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Tradition Depicted In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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1. The Misfit doesn’t know if Jesus had raised the dead or performed all the miracles he has been said to have done. Misfit wanted to see Jesus in person to having living visual proof of Jesus’ existence. This way, Misfit could convert to the Christianity and live his life as a devout Christian. Unfortunately, since Misfit didn’t have any proof he therefore lives his life by his own moral code. This contradicts the grandmother because the grandmother claimed to be very religious and tried to show that to Misfit. On page 230, line 110, of LIT by Kirszner & Mandell, the grandmother says, “Pray, pray, pray, pray…” She wanted Misfit to pray with her but he doesn’t end up doing that since he isn’t religious. In the end, the grandmother’s faith had faltered right before she was about to be murdered.
The Lottery –
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The black box in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson represents tradition. The black box had been the same box when the lottery first began; it has since been passed down over the years. In the short story it’s described as falling apart and hardly black anymore after years of use. The tradition is to remember the ancestors who had been sacrificed and thus the townspeople keep the box and use it every year. Although, the black box can be interpreted to represent death. The black box can symbolize death since one of the pieces of paper that people draw has a black dot on it which means whoever drew that piece of paper would be stoned to

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How Does Shirley Jackson Use Symbols In The Lottery

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The box signifies the broken and rearranged manner in which humans celebrate traditions in the modern day. Christmas, for example, was originally a pagan festival for the Roman Sol Invictus and was later associated with Jesus’ for the sun’s meaning of enlightenment, and over time other traditions from many cultures, like the decoration of the tree from Germany or the mistletoe from Norse Mythology, were added on to enlarge the pool of followers that participate in the tradition. The same goes for the town in The Lottery. The townspeople are reluctant to get rid of the box, as seen on page 279 where Jackson writes that, “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box”, but the villagers forget about the box the rest of the year, just like people forget about holidays when they are not in season. The villagers ignore the box out of subconscious fear of what would happen if they were to be chosen but will not speak out in fear of becoming

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How Does Shirley Jackson Use Symbols In The Lottery

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Shirley Jackson uses symbolism of the black box to convey a theme about how a person’s whole life can change when one little implement is made different or messed with in the short story, “The Lottery.” For instance, Mr. Summers frequently spoke about making a new box, but “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box” (26). In conclusion, people are unhappy when tradition or anything in their life is messed with and changed. A 4th of July without fireworks would not be the same if it was removed from the tradition because everyone looks forward to it. Overall if one part of something changes then it ruins the whole system and it does not feel the same.

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How Does Shirley Jackson Use Tradition In The Lottery

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Shirley Jackson uses “The Lottery” to make a point about traditions, rules, and human behavior. To begin, traditions are something that relapse over time. Traditions take time to develop, but once developed people don’t happen to like it to change. In “The Lottery” one of the traditions is preparing the black box for the lottery to take place. In paragraph 5 on page 48 it talks about how there was a story about the present black box that was made by the black box before.

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The Black Box In The Lottery Analysis

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The black box in the lottery was symbolic of the tradition of the Lottery itself, as Mr. Summers even “spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box…” because he had to interact with it, unlike the other villagers. So in this, he reflects the villagers thought for change when they personally had to face the reality of winning the Lottery. As even the color of the black box is representative of the murder that occurs if you pull out the slip with the dot. Likewise, stool that upholds the black box is representative of the person that upholds the tradition as the one who is stoned to death.

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How Does Shirley Jackson Use Symbols In The Lottery

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In “The Lottery”, the splintered black box was an original article from when it first begin. This box was faded and constructed by the pieces of the previous lottery boxes. It shows how the urge to keep the tradition updated was not important. It’s faded dimensions allowed one to understand how the appearance of the box had no significance. The box’s essence is noted when Jackson writes, “The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained.”

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How Does Shirley Jackson Use Tradition In The Lottery

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Tradition is the framework of most cultures and religions. In “The Lottery” author Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to showcase the grim reality of rituals and how people blindly follow a mentality of traditionalism. Numerous civilizations utilize traditions as a sign of keeping beliefs, mindsets, and the people as a whole alive. The first example of the grim reality of tradition is the black box and its symbolic reflection on death.

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The Symbolism Of The Black Box In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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In the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, the black box is presented as an object that nobody wishes to associate with. The fact that the box is colored black and the lack of enthusiasm from crowd hints the reader there may be a much more to the box than what you can visualize. Jackson states, “The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool,” (Jackson 1). This initial reaction from the people tells the reader that the box could symbolize something. When speaking of the box, there is a shift in tone that makes the text seem more distraught and frantic.

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What Does The Black Box Symbolize In The Lottery

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The Black Box is very important because the towns peoples feel as if they must follow through with the tradition of using it every year even though the box gets in a worsening position year after year. “Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything's being done.” every year the traditions, or they’ll go back to the stone age. The black box has a very powerful meaning . Mr. Werner, the eldest man of the town claims its a must do in the city, he feels as if horrible consequences will be put upon if they don’t go through with the lottery.

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In the stories they have objects that symbolize their tradition. In “Totem” the totem pole represents the traditions of the first nations and their people as well. In “The Lottery” the black box represents the tradition of the lottery that the townspeople follow. In these stories both objects are hidden and ignored. When the black box

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Research Paper On The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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The black box is what holds the piece of paper that control a person’s life or death. This box is ignored all year round (Jackson 7). No one in the town cares enough to fix or maintain the box to a point where it is not falling apart. The morals of the townspeople are very much like the black box almost no one cares enough or even thinks about how wrong and primitive picking one person at random to kill is. The townspeople do not even remember why they have the lottery.

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What Does The Black Box Symbolize In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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There was a story that the present box had been made with pieces of the original box that had preceded it. ”(Jackson 1).Jackson uses symbolism to show that the black box symbolises death. It also shows they don't want to make a new box because the box had been this way since the lottery had started many years

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Similarities Between The Lottery And Brave New World

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First, in the ”The Lottery” the black box represents a tradition that has been followed for longer than people can remember. Like the lottery as a whole, the black box has no functionality except during this day every June: "It had spent one year in Mr Graves's barn and another year underfoot in the post office and sometimes it was set on a shelf in the Martin grocery and left there" (Jackson 6). The purpose of the box, like the lottery itself, has become

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The Lottery

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The box is black to represent death, but the fact that the selection process of who dies is a box that they cannot see into, in my opinion, also symbolizes the mystery between who it is and the blind faith in tradition that the town

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Symbolism In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," the author has demonstrated each symbol and the meaning that holds behind them. The black box is culturally known as a dark and evil color. It represents the fate of the people in town, and the three-legged stool is used as a support for the black box to lay on top of the object. Stoning is ancient.

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The Importance Of Literary Elements In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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The black box that is old and “[grows] shabbier each year,” represents the old traditions that are held with high esteem (540). The box has been repaired multiple times. There are talks about creating a brand new black box but those always fade away being as everyone wants to stick with the old box. The people do not want to break tradition. Everyone keeps “their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool” where the box sits (540).

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