Lottery Essay, Research Paper

In the story ?The Lottery? by Shirley Jackson the town holds a lottery every year to see which person in the town is chosen to die. The townspeople hold this lottery every year and would never consider abandoning it and think that people who have abandoned the lottery in other towns are fools. In the story the townspeople are consumed with the tradition and Jackson uses this story to symbolize how people in our and recent societies would do the same things.

The story symbolizes how people in present and past societies made sacrifices to ensure the survival of the town. First of all, the lottery is a tradition that is held every year that every adult male must participate in. The head of the town picks a family out of a black box. When a family is chosen the head of the family (usually the male) picks someone in the family to be stoned to death. The town?s people have held this lottery from the beginning of the town and would never consider abandoning it. In the story Old Man Warner says, ?Lottery held in June, Crops be heavy soon.” The town?s people think that when a person is stoned the crops will be good and the town will prosper. Many people in ancient civilizations made sacrifices to the gods and thought that if they did the crops would be good. They believed that when they did these sacrifices it would ensure the well being of the community and the people within the community. Because it is a tradition the people of these civilizations would accept that the belief might be wrong. The people of the town Jackson describe take this sacrifice a step further and sacrifice people. They believe that when they sacrifice the person a higher power will be pleased a supply them with good crops.

Symbolism is also shown using the Black box. For example, since the box is black that would symbolize death and darkness. Since the winner is chosen from this black box that may foreshadow that someone may die. The condition of the box symbolizes many things. ?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.? This sentence symbolizes that the lottery has been going on for many years, which shows that it is an annual tradition. The sides of the box represent the people. All the sides but one are painted which shows the mostly all the people are in favor of the lottery but a small majority of the people are not. Symbolism is used throughout the story and shows the cruelty within people that can be bought out during such a tradition.

From the beginning of the story, the villagers are obsessed with their tradition of the lottery. The townspeople are so used to having the lottery that they would not know what to do without it. Friedman quotes, ?The order and happiness of the majority depends on the destruction of others.? This quote implies that because a person is stoned every year the townspeople would not know what to do if a person wasn?t stoned. Because of their obsession with the lottery, the town?s people would never consider abandoning it (Friedman). Since the townspeople are so consumed with the tradition of the lottery they immediately refuse to even consider the idea of abandoning it. After talk of abandoning the lottery is bought up old Man Warner replies, ?Pack of crazy fools, listening to the young folks, nothings good enough for them (Jackson). Since Warner is the oldest person in the town and he has been living there all his life he is used to seeing death and used to participating in the lottery. He of all people would never abandon the lottery. Peter Kosenko exclaims, ?The lottery could never be abandoned in these towns, or their whole society would not function.? Because of their obsession with the lottery the townspeople reject the idea of ceasing this act.

Despite the human act that is being portrayed in the story, the people of the town continue to do this act because they are so seized by it. The people of the town would never consider abandoning the lottery even if it was there children being stoned. They would never do this because of their belief that it brings good luck. Clearly this town is obsessed with the tradition and would not think of abandoning it. In order to keep the town in a state of peace this horrible act must be followed through?