The keystone of this story is most simply put, the black box. The box is described as a small, rugged antique (older than Mr. Warner even). Jackson describes the box as it "grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained." Not only does the box hold the tickets to the lottery within it, but it holds the tradition of the lottery itself. Mr. Summers is noted in the story to have suggested creating a new box, however, the villagers repeatedly rejected the idea. This is symbolic of the change from archaic ideas, such as human sacrifice to a newer, modern tradition, perhaps one that doesn't require someone dying at the end.
While the tradition may still be archaic in its ideals, characters such as Mr. Warner give the reader insight that it has still indeed changed. The box is also symbolic of this change, as its appearance has withered away with time. Now it is no longer even a completely black box, but a stained and damaged one, much as the ritual itself is no longer its original self, stained and damaged in ways of its own. Parallels from this box can be seen all throughout the story, which is why I feel it is important to note it as a centerpiece of the story.
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Brief Summary
"The Lottery" tells a story of a small American town which on the surface appears to be the home to roughly 300 average Americans. The town is readying itself for a ritual known only to the reader as "the lottery". The story begins on the clear and sunny morning of June 27th, however the mood of its residents is one of a strange, eerie nervousness. Children gather stones in hopes of a good harvest in the coming year, and the town collects around a small black box. In the first round of the lottery, the head of each household draws a slip of paper from the black box, followed by the second round where each family member draws a slip. After, each person checks their paper to see who's carries a black dot at the center. Tessie, a woman who arrives late to the lottery discovers that her paper bears the black dot, and such 'wins' the lottery. For her prize, Tessie is then stoned to death by the town.
About Shirley Jackson
- The Lottery
- Shirley Jackson (December 14, 1916, San Francisco, California - August 8, 1965, Bennington, Vermont) was an influential American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years. She has influenced such writers as Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Nigel Kneale and Richard Matheson. She is best known for the short story "The Lottery" (1948), which suggests a secret, sinister underside to bucolic small-town America. In her critical biography of Jackson, Lenemaja Friedman notes that when "The Lottery" was published in the June 26, 1948 issue of The New Yorker, it received a response that "no New Yorker story had ever received." Hundreds of letters poured in that were characterized by, as Jackson put it, "bewilderment, speculation and old-fashioned abuse."