In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “ The Lottery”, there is a theme throughout the story about traditions that can some how lose their meanings because of the repetitions of everyday life. The author uses symbolism to make us aware of the pointless nature of traditions and how we become comfortable carrying them out.
The lottery itself is symbolic of the self contradiction of human’s thoughts and feelings between compassion on one hand and the thirst for violence and cruelty on the other. The title of the story some how makes us believe that the lottery is something good, like a prize or an award. As the story goes along, we reali
The black box is the central theme or idea in the story. It symbolizes at first some type of mystery, but as we read the story we realize that it represents doom. Someone’s fate lies in an inanimate object, the black box. We do not always enjoy change, even if it might prove beneficial to us. The box is symbolic of our holding on to change; it is old and splintered showing that we cling to what is familiar. It also symbolizes the traditions of the community. No one in the little town questions the origin of the black box, but accepts it as a part of their lives. “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box”(233), but they did not want it. Why do we do certain things all the time exactly the same? I think the author is symbolizing, in an exa
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