Symbolism In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Tradition or Annual Murder? "It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, as her fellow villagers end their inhuman tradition. The story takes place in a very small village where tradition is kept no matter what and very important to the villagers. Their tradition is not like any other and is a yearly event, which has been named the lottery. The lottery is not like the typical lottery where one is a winner of money or something good but is one in which a person in the village is randomly drawn from a black box, and then violently stoned by friends and family. In "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson illustrates how people can perform cruel acts towards others in the acceptance of tradition, even when they know it’s wrong. Some …show more content…
The box represents the tradition of the lottery and the loyalty to it by the villagers. The story states that “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box”. The black box is falling apart and not completely black anymore after years of use, but the villagers refuse to alter it. The only reason the villagers have as a defense to not change the box is a story that the present black box was made from pieces of the original black box. There are parts of the tradition, from which no one wants to change just because the lottery has always been done a certain way. Old Man Warner points out that over the years there were things that have been changed or forgotten in the lottery process. One example is Mr. Summers changed from wood chips to paper slips so that it would fit in the box easier. The purpose of the box, like the lottery, has become a tradition which clearly has an unknown reason for …show more content…
We think of the lottery as a good thing, but in the story it means one being brutally murdered by people in their community. The village uses the lottery as a way to kill and don’t even know why they are doing it and some know its wrong but don’t try to stop it till they are the ones being stoned to death. The lottery has been around for as long as anyone can remember and it is indeed an annual ritual that no one has thought to question. It even has its own saying according to Old Man Warner, which goes, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” The villagers are completely loyal to ritual, even if they secretly don’t agree, despite the fact that parts of the lottery have changed over the years. Regardless of the circumstances, the lottery will continue every year just because it’s been around since the start of the village. Tradition in this story is not a good thing; every year one person is being stoned to death because of people not questioning this ridiculous tradition. When we don’t question traditions this annual murder becomes an example of why we shouldn’t be so loyal to traditions in newer