Use Of Imagery In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a haunting tale about a peaceful village with a dark secret. Every man, woman, and child must enter the lottery to win the prize. However, the reward is being stoned to death. The poor victim of the lottery is Tessie Hutchinson. Jackson purposely misled the readers for most of the story. Only towards the end is when she reveals the horrifying truth. A repeating major theme in this work is manipulation through tradition. This theme can be seen using several examples of imagery.
The story starts off with a pleasant and vivid image. “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 Paragraph 1). All these details paint a clear image of a summer day in the village. Through this imagery, the author sets up a ploy that tricks readers into thinking the story is innocuous. This scene drives the audience away from guessing the theme in the beginning, only to foreshadow it later.

The black box is the next symbol to represent the theme.

It is very old, even rebuilt over time. The passage states that it is even older than the oldest man in town. The box is described as “no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places, faded or stained.” (Jackson Paragraph 4). This shows that the box is archaic, and has been used several times. The black coloring of the box also foreshadows what happens later in the story, as black sometimes represents death. The people of the village have continued to use the box to follow the tradition of using it ever since they came to the land. The black box is an object of how people can even do inhumane things in order to maintain

tradition.
The last example is how the townspeople are depicted when they have to stone the winner of the lottery. Before, all the villagers were friendly with each other. However, when Tessie Hutchinson was selected as the winner, even her family showed no sympathy towards her. People like Old Man Warner said “All right folks, let’s finish quickly.” (Jackson Paragraph 73). Most of the people show apathy towards the situation. The continuous repetition of the lottery over the many years has caused these people to become numb to the idea of violence and death. In their perspective, they are simply following a tradition.
In conclusion, Shirley Jackson delivers a tale with a twist. The idea of winning being a bad thing is so uncommon that it appears to be completely alien. The villagers continue this cruel game every year without any emotion. This supports the theme of manipulation through tradition as the villagers believe the only way to prosper is to sacrifice a person. This tradition makes the villagers mindless of their gruesome acts.