Not only actions but also their names help show the characters’ personalities. Old Man Warner was the biggest character showing symbolism. Everything he speaks of is about tradition, which is very important to him. He is always putting down new ideas about the lottery or about the way it’s ran. As Mr. Adams puts in his facts about how the village in the north was talking about giving up the lottery, Old Man Warner replies, “pack of crazy fools, listening to the young folks, nothings good enough for them.
The lottery is a reaper of some sort that every year, claims the life of an innocent soul. Jackson confuses the reader with her lively tone, but reels them back in with the small, but meaningful gestures and comments from the town’s people. The villagers accept this form of death because it is the only thing that they know. The tradition of the lottery has been drilled down for so long that Old Man Warner, the oldest of the town, doesn’t know any better. Another form of symbolism is the black box that sits upon the three-legged stool.
Summers arguably holds the most power in the village. Although Mr. Summers acts as the leader for the village, and holds the lottery himself, he does not exclude himself from the drawing. The people of the village do not question him, nor do they ask questions as to why he is allowed to pick the tickets, as well as, hold onto the tickets the night before the lottery. This all compliments itself into the view of tradition. The lives of the individuals participating are in the hands of Mr. Summers; however, everyone is comfortable in completely giving him power, simply because it has been that way for so long.
People often when being in a conflict with their society, usually back down because it is on person against a large amount of people but sometimes that is not the case. In the novel The Scarlett Letter, The Puritans decided that it would be a good idea to have Hester stand on the scaffold so that everyone in the town can witness her being punished. Hester was of course extremely embarrassed, but she knew she had to be strong and not to be let seen weak by the hypocrites who are the Puritans. In the novel Hawthorne quotes “the
A motif is an element that occurs repeatedly throughout a work, in the story “The Lottery” it is tradition. Tradition is strong in the town but they do the lottery more out of habit rather because they lost the true meaning of the lottery many years ago “The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago” (pg 215). Another example of tradition is through the black box itself “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one like to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” (pg 215). The people like having something that reoccurs without question, they are used to it and are not willing to change things right away.
He didn’t let Janie socialize with the community, even when it’s what she wanted to do, and he tried as much as he could to stop her from emerging in any way. When Jody was at his deathbed, Janie got her revenge through a rampage of harsh words to him. Janie finally expressed herself via social nuance, and began expanding the proud feeling she has for
She must fight off the influences of her grandmother, who encourages her to marry for security, and her first two husbands, who thwart her development. Her second husband, Jody, has an especially negative impact on Janie's growth as his prevailing aspirations turn her into a symbol of his stature in the town. She is not allowed to be herself, but must subdue herself to his ideas of propriety, which means she cannot enjoy the talk of the townsfolk on the porch let alone participate in it. “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it.
The Daddy is always active as the describe the mom as standing there I feel that because the father doesn’t play the stereotypical father role this makes the mother to assume more guilt in the story. Instead of the mom cuddling the child the author wrote “Mommy over his shoulder invoking God until he sent her for towels and gauze if they had it, the Daddy moving quickly and well and his man's mind empty of everything but purpose”. Is this because of her character or the fact that most people don’t know what to do in the situation of a trauma, even if it is their own
(Hokamp) The townspeople would avoid her, would throw food at her and yell nasty things. They isolated her from their village and they even taught their young ones to see her infamy on her scarlet letter. The children would also yell nasty stuff to Pearl but why did they do this? They conformed to the laws. They believed that anyone who was punished for their sin should be treated as a sinner.
Miss Strangeworth is an extremely censorious individual. She is judgemental of peoples actions in her town and believes that she needs to keep everyone in line, especially if they are acting a different way then Miss Strangeworth believes is correct. “ Didn’t you see an idiot child before? Some people just shouldn't have children, should they?”(Sightline 252). Miss Strangeworth wrote this letter to Helen and Dan Crane because she didn't agree with their parenting skills, so to Miss Strangeworth they were wrong.