The lottery occurs on a warm summer day in a traditional small town in the same town square where the community gathers for all events. Because the people are able to return over and over again to this location of death with out feeling any remorse symbolizes societies ability to turn a blind eye to things they feel they can not change or things that do not directly involve them. Even before the lottery begins the reader gives indication to the ways of the society through the actions of the boys gathering stones for the stoning to come. The author is symbolizing here how humans are only as good as they are taught to be no matter how pure they seem to be. The black box used in the lottery to select the
For example there was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, Mr. summers was also supposed to walk among the people, but years and years ago this part of the ritual had been allowed to lapse. Mr. Summers name brings an uninviting reality to the lottery because the winner gets stoned. On the other hand, Mr. Summers has a delightful name, which also matches his description as "a round-faced, jovial man". Mr. Summers is the mayor of the town and also runs the most successful business the coal company. When one thinks of summer one generally thinks of pleasantness and happiness.
The event of the lottery is a symbol of death. To most people, the lottery means a prize of winning, a representation of something good to come. As the story unfolds, the reader has no idea that the lottery means something so contrasting. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full- summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” The imagery that Jackson presents is ironic due to the horrific ending. The lottery is a reaper of some sort that every year, claims the life of an innocent soul.
In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery,” Jackson displays the fear of the lottery in the villagers by using symbolism, word choice, and sentence structure. Symbolism [Mr. Summers and Mr. Adams] grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously. Then Mr. Adams reached into the black box and took out a folded paper. He held it firmly by one corner as he turned and went hastily back to his place in the crowd. Where he stood a little apart from his family.
Cassandra Fyffe English Composition I In Shirley Jacksons “The Lottery”, the author demonstrates how people follow the crowd and it leads to a bad outcome. It’s June 27th, a clear and beautiful day. The flowers are blossomed, the grass is luxuriously green. The kids are out of school for the summer, but they aren’t too thrilled. After school a few of the kids start collections stones, soon after their parents started to call them to gather up to get ready for the lottery .Bobby Martin has his pockets full of rocks.
At the beginning of the lottery she was energetic and in a pleasant mood, appearing to have to problem taking part in the day’s events which is evident as soon as she arrived to the lottery. “Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her sweater thrown over her shoulder and slid into place in the back of the crowd. “Clean forgot what day it was” she said to Mrs. Delacroix, who stood next to he, and they both laughed softly” (4). She began to argue the way the tradition was handled by Mr. Summers and the rest of the villagers when it was her family’s name that was drawn from the box.
The feelings of the white parents brought great distrust into his heart of all his white friends. Who’s to say it wasn’t their parents who were up in arms against the desegregation. The discrimination revealed to him in the NYT article his barber, Boone, gave him shook him up hard. He quickly and quietly lost interest in hanging with his white friends and instead clung to Lonnie Blair, his African American best friend, and his crew. In reference to the events in Jackson Heights, Gilyard wrote an essay arguing that “the only way to correct injustice is all at once” (95).
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.
There were many times when Phineas did something wrong and simply talked his way out of it. When the boys skipped dinner, which was not allowed, they were confronted about it. Phineas told a lie about getting ready for the war. These lies came to him naturally, and being outgoing certainly helped being a smooth-talker. On page 18, Gene admitted his envy towards Phineas.
The whole story was very suspenseful and rather dramatic. I also thought the story’s ending was absolutely horrible and inhumane. The story was about a small village and the town’s annual lottery. The word lottery nowadays makes you think positive things for the winner usually resulting in large amounts