The Black Box

Each meaningful story has symbols. Symbols that help the readers understand the storyline and the mood of which the story is written in. Within the short text "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, the author symbolizes death and tradition through many different ways. The way that caught my attention the most was the black box.

Every year the people of the village would gather in the square for The Lottery. Before they would come, everyone gathered all of the rocks and stones they could possibly hold in their hands. Once everyone was there, they would begin the choosing of the names out of the black box. Right then and there, I wondered; Is it unusual that the box just happens to be black? The color of death, power, fear, evil? At this point of the story, it should be known to readers that the "lottery"  they're talking about is far more different than the one we have today.

Another symbol the black box provided was tradition. This black box that was used for centuries before them was very sacred to them. No matter how bad the condition this box was in, no one would replace it with another. Possibly, the government was afraid of change if the box was switched with a newer one. Or even that the government thought that if getting a new box would mean new traditions.

Wrapping up, the black box had many symbols that lead to the meaning of the book and lead to the end of the story as well. Although there are other symbols taken from the black box, the ones that stood out to me the most is death and tradition.