The Lottery

4 Pages 1047 Words

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a rebellious attempt to persuade America that our traditions are being carried on by thoughtless, ignorant men. Jackson tried to symbolize men as being the carriers of death and the women as the martyrs.
Jackson places the setting of the story in a very peaceful, small town. She described the day as, “...clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green (Pg. 83-84).” This gives the reader a sense that everything is perfect in the “everybody knows everybody” type of town. It’s the typical American town. It’s essentially ideal.
The man that she tries to portray as the ignorant man the most is Old Man Warner. Warner has been around the small town for quite some time. He holds firm in his idea that tradition should be strictly followed and never forgotten. Jackson forces the reader to only look at the fact that Warner is just a stubborn, narrowminded man. He criticizes other towns for dropping the lottery, saying that the citizens are “....a pack of crazy fools (Pg. 87).” Old Man Warner isn’t even happy with the way that the lottery is being run at the present time. He says, “It’s not the way it used to be, people aren’t the way they used to be (Pg. 87).” Even though the town is carrying on with the brutal tradition in a more modern approach, he still isn’t satisfied. This still doesn’t stop him from proceeding with the stoning. To the reader, he is nothing more than a stubborn man.Jackson doesn’t stop at Warner. There are many other men in the story with names that have symbolic meaning towards death and doom.
Mr. Graves is a prime example of a male citizen in the town with a bit of authority. He is one of the two men that arrange and proceed with the ceremony. His name, Graves, screams death and darkness. The name itself gives the reader a bit of an unconscious thought that Graves...