English paper the “Lottery”
Quintanilla 2
Lupita Quintanilla
Allan Metz
ENG 102
15 November 2020
The Lottery
1. Question 3: Take a close look at Jacksons description of the black wooden box, and of the black spot on the fatal slip of paper. What do these objects suggest to you? Are there any other symbols in the story? page 250.
2. Direct Thesis statement: Jackson uses many symbols such as the wooden box, the black spot, along with the white slips of paper to symbolize the town’s reluctance to change, death or negative connotations, and the villagers’ lives.
A. Jackson uses the wooden box to symbolize the towns hesitation to change.
a. The wooden box symbolizes the towns hesitation to change because it holds power over the people almost like black magic.
b. The wooden box symbolizes the towns reluctance to change not only because it holds power over the people, but because it is a coffin that stores death, along with an unrelenting hole of pain.
c. Quote:
B. Not only does Jackson use the wooden box as a symbol of the towns hesitation to change, but she also uses the Black spot to represent death or as a negative connotation upon the villagers.
a. Jackson uses the black dot to represent death, because the color black is associated normally with death, or very bad things.
b. Along with the black dot representing death, Jackson also uses it to create a negative connotation between the people. Jackson shows this when Tessies is chosen to be stoned but would rather stone someone else including her kids.
c. Quote:
Tessie Hutchinson shows both the evils and weaknesses of mankind faced with immediate death. . . She would willingly take part in the stoning; but, when she is chosen sacrifice, she protects the unfairness of the method. . . instead of giving her life for her children, Tessie prefers that they take their chances also-and she tries to have her daughter Eva and her Husband included to increase her own chances for survival. (Allen, 231).
C. Not only does Jackson use the black spot as a symbol of death, but Jackson also uses the smallest detail with the white slips of paper as a symbol of life.
a. Jackson uses the white slips of paper as a sign of relief upon the villagers that also represents that their life can be taken away at any moment.
b. The white slip of paper also represents the villagers appreciation of life, and the things that they have such as family members, food, and most importantly being able to live another day with their loved ones.
c. Quote: He dropped all the papers but those onto the ground, where the breeze caught them and lifted them off (Jackson, 248).
CONCLUSION:
Finally The Lottery has many different symbols, the wooden box representing the towns hesitation to change their ways out of fear, along with the black spot, creating fear, and casting a scent of death and negativity upon the town, but also the slightest bit of hope and relief of pulling out a white slip of paper.
Works Cited
Allen, Barbara. “A Folkloristic Look at Shirley Jackson’s the Lottery.” Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Christopher Giroux and Brigham Narins, vol. 87, Gale, 1995. Gale Literature Criticism, https://link-gale-com.cochise.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/VWHLRJ262591233/LCO?u=sier28590&sid=LCO&xid=3d89f1b8. Accessed 11 Nov. 2020. Originally published in Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin, vol. 46, no. 4, Dec. 1980, pp. 119-124. Accessed Nov 11, 2020.
Kennedy, X. J., et al. Literature: an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Pearson, 2020.
Shirley Jackson. Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 11 June 2020, www.biography.com/writer/shirley-jackson. Accessed Nov 11, 2020.
