Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is an impressive short novel that narrates the story of an intriguing but cruel tradition in a small village in the United States. The villagers annually conduct a lottery on 27 June, and shockingly, the “winner” gets brutally killed with stones by other residents. “The Lottery” was published in the 1940s, three years after the Second World War’s end, and became famous quickly (Nugraha and Mahdi 36). The story is filled with various symbols, suggesting different ideas on how they can be interpreted. One of the versions is that “The Lottery” conveys the message that people are capable of turning savage and brutal in no time, forgetting to question their actions because of social pressure and old habits. Old Man Warner, signifying a refusal to change, the black box, representing ritual’s ancientness, and the lottery itself, the sign of blind loyalty to traditions, are the main symbols in the story helping demonstrate cruel human nature and pointless traditions.
There is much meaning behind the names of the characters in the story. One of the meaningful names belongs to Old Man Warner, the oldest person in the village. He must warn villagers about the danger of giving up the traditional lottery. When Warner hears about other villages quitting the tradition, he calls them fools and quotes saying, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson 4). The saying explains the alleged meaning of the lottery, bringing a rich harvest. People who built the village conducted lottery hoping for good crops, and their descendants continued the tradition. Even though there is no evidence of such correlation, Old Man Warner is confident that the lottery is vital for the village’s future. He knows that without sacrificing one person, everyone else is going to die of hunger. Warner has never seen anyone proving this belief, but he has never doubted it. The character acts as a symbol of human stubbornness and unwillingness to consider other perspectives. He shows the headstrong human nature, which is so confident in its beliefs that it does not allow the idea of being wrong.
The black box is the next symbol used in the story to signify all the years this pointless tradition has passed. The damaged black box represents the villagers’ willful ignorance of the cruelty of the ritual and their loyalty to the lottery. The box has been passed down through generations, and the tradition is only kept because people are used to keeping it. Box’s color is black, signifying death and the evilness of the villagers’ actions (Ramadhayani). People are reluctant to replace the box, although it is destroyed and barely black after years of usage and preservation. The author mentions that “the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box” (Jackson 8). They merely rely on a rumor that their box was constructed using components from the previous one. The box is shabby and hardly black anymore, while people are still unaware of the reason for their attachment. It shows that villagers have stored the box for so long that they have forgotten its meaning but continue using the symbol of their dark actions to preserve the tradition.
Meanwhile, the lottery is a metaphor for obediently embraced beliefs carried through generations. Many elements of the lottery have altered or vanished throughout time. It is highlighted that children come reluctantly, and Mr. Summers, the man who conducts the lottery, criticizes villagers who came late this year (Jackson 1). By these details, the author could have implied that people are less willing to continue the tradition, especially the new generation, who openly does not want to come unless called five or six times. However, Mr. Summers “has the power to direct and influence everyone” (Nugraha and Mahdi 39). Therefore, nobody dared to question why the tradition exists, so the lottery is still conducted despite its absurdness and cruelty.
The story plot of the story seems ordinary to the reader before the author reveals the reason why villagers conduct the lottery. It is shocking how natural the cruel and meaningless ritual is to the story’s characters, as it was always part of their everyday lives. In this regard, the lottery can also be interpreted as a symbol of people’s willingness to excuse actions. It reveals how humans are prone to criticize others and call them fools while being utterly ignorant of their flaws.
Jackson’s short story simultaneously shocks and fascinates the reader with its ordinary description of peculiar events and excellent criticism of society. “The Lottery” effectively uses symbols to convey the message of the absurdness of some beliefs and traditions. Old Man Warner symbolizes stubborn human nature and successfully depicts people who have never considered any opinions but their own. The black box used for the lottery signifies years the tradition existed, highlighting that the box was already replaced and almost destroyed, and yet, no one dares to question why it ever existed. Meanwhile, the lottery itself is the symbol of obedient loyalty to pointless traditions. It illustrates the consequences of blind trust in unquestioned rituals and implies the need to wonder about the meaning of traditions before passing them to the next generations.
Works Cited
Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery . 1948, pp. 1-8.
Nugraha, Intan Siti, and Sutiono Mahdi. A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics, vol. 7, no. 1, 2020, pp. 36-39. Web.
Ramadhayani, Rizka. “Symbols of Death inside of the Lottery by Shirley Jackson.” Teknokrat Repository, Indonesian Teknokrat University Library, 2018. Web.