The Lottery

In The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, the main symbol that I took away from the short story is the black box. To me, this box represented the society in this particular region. Just as the box was old, shabby, and falling apart, the city was old-fashioned. Likewise, since the people of this city are unwilling to let go of this out-dated box, the city is represented as a group that is unwilling to let go of certain tradions. It is a bit strange, however, that they are willing to overlook and replace some aspects of the tradition. Some examples of this would be exchanging paper slips for the old wood chips and, also, making the ceremony more modern. The society they live in is stuck in the past and feels life cannot go on rightfully without this lottery. Most of the town feels the lottery is completely necessary. This ritual has brainwashed the society into thinking it's normal and acceptable to stone an innocent being to death. We see this in the quote, " 'Some places have already quit lotteries,' Mrs. Adams said. 'Nothing but trouble in that,' Old Man Warner said stoutly. 'Pack of young fools.' " (Jackson, 268).
Also, the saying, "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon," (Jackson, 268), reiterates the town's devotion to old sayings, traditions, and history. They act on the mindset of "it has been said, so it must be true." I take this society's actions as completely illogical in the fact that they can pick and choose which aspects of the ritual they follow and which they can toss out or replace.