Symbolism in “The Lottery” by Shirley JacksonFor most of us, when we think of the word lottery, we think of wealth, buying a new house, liberation from debt and being able to afford things you once only dreamed of buying. Deceived by the positive connotation that comes from the word lottery, readers may be slightly disconcerted by the way the story "The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson, unfolds. The sun shining brightly along with the blooming flowers can easily portray an uplifting environment. Instead of using the lottery as a positive gamble of monetary gain, the author uses several literary techniques to present the lottery as a gamble on life and death. Shirley uses symbolism to emphasize her theme about the dangers of blindly following tradition through the lottery itself, the black box. Sacrifice plays an important role in acute community. It instills a form of obedience and loyalty to the morbid tradition. Although the tradition changes over time; for the villagers the concept of sacrifice is never lost. Jackson, the author of The Lottery, uses sacrifice to construct an extremely original plot. Jackson wrote the story as if it were a favorable lottery to exploit the readers' consistency and twist the plot. Throughout the story the author leaves useful suggestions to make the theme clear. Like when did Jackson write? Bobby Martin had already filled his pockets with rocks and the other boys began to follow his example?, and ?finally they made a big pile of rocks in the corner of the square.? This sign of foreshadowing shows which method of sacrifice is to be used in the tale. The city had no choice but to run the lottery. In The Lottery Old Man Warner said? Listen to those young people, nothing is good enough for them. Next thing you know, they'll want to go back to living in caves, no one works anymore, live like this for a while. This cites intent