The Lottery

23 April 2007

Evil in Paradise

2

The scene of “The Lottery” is a very ordinary town, where everyone knows each other. Even their names are common -- Warner, Martin, and Adams. The description of the day tricks the reader into believing the story will be an innocent one, “clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” Everything about the town appeared normal to the casual eye. There was a town square, a post office and a bank. But again, there is no mention of a courthouse or church, suggesting there is no judicial or religious law. Jackson's portrayal of extreme evil in this ordinary, friendly atmosphere suggests that people are not always as they seem. Jackson implies that underneath one's outward friendliness, there may be lurking a pure evil. “Bobby Martin ducked under his mother’s grasping hand and ran, laughingly, back to the pile of stones” (350). Even children, knowing the eventual outcome of the story, placed importance in having enough stones. The children are the first to gather for the ritual, piling stones as if they were playing a game without understanding why. It is soon obvious that the children in the village learn quickly to turn their backs on everyone else except themselves.

The black box is one of the central themes in the story. It symbolizes at first some type of mystery, but we quickly realize it is associated with doom. Someone's fate lies inside. The box symbolizes our unwillingness to accept change, “The black box 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 is some places faded and stained” (351). This shows that we cling to what is familiar rather than change and it also symbolizes the traditions of the community. No one in the little town questions the origin of the black

3

box, but they accept it as part of their lives. The splintering of the box could refer to the questions some of the villagers speak, “They do say, Mr. Adams said to old Man Warner, who stood next to him, “that over in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery” (353). It seems as though Mr. Adams