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Symbols In The Lottery

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The Yearly Event The crowd moved in ready to throw their stones at whomever the lottery chose. In Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the story is brought to life with symbolism, creating a climax that leaves the reader pondering tradition. The story unfolds with the townspeople going about on a normal, picture perfect day. The horror of the black box and the lottery continues year after year because it is a tradition that has been passed down since before anyone can remember. Symbolism is portrayed through the black box, the slips of paper, and the stones the morning of June 27th. The black box is supported on a three legged stool in the town square representing the tradition of the lottery that occurs every June. Tradition continues today and society …show more content…
From the beginning a young boy stuffs his pockets with stones and the younger boys quickly follow his lead. The stones, at first seem to represent a yearly game the children play. As the story advances, the stones pile up in a corner and the villagers stand away from the piled up stones as if they symbolize a sinister purpose. The stones function in this horror story are what the lottery winner is killed with. It appears this symbol means that the villagers have no value for human life and are ignorant about questioning a tradition so violent. Tessie, as many people in society, are innocently persecuted for irrational reasons. This also symbolizes that random prejudice can be based on race, religion, appearance, economic background, and sex. Most persecuted people have no control over their sex or background. Likewise, the villagers in this story follow tradition and persecute Tessie simply because they don’t question why and it has always been done this way. Tessie’s random death is bizarre. It is an example of how we presently and randomly show prejudice and mark people because of what we have been taught by our parents or society. As Tessie draws the slip of paper with the black mark the villagers remember the stones and grab them from the pile in the corner. The adults and children have their stones ready as Tessie raises her hands in protection and the villagers take aim. It is stated by the narrator, “a stone hit her on the side of the head,” as she screamed, “it isn't fair, it isn't right.” The villagers didn’t appear bothered by her screams at all as they advanced upon her. The throwing of the stones meant the villagers believed in the tradition of the lottery and would continue to cast stones even if it brought death upon an innocent

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