Jackson, “The Lottery”. Literature & Language Essay

Symbolism in the Short Story “The Lottery” by Shirly Jackson
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Symbolism in the Short Story “The Lottery” by Shirly Jackson
Not everybody can tolerate horror stories or movies. Still, Shirly Jackson (1988), in a short story “The Lottery”, puts her readers to the test. The story is set up in an ancient town that still holds to a traditional lottery. It is categorized as horror because the person who wins the lottery is ironically persecuted by stoning them to death. The story is set in 1948, where a community of 300 people is ready to carry out a yearly tradition of stoning one of their members. Jackson sets up an atmosphere that indicates that the practice was readily welcome in the community. In her literary delivery, Jackson uses symbolism in various instances to develop the story's themes. This paper analyzes Jackson's use of symbolism in her work “The Lottery”. It argues that Jackson carefully and symbolically selected the characters' names, the setting of the story, the title, and the paraphernalia used in the ritual to develop the story's themes.
The characters have names that are symbolic of Jackson's story. The author names the main character Mr. Joe Summers to symbolize the season in which the lottery takes place. "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" (p 1). Mr. Summers was the leader of all the rituals performed that day. The name "Summers" symbolizes not only the season but also the nature of Joe's personality. Like the season, summer is cool and favorable, Jackson Portrays Joe Summers as cool and calm. This is evident through how he approaches all the events on that fateful day. Tessie complains and shouts that the process was not fair. Still, Summers answers her calmly that everybody witnessed that picking the papers was free and fair. Therefore, the name Summers symbolizes his calm nature, like the summer season is often calm. This is the reason he is tasked to lead the events of the day.
Summers' friend and assistant are Mr. Graves. He helps Summers to prepare the lottery papers and during the actual day of conducting the lottery. The name foreshadows a possible death and funeral. It symbolizes the lottery results, that a person will die and be buried in a grave as is the tradition in many cultures. Similarly, Delacroix, literary meaning the cross, symbolizes martyrdom. Tessie dies for the sins of the village members hence, she is the martyr as the name Delacroix symbolizes. At the end of the lottery, a person dies for society's sins and appeases the gods to give fatty farm produce as the Old Man Watson says, "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" (p 6). However, it is not clear whether the lottery's purpose was to ensure heavy corn production because it is not clearly outlined in the story.
The superstitious tradition symbolizes the important role the people believe they have to play in the community. The person who wins the lottery is one of the community's people. Still, the rest are inhuman enough to stone him or her to death despite ...