"The Lottery"

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, symbolism plays a huge role in the meaning of her story. Her use of explaining everything, from the weather to the way the villagers gathered, had some other meaning than what one might originally think. Jackson describes the day as “clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day” (p.405), this represents the beginning of the season that is associated with life and new beginnings; all the while the reader knows that seasons come to an end.
The village square is located in between two major buildings, the “post office and the bank” (p.405); this represents the fact that “the lottery” is just as important and necessary for their village to run. On page 409, Old Man Warner is portrayed as a proud civilian getting ready to do his part for his long-lived tradition. In line 40 and 41 Jackson writes Old Man Warner as saying “seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery, seventy-seventh time”. One would have to wonder what he would think if he “won” the lottery.
Perhaps the main symbolic items in the story are the actual pieces of paper the villagers hold. This paper holds their fate on it, a fate that they are willing to put in the hands of the town leader, Mr. Summers. “He dropped all the papers but those onto the ground, where the breeze caught them and lifted them off” (p.410), shows how Mr. Summers just lets the papers fly away with the wind like he is throwing them away. These papers represent the people themselves getting thrown away. As for the black spot on the slip of paper, that represents death, death by the hands of their children, neighbors, husbands, wives, and friends.