Literary Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s

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Literary Analysis of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery
The Lottery, a story carefully put down by Shirley Jackson has been continually referred to as a masterpiece by numerous literature scholars. The author has won the hearts of many readers because she has chosen to use a unique style in advancing her numerous important themes. The Lottery is a piece about a lottery draw that takes place yearly in a little town in England. Different from popular lotteries, in this town, the draw is all about choosing one person that goes ahead to be stoned by the town people. The story depicts the small town as having been trapped in its own traditions. In its context, the lottery tradition has been observed by the locals for close to a century. These people, as portrayed in Jackson’s text, feel obliged to follow traditions that they do not fulfill their own interests (Shirley 18). The author has tactfully used a combination of symbolism, tone and setting in an attempt to help the reader relate to the various issues explored in her piece.
Importantly, Jackson employs symbolism in her bid to explore the various issues in this story. Symbols have been used to enable the reader to seek simple understanding of the various main themes of her story. Using these literal skills, she succeeds in creating a valuable link to the main issues. For instance, she uses the black box as an example in her story (Shirley 22). Additionally, Old man Warner is considered to be among the main characters in The Lottery.

His relevance in this story is augmented by the fact that besides being among the main figures, Warner stands as one of the symbols. His significance in the story comes with the fact that he is the only one to have witnessed over seventy lotteries. This makes him the oldest man in the establishment. Symbolism is highlighted in the sense that he is a representation of the traditions of this town. In the story, the younger people are depicted as trying to tell Warner that the lottery practice is an outdated tradition to the extent that all the other towns have rapidly abandoned it. As expected, Warner despises their views because he thinks that they are ‘fools’. He concludes that the youth are beyond sanity by trying to boycott the tradition of carrying out the lottery. In his own view, he thinks that it is only the lottery that is maintaining cohesion of the town. Moreover, his superstitious nature makes him believe that human sacrifice is the only way to ensure the town thrives economically.
The black box is yet another symbolic feature employed by Shirley Jackson in her story. This object is the extreme opposite of Mr. Warner. The black box represents the new generation and the abandoning of traditions such as the lottery. Only little pieces of what was the black box are available at this moment, representing the fact that many other outdated ideas have been dropped along the way. Moreover, the way in which the lottery was designed has greatly changed. Initially, the villagers chose to use pieces of wood in the draw. However, in the context of the story, the new generation now uses pieces of paper. The inhabitants of the town are depicted as being blind followers of something they think is a tradition, but one that has rapidly been transformed (Williams et al. 47). The black box has been used by the author to show progressiveness and the quest for new customs and practices. The people in Jackson’s story are only obsessed with the idea of the lottery courtesy of their history.
The story examines numerous relevant themes. Shirley Jackson has succeeded in introducing themes in The Lottery. The blind pursuit of customs has been highlighted as perhaps the major theme in Shirley’s text. This author sought to highlight the fact that the blind following of customs can prove to be a big mistake. Through her story, Jackson faults the tradition that advocates the killing of people for the sake of keeping traditions. The town in the story chooses a tradition that affects the residents in a negative manner. Mr. Warner especially advances this theme by representing the old guard who does not dispute the emulation of traditions despite some of their destructive and harmful tendencies, as portrayed in the society. He is gullible to the extent that he sees the rest of the town inhabitants as being ‘crazy’ in attempting to abandon the old customs. Interestingly, Warner thinks that the society will lose course if it attempts to abandon their traditions. He fails to see beyond the traditions and wants to rally the town in maintaining the old customs. His belief that human sacrifice is necessary for prosperity is in all ways ridiculous. Interestingly, the rest of the town is oblivious apropos of the truth (Joshi 22).
Tessie Hutchinson is one of the characters in the story depicted as being progressive in her reasoning and ideas. At some point, she claims that she has forgotten that it was the day of the lottery. She is a sharp and clear contrast from the rest of the women in the town. While the rest of the villagers are blind conformists, Tessie Hutchinson is not keen on observing the town’s tradition, an action that could easily attract a death penalty in this town. Jackson has separated this character from the rest of the crowd that is keen on maintaining the status quo (Shirley 45). Hutchinson is unbothered by the outdated customs and even remains behind to finish her chores before she joins the less important lottery. Furthermore, during the drawing of the lottery, she protests one of the decisions challenging it as being unfair. Surprisingly, even the villagers ignore her when she yaps on the choice of the lottery (Joshi 33). The author leaves her readers to decide on whether Tessie would have protested in a situation where the person selected was not a family member. Even her family members choose to silence her when she protests against the decision. She is the exact opposite of Mr. Warner who is very keen on maintaining the status quo.
The author has carefully highlighted the various issues affecting this society. Shirley Jackson has succeeded in using symbolism and other styles of writing in creating the real scenario among the readers. This enables the reader to temporarily live in the time of the story in trying to establish the various issues facing this society. The author has concentrated on advancing the idea of traditions. Despite using the lottery as an extreme example of outdated traditions, the author wins in advancing her ideas in the story. The themes advanced in the story equip the reader with the ability to use the principles acquired in The Lottery to thrive through real life situations (Joshi 35).

Works cited
Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery and Other Stories. New Canadian Library, 2016.
Jackson, Shirley. Novels and stories: The lottery, The haunting of Hill House, We have always lived in the castle, other stories and sketches. Vol. 204. Library of America, 2010.
Joshi, S. T. “Shirley Jackson: Domestic Horror.” Shirley Jackson: Essays on the Literary Legacy (2005): 183-198.
Williams, Richard H. “A Critique of the Sampling Plan Used in Shirley Jackson’s” The Lottery”.” Journal of Modern Literature 7.3 (1979): 543-544.