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Essay on "The Lottery"

In: English and Literature

Submitted By darkandlovely01
Words 496
Pages 2
The story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is filled with symbolism. In fact, the story is a symbol within itself. Even though the story lacks setting it can still be understood through the symbolism it contains. I have found various symbols throughout this story. The symbols I have found are: the black box, the dotted cards, and the lottery.

The first symbol I found was the black box. This symbolizes various things. For example, it symbolizes the deterioting of the population and the customs that a city/town was built upon. The box is worn & torn and not original. The population is slowly dying because of the ritual that they believe has been practice for years. The ritual that they practice may not be original and may be, like the box, only a form of or bits and pieces of the original practice and believe behind this ritual. It also may symbolize that a new custom is needed. In the story, they said that Mr. Summers had been requesting a new box for years. This suggests that the new box symbolizes a new custom that is surely needed.

Another symbol is the dotted cards. These cards symbolize death. They symbolize death because if you obtain a dotted card you will be stoned to death. They also symbolize a control system. These cards are used to control the population and control a person and/or their family. The town was so compliant with the custom that no one realized it was wrong, and if they did they didn’t speak up. One reason they didn’t speak up was because of fear. Another reason is because they didn’t want to be the family/person with the doted card.

The last symbol I found was the lottery itself. This symbolizes and unquestioned ritual, a cover up for government control and wrong doings. Clearly it symbolizes an unquestioned ritual. The town has gone on for years doing this horrid “dead” to society and no one has stepped up saying it was wrong, until

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