In The Lottery, the younger generations of the town's population have begun to speak out against the annual stoning (Jackson). These youths cite the fact that many neighboring towns have already done away with the lottery, and they feel as though they too should dispense with the antiquated ritual. These youths represent the mirror image of the groups who opposed Hitler's regime in Nazi Germany. Also in the story is an elderly male character who reprimands the youths for their idealism and departure from norms and traditions (Jackson). He is more comfortable and content to keep with the ritual of stoning an innocent town's person to death every year.
It also serves as a symbol for death. Black is often associated with death and evil, which is how the story ends. The box also represents the idea of a coffin holding someone’s death inside it. The black box is a representation of someone’s death at the lottery. Jackson describes, “ The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained,” (510) it is a representation of how the tradition had become a corroded practice.
The luck gives in first. Luck,” continued the gambler, reflectively, “is a mighty queer thing. All you know about it for certain is that it’s bound to change. And it’s finding out when it’s going to change that makes you.”) Even though this story is about a bunch of law breakers, they still follow a code of conduct, such as when Oakhurst shows he has manners and lets the duchess ride his horse while he rides her mule so that she may have a more pleasant Journey. These characters were also thrown out of Poker Flats because they broke the accepted code of conduct that is abided by all the other citizens of Poker Flats.
The Control of the Crowd When reading Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the most disturbing concept brought forth is the dominating and destructive control mob mentality can have over a person. It can be seen through not only the mindless obedience of the village, but also the instant severance of emotional connection even between families, and the long and continuous hold it has had on this town through the guise of “tradition”. This whole story cleverly shows how an entire group of people can be misguided until not even one person knows why they are doing what they do. The first question many would ask after reading this story would be why the town continues with this horrible event year after year. This is due to the power of group pressure which suppresses and shuns the views of the individual.
The theme of “The Lottery” is society’s resistance to change. Jackson uses many elements of fiction to convey the theme; however, the three most prominent are plot, characterization, and symbolism. One of the ways Jackson uses to convey theme is plot. For example everyone in the community seems accepting of the lottery. They have children rocks, and even helping with the killing, even if it is their parents.
They killed us with land mines and booby traps; they disappeared in the night, or into the tunnels, or into the elephant grass and bamboo” (199n21). At the time the Vietnam war seemed unforgiving and mysterious, in ways that it made most soldiers naturally evil who in which portrayed enormous grief upon the enemy. It was a time where in every soldier's head they carried a motto, “kill or be killed.” In the novel, In The Lake Of The Woods, small and simple footnotes are attached at the end of important chapters and they give the reader clues concerning the story or they expresses symbolic twists that make the novel somewhat unpredictable. The Footnote I have chosen runs on the back of chapter 20. The small passage explains related truth on the Vietnam War, symbolizes what John Wade, the protagonists, has witnessed, and finally how it portrays the rest of the novel.
Society already doesn’t favor Black men so the fact that he had taken the life of a white woman put even more fear into him than any other murder he could have committed. Had Mrs. Dalton been able to see and caught Bigger in Mary’s room Mary couldve been saved. When a group of people are oppressed ne of the effects is that they become afraid of the oppressor and Bigger’s fear ultimately lead to Mary’s death. The rat that is was in the Thomas family’s apartment in
It was more developed and had more of a story to it. The two versions of the lottery both express the fact that you are a product of your environment and that you are heavily effected by your surroundings contributing to your overall being as a person. I believe The Lottery is a terrible idea as it not only kills innocent people but the fact that it doesn't even get rid of evil as they are convinced it does as when Jason arrived everyone in the town was trying to kill him and force him to leave as soon as he got there by blowing up his car and making it impossible to stay there even if he was being respectful to the town and
Many believe that the most significant themes of the book include phoniness, death/suicide, and “The Catcher in the Rye.” Phoniness is a tremendous structure of The Catcher in the Rye. People see Holden calling people “a phony” all the time. Being a phony means being someone who a person really isn’t, or just a typical “sheeple”. The main character Holden says numerous times in the book such as,”… they probably just met each other at a phony party.”- (Salinger, p.127) This quote is a favorite of mine because it shows Holden being what he hates the most, which is being a phony. He is doing this by being jealous, just like any other person would.
The most obvious object she uses is the worn out, black box. This box is where the citizen’s livelihood rests. Black is widely known as a dark, evil color that represents death. Choosing the color black for the box fits perfectly with the theme and the element of foreshadowing the future death of a citizen. The fact that the box is so worn symbolizes how old the lottery tradition really is.