Shirley Jackson's The Lottery is a short story about a particular village whose people enact a very strange and bizarre custom. Every year, the whole village gathers together to draw lots and to determine the winner of the lottery. The person that ends up with the black dot at the end wins the lottery and his/her reward is death by stoning. One thing that is quite striking about Jackson's writing style is her use of symbolism to get her point across, especially the "Black Box", and the names that she chose for her characters.
In the story, the black box is of great importance. Firstly, the colour of the box is black, and there's no reason to doubt that this was chosen intentionally, as the colour black in most cultures represents darkness, destruction and death, and the box does indeed bring death. Another meaning of the box is that it provides a sort of a bond and a link to the previous generations, hence whenever Mr. Summers started talking about getting a new box, the people would refuse, not wanting " to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box". The black box is taken out during summer only and the rest of the year it is put away in one place or another. The idea behind this could be deduced from the saying: "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon". Since the villagers believe that one of lottery's functions is to provide them with a good harvest, during the rest of the year the significance of the box is lost. This could also imply that except during the time of need, the villagers forget their ancestors and their traditions.
Another clever use of symbolism is in the characters" names themselves. Mr. Summers conducts the lottery every summer. Mr. Graves carries the stool for the black box. He also is the one who helps Mr. Summers make up the slips ultimately deciding whose "grave" will be next. Old Man Warner is the oldest person in the village and the strongest supporter of the lottery.
