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Tradition Without Justification In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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The Lottery: Winner Loses All Envision a summer day in a quaint, peaceful town full of flowers and green grass. Everyone participates in a town meeting in this picturesque village, where flowers bloom, and families enjoy each other's company. However, there is a catch: one random person will be stoned to death on the town square. "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, explains this dark and sinister story, first painting a picture of a charming, tight-knit community. Jackson continues, explaining that every year, the townspeople participate in an event known as "The Lottery." This event has occurred for as long as anyone can recall and is a part of the tradition. Mr. Joe Summers, the man who runs the lottery, pulls out the old black box and puts …show more content…

This box is used to draw names out of and has been used even before "Old Man Warner," the oldest man in town, was born. When Jackson introduces the box, she explains that it has much wear and tear and has faded to the point where it is not necessarily black anymore, and the actual wood color comes through (264). Jackson explains that the person who runs the lottery, Mr. Summers, persistently asks about making a new box, expressing, "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" (264). This black box symbolizes the unfounded devotion to the lottery tradition and demonstrates that people will think a certain way simply because it is how life has always been. However, some may have an alternative view of the symbolic meaning of the black box, interpreting this quote to demonstrate the idea of faith in a cause and that having faith means people do not necessarily need a reason to believe. This differing idea points towards the idea that the townspeople have "faith" in the beliefs of the people before them and illustrates the importance of the principle of "believing without

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Most people know the lottery as a contest to win money. But in the short story, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, the lottery is not a simple game competing for money. In this small village’s version of the lottery, everyone must draw out of a box, and if their family is chosen then the whole family must redraw and the death of a member is decided. After the fate is decided, the rest of the village throws stones at him or her until he or she dies. The villages reasoning of this process is they believe it guarantees a plentiful crop season.

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The box is no longer black and it is stained so Mr. Summers tried speaking with the villagers about making a new black box but the villagers did not like the idea so much. The villagers were upset of the idea about making a new box because it was not only a tradition and the villagers also do not like to fool around with tradition, and the villagers loyalty of the tradition but, it also meant something to to the people that made the village. Jackson writes, “There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one

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Mr. Warner warns the people that getting rid of the lottery could be bad. His name symbolizes his thoughts about the lottery. Likewise, the black box is symbolism to the result of of the lottery. The color black usually symbolizes death. The “winner” gets stoned and

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This symbolism foreshadows to the danger and death involved in the lottery. The box is also described as falling apart. The town’s people do not want to replace it because of stories they were told about the box being made of pieces of the box preceding it, all the way to the first people who started the tradition (Jackson 313). This reluctance to let go of something that is falling apart and broken represents their reluctance to get rid of the lottery although it is broken and illogical. This is how Jackson represents the danger of tradition; no matter how crazy, harmful, or backwards that tradition, if it is something a society is used to, it will continue to follow the

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The imagery of the black box in “The Lottery” provides readers a descriptive explanation of one of the most important objects in the story; making it clear to see that the Black box is an asset to the tradition. As the author is describing the black box , it is clear to see that it is old and worn out. One out of the numerous descriptions that were provided about the black box was that it was “splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained.” This simply states that the black box has been around for many generations since the beginning of the lottery. It also shows how the original tradition has over the years; lost its original meaning, and the participants still do not question the idea of stoning individuals in their community.

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There is much symbolism hidden within the lines and small items and words. The black box, the black spot, even the villagers’ names, have symbolism. The black box is a form of symbolism for death, by its color, and it is also a symbol for the reuse of the lottery. According to LitCharts, the symbolism in the black box is related to the mentality of the villagers. LitCharts explains, “The box is worn and old, but the villagers do not want to “upset tradition” by replacing it...black box lends confidence to the villagers because it reminds them to trust in the tradition of their forefathers—never considering that those traditions might be immoral (LitCharts

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