see his share of lotteries. “Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery… seventy-seventh time.” (Jackson 250) His ideals are very traditional in that he believed that the lottery was a necessity to the survival of the town and stressed on the fact that it has always been around. While other towns had contemplated stopping the lottery, Old Man Warner believed it to be a silly notion calling the north village a pack of crazy fools. “Listening to the young folks, nothing is 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 250) For Old Man Warner the lottery was about saving traditions and strongly believed that the sacrifice the townspeople made each year would help the town prosper. “Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn will be heavy soon.’ First thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns.” (Jackson 250) He did not seem to be bothered at the

In “The Lottery” the most significant symbol is the tethered black box. The black box had been around for years even for the lotteries before Old Man Warner. It had become shabby and torn and some townspeople believed that it would make more sense to use a newer box while others believed that it needed to stay the same in fear that it would be detrimental for the traditional values they believed in. Mr. Summers, the official of the lottery, had suggested the box be changed several times but not one person seemed to entertain the idea in fear that it would disrupt tradition. (5) The color of the box also represents symbolism. Typically, when someone thinks about the color black they associate that with fear and death and not with something positive. It is very ironic that in the beginning of the story everything was bright and sunny but towards the end the tone become much darker adding to the tone of the