The ‘Lottery’ Analysis by Shirley Jackson Essay Example

year to symbolize the perfect time the primitive practices are done (Jackson).

The second and the third paragraph describes how the members of the community arrived at the scene of the lottery. The children arrived first and picked stones. They were followed by the men. They arrived and had small talks amongst themselves. The women arrived later and joined their families after small group talks. The arrangement of how these groups arrive symbolizes modernism mode of living. This is the mode characterized by trust, conservative behavior and orderliness (Jackson).

In the fifth paragraph, the writer describes the black box that was used for the lottery. It sat on a three legged stool that stood at the front. The black box symbolizes the tradition. From the story, the black box was old and worn and it was falling apart. The original color of the box was nearly visible, but nobody was interested in repairing. This symbolizes the aging tradition that nobody cared to correct. It also the negligence of the community towards considering new cultures. From a religious point of view, the three legged stool may symbolize the background of the community with the three legs the Christians believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Besides the community sitting in the religious rich background the same community supported their traditional primitive practices and they were more valued than the religion (Jackson).

In the eleventh paragraph, Mrs. Dunbar is viewed as not being in a position to pick the lottery. Mr. Danbur asks her whether she has an older son who could pick the lottery for the family. In the fourteenth paragraph, Watson the boy had to

move into the front and pick the lottery for him and his mother. His mother was not in a position to pick the lottery since she was a woman. In the 72nd paragraph, Mr. Hutchinson forces Tessie to give him the paper she was holding and lifts it high for everyone to see. Though she had refused to open her hand, she submits to his husband to sign her death warrant. These symbolize the community stand against the ability of the women. Male chauvinism in that community was rife and women had no voice (Jackson).

In the 72nd paragraph, Tessie Hutchinson withdraws a white paper with a black spot. The black spot was used in the story symbolize evil and death of the winner of the ‘lottery’. The names of the character in the story also are symbols. The name Grave symbolizes death and graves. Summers symbolizes the time in which the practice was carried out. Fetching the meaning Delacroix from French, the name represents a cross. A cross was used by the Early Romans to crucify offenders and prisoners. It was a form of punishment as well as destroying someone’s reputation and make them feel miserable. The ‘lottery’ puts its victims in a similar circumstance as the crucifixion. This demonstrates how graving the practice was (Jackson).

From Christianity, evil people, especially, the prostitutes were stoned to death. From a religious perspective, the stoning of Mrs. Tessie in second last paragraph symbolizes this ancient practice of stoning people. A ruthless traditional practice that allowed people to stone other without pity and it was somehow like an entertainment (Jackson).

There are different critics towards Mrs. Shirley’s story. There are

those who oppose it and those who suppose the story. Basically, all the critics either classify the story as a traditionally related story or as modern story, but inform of a parable. Those that classify the story as a traditionally related story tend to support Mrs. Shirley’s story, except the ending of the story.

Peter Kosenko looked at Shirley Jackson’s story from a religious point of view. He discovered that the society describes by Shirley’s story contains men chauvinists, who controlled the town economically and politically. The society lacks pity and kills for fun. From the political and economic view, Kosenko does not find the relationship between wealth and officiating of the lottery. He wonders whether, the relationship was just a coincidence or anything else. However, kosenko’s views is that the town was communists thus there was no any form of social classes (Nguyen).

Views from the second critic, Thomas Votteler, are that Shirley’s work is a satire. He describes the story as satirical to the human social behaviors and cites the kind of victimization the winner of the lottery faces. He discovers that at the start of the story, Shirley makes the reader to have a sense of security as the society activities are normal and in a jovial mood (Nguyen).

The last critic, Fritz Oehlschlaeger, observed the male chauvinism portrayed in the story by Shirley and cites Mr. Hutchinson’s treatment to his wife. He forces his wife to give him a paper that meant death to her. Clearly, women have no voice in Shirley’s story. Men have total control in ‘Lottery’ (Nguyen).

The symbols used in ‘Lottery’, completely convey the message that Shirley wanted to pass. The

worn out black box and the lottery itself symbolize the rotten practice that Shirley wanted her audience to be aware of. The symbols are therefore relevant to the theme of Shirley’s story.

Works Cited

1. Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." The Lottery. 1948. 1-8. PDF.
2. Nguyen, Tiffany. The Lottery. December 2010. Web page. 3 November 2016.