The symbolism in “The
Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is used very well. You don’t notice most of it
until the end when you realize what it symbolizes. A few examples of symbols
that are in this story would be the black box, the lottery and the stones. All relate
to one another but you don’t notice it until the end.
First of all, the black box in this story symbolizes death.
Reason being for this is because black shows death and evil. The box is part of
the lottery which deals with death and is part of a tradition. Even though the
black box just seems like a normal box that has been painted black, it has a lot
of meaning to the story, similar to the stones.
At first you think they are regular old stones that
the boys are collecting in the beginning, but then you realize that they show
death, as well. A reason for this is that the stones at the end are used as a
torture tool to stone a person that won the lottery to a death or near death. So
the lottery is a death symbol because of the things used in it.
All in all, “The lottery”, by Shirley Jackson has
many symbols that mainly relate to death. But you don’t necessarily realize
this until the end and until the stoning takes place. Reason why might be
because the author wants you to believe that it is a normal lottery with the
winnings of money, not the loosing of life.
I thought this piece was very well written. If you were in fact going to get it graded I would use more exact examples from the story and put it in more depth. Also use transitions and you'll be good. I learned that black symbolizes more than just sad, but death!
ReplyDeleteI like this piece! I like how you explained what each symbol meant and why. Very well written! One thing I would add although is a author's note. Other than that, very good! :)
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