Shirley Jackson The Lottery Analysis

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, a short story, which adopts symbolism into making the tone of the story more effective. The main character and protagonist of the story is the village itself, and the antagonist of the story is the harvest ritual being performed as a so-called-lottery. The black wooden box that is used in the lottery, embodies the villagers devotion to tradition. The fatal slip symbolizes the danger in following an act blindly, Tessie embodies absurd violence, along with sacrifice and, lastly is Old Man Warren, who symbolizes tradition himself. “The Lottery” represents the chance of execution, and that following traditions blindly is dangerous, which is effective by the presence of resentment and anxiousness, leading to shock. The short story focuses on following tradition blindly is dangerous and leads to the chance of execution. “Bill Hutchinson was standing quiet, staring down at the paper in his hand. Suddenly, Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers, ‘You didn 't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn 't fair!”... “Mr. Summers said, ‘that was done pretty fast, and now we 've to be hurrying a little more to get done in time.’ He

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson utilizes symbolism in a very effective manner, by using the black box, Old Man Warner, the fatal slip, and Tessie to give the audience a jolt, leading them to the theme of shock. Which represents the chance of execution and, following a tradition blindly is dangerous. The story is developed in a specific order, arranging a piece of symbolism right after the other. So that the main theme of shock stands out very well at the end and, emphasizes shock even more because, it was unexpected and revealed at the end. Jackson had put in these pieces of symbolism in this manner in order to lead the audience gradually but, very suddenly into the theme. The understanding of each symbol used in this story is a necessity to the effectiveness to comprehend