Symbolism in Jackson’s "the Lottery"

In the story "The Lottery" Shirley Jackson, the ritual of the lottery is much more of a death sentence than a game of luck. Within the story there are many symbols which hint that the ritual may be more than what we think of it. As soon as the story begins, there is a giveaway about how the story will end. It seems like it is a normal, nice, sunny day, but you can tell there is something wrong about it.

The morning of the lottery is one that you can tell is not the same as any other morning. It's special, but not in a good way. Bad things are symbolized because "...the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on them..." (84). When would the feeling of liberty ever feel uneasy? It wouldn't; not unless something terrible was going to happen to somebody, one of them, but no one knew who it would be.

The next symbolic event of the story is the gathering at the town center. The mood the townspeople are in suggest that this gathering isn't one thats fun and relaxing. "[T]heir jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed." (84). This shows discomfort, as well as an eerie feel to the whole setting. The people know something the reader doesn't, and this is a big giveaway if you pay close enough attention. Something else that happens in the gathering in the town center is that someone shows up late. Tessie Hutchinson. She showed up late, while all the other husbands and wives were on time and made sure their children were with them. She came in strolling along, and she was the one who ended up winning the lottery. Her attitude went from whats the big deal to "it's wasn't fair!" (87).

When Tessie's family is chosen, she becomes a woman transformed. "Suddenly, Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers, 'You didn't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair!'" (216). Subsequently, she yells," 'There's Don and Eva [the Hutchinsons' son-in-law and daughter]. Make them take their chance!' "(216). Putting aside for the moment her perfidy in singling out her married children as possible victims to increase her own chances of survival, we see that she is manifestly not the good-humored, whimsical matron whom we first saw eagerly entering the lottery. Her protests of the unfairness of the process--a thought that only now has occurred to her, since there is every likelihood of her becoming the chosen victim ("'I tell you it wasn't fair'" [217])--have a distinctly hollow ring to them, and her defiant glance around the crowd, her lips pursed, as she truculently goes up to the lottery box to pick her ticket, belies her earlier easygoing demeanor. Thus, the irony behind her name has come full circle. Her final assertion ("'It isn't fair, it isn't right'") is neither the cry of an innocent victim (Tessie is definitely not Tess Durbeyfield) nor a martyr's triumphant statement (Tessie is also certainly not Anne Hutchinson). It is the peevish last complaint of a hypocrite who has been hoisted by her own petard. (Yarmove)

She thinks it's so unfair that she asks her daughter and son-in-law to take their chances along side her. This shows she is more concerned about herself rather than her own daughter, that's some motherly love. Her being selfish about winning the lottery symbolizes society and it's every man for them self attitude. Also during the drawing of the lottery, when Tessie was picked, everyone else cheered because they didn't get picked. This also symbolizes society and its cruel ways. It shows that people will turn their heads the other way if it means nothing will happen to them, which is exactly what happened in "The Lottery" when everyone else cheered because of not getting picked. Even her own children seem to be happy it wasn't them who got picked.

Something else that happened during the gathering was that all the slips of paper blew away with the wind. The slips of paper symbolize all those who have been unfortunate enough to win in this twisted lottery ritual, and the slips blowing away symbolizes them (the previous winners) being disregarded and forgotten about.

The black box is described as a wooden