Symbolism in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

Symbolism is a concept the author Shirley Jackson doesn’t seem to take lightly. Her short story “The Lottery” is teeming with objects and concepts that don’t show the reader their true meaning without a little digging. Three of the symbols that are very important to the story are the black box, the stones, and the pieces of paper.

The black box holding the lottery tickets is a symbol that holds a lot of mystery in the story. We don’t really know what is going on or the purpose of the story throughout, and the box represents this. It also serves as a symbol for death. Black is often associated with death and evil, which is how the story ends. Also, the box plays on the idea of a coffin holding dead people. One of the persons at the lottery are going to die, and the black box reflects this.

The stones are a symbol for tradition. Rocks are ancient and remind one of a simpler, more basic time. The traditions that the people follow are barbaric in nature and have been around for a very long time.

Another noticeable symbol is that of the pieces of paper. They represent the fragility and feebleness of life. This can be seen in the story wen Jackson says “he dropped all the papers but those on to the ground, where the breeze caught them and lifted them off” (Jackson 410). It shows how the people’s lives are just like the papers, insignificant.

Jackson truly shows how symbolism can add much depth to a short story. Without it, "The Lottery" would seem to be nothing more than an entertaining mystery tale.

"The Storm"

In "The Storm" by Kate Chopin they try to use the storm as an excuse to do the things they do. The two people in the story that committed adultery were both married. There is never an excuse to commit adultery. The husband of the women in the story was not feeling well about having to stay in the store while and leaving his wife home alone while the storm was coming so he bought her shrimp (256). Alcee, the man that committed adultery, showed up at Calixta's house and used the on coming rain as an excuse to get in. The storm was no reason to commit adultery but there is never a good enough reason to do that. The fact that neither of them felt guilty makes it even worse. At the end of the story the wife laughed with her family like nothing ever happened(259). The man sends a letter to his wife that she can stay away in another town.

I Stand Here Ironing

In “I Stand Here Ironing”, the narrator feels very guilty for the way her eldest daughter Emily was raised. Overall the narrator loves Emily in her own way and was doing what she thought was right, or what she simply had to do. “I was nineteen. It was the pre-relief, pre-WPA world of the depression.” (284) That would have been an extremely difficult time to be a single mother. Jobs were limited to females and money was tight even for people in upper class America. The narrator was perfectly just in “[having] to leave her daytimes with the woman downstairs” (284). I also don’t blame her for having to send Emily to her father’s family, but in other ways the narrator has every right to feel guilty. “With all the fierce rigidity of first motherhood” (283) she denied Emily milk when she was a hungry infant. She never rationed milk for the rest of her children. She forced goodness upon Emily rather than letting her throw tantrums like the normal four-year-old. The narrator never even smiled at Emily. That is a very scarring thing to a child. When Emily was sick and had nightmares the narrator didn’t go to her room and comfort Emily instead she yelled out “now go to sleep, Emily, there’s nothing to hurt you”. It is true that a child needs to learn to be independent and not afraid, but I think that underneath the fear Emily just wanted her mother to be with her. It was fortunate for the narrator that Emily had talent or else she would be feeling a lot more guilty than she does in the story.

"The Storm"

Question Number Nine
In "The Storm" by Kate Chopin, two adults, Calixta and Alcee, are brought together under the same roof, as a storm approaches and builds. These two adults were past lovers. The building of the storm leads to the progression of adultery between Calixta and Alcee (255-259). The storm that approaches is no excuse for breaking the strong commitment of marriage between two people. Calixta and Alcee are both married in the story. When two people are committed in marriage, there should be no reason that either of them commits adultery. While the storm brought Calixta and Alcee, two past lovers, together under the same roof, the feelings of fear of the storm that they felt does not excuse their behavior during the storm. Adultery is inexcusable on any level. Also, Alcee goes home after the storm and writes to his wife that they may stay longer at Biloxi if they would like (259). This shows that the behavior of Alcee and Calixta is no longer excusable by the storm because there is no regret for their actions afterwards. In fact, Alcee is looking for more opportunities to have time with Calixta in the future. If the behavior would have been heat of the moment and excusable by the storm, both characters would feel some sort of regret after the incident took place.

"I Stand Here Ironing"

"I Stand Here Ironing" explores the intense guilt of a mother who feels she did not live up to her duty as a mother. It is entirely possible that these events could occur in our world today. Single mothers face just as many challenges today as they did in the Depression era. It's not only much more costly to provide for a family, but the expectations put on parents to provide have only increased since that time period. Today, parents are faced with the pressures of providing name brand clothing, and the newest toys and games that most single parents are simply not able to afford, especially in these tough economic times that are being compared to that era.

Emily's mother states, "We were poor and could not afford for her the soil of easy growth. I was a young mother, I was a distracted mother. There were other children pushing up..." (Olsen 288) Emily's mother has not, in reality, done anything wrong. In this life, each of us can only aspire do our best with our children; this is an incredibly difficult task for anyone, but especially for a single mother of multiple children, struggling to provide. She has been a good mother to Emily. She states, "I used to try to hold and love her..." (Olsen 286) The best she could do is try.

I Stand Here Ironing

Answer to Question #3:
In "I Stand Here Ironing", Emily's mother feels a tremendous amount of guilt. This feeling is definitely warranted. There is a whole history of neglect to this first child, for example:"They persuaded me at the clinic to send her away to a convalescent home in the country where "she can have the kind of food and care you can't manage for her, and you'll be free to concentrate on the new baby."(285) It seems Emily's mother was easily influenced, and had skills of justifying her actions, which led to serial events of neglect. Now she is reminiscing about the past and understanding that she could of done things differently, feels it is "too late for Emily"(285). I think that it would be impossible for a mother not to feel guilty about the up-bringing Emily endured. I don't hold Emily's mother completely responsible for the neglect, as life is a huge obstacle, and the bills need to be paid somehow, but she could have made better choices. I believe she is an adequate mother because she did what she needed to do at the time, and Emily turns out alright, in-spite-of the events of her childhood. Now mother has insight and hopefully will try and make-up for lost time with Emily.

"The Storm"

In “The Storm” Calixta and Alcee happened to get together due to the bad weather which lead up to them committing adultery. I do not think that the storm is an excuse for adultery. It just so happened to be that there was a storm that day. It probably would have happened at any other day if Calixta’s husband wasn’t home and she knew that she was safe. Obviously Alcee had feelings still for Calixta the way he spoke of her such as” she was a little fuller than 5 yrs ago, but she had lost nothing of her vivacity.”(pg. 256). He remembered her quite vividly so he still had a thing for her. The worst part of it is he wrote his wife telling “her not to hurry back, but if she and the babies liked it at Biloxi, to stay a month longer.”(pg. 259) Clarisse thought he was being kind hearted when in fact he is not. He is hoping to get together again with Calixta. So then it goes to show that the storm had nothing to do with the adultery.

"The Storm"

In Kate Chopin's short story "The Storm" two past lovers end up in each others arms and follow their feelings of passion, committing an forgettable sin, adultery.
When a sin is committed like the one in this story there is never and excuse for it. The storm is no excuse for Calizta and Alcee's actions. The storm may very well be the reason for why they end up under the same roof, the power of the dangerous storm bringing out their past feeling for each other, that are very strong, and powerful like the storm. They obviously still passionately care about each other. The storm in not the reason to act on those feelings. No they cannot control the strength of there feelings which my reflect on the power of the storm, causing Calizta fear, that leads her into Alcee's arms in the first place. The storm my be to blame for them being in each other company, but they can do the right thing and strictly only take cover to stay safe and out of harm. Instead Alcee's move to comfort Calizta end up causing more harm in possibly hurting the people they love along with themselves. They are responsible for their own actions and cannot use the storm as an excuse.

The Storm

In this story a chain of events lead to a characters adultery.

In the Beginning of the story Calixta's husband (Bobinot), and son (Bibi) get stuck at Friedheimer's store waiting out a bad storm. Calixta is at home alone during the storm until M'sieur Alcee (A former fling) unexpectedly rides up on his horse. Calixta welcomes him inside to wait out the storm. Calixta and M'sieur Alcee are both well aware that they are married, but the temptations are too strong. Soon their lips are locked...and so on.

I do not think that the storm is an excuse in any way for Calixta's and M'sieur Alcee's affair. When two people are committed to each other in such a way as marriage there should be no excuse for those actions. When God wrote the seventh commandment (Thou shall not commit adultery), I doubt he viewed a storm let alone anything as an excuse to break that commandment. No matter how hard life is at the time or how big of an argument you are in with a partner, there should always be an alternative to cheating. My favorite quote in this story was, "So the storm passed and everyone was happy". It is the people who wait out that storms that are able to think about everything more logically.

A&P

In A&P Sammy gives a lot of information about himself and how he was raised. He was brought up thinking that work was very important and him and his family sounded very close. It also seemed that his family did not have a lot of money. This is important because it could not have been easy for him to quit his job so easily. But the reason he quit was because he felt his manager embarrassed some customers and one he happened to be attracted to. The fact that he quit over this shows that he lacks some immaturity but at the same time it shows he is very strong person and not afraid to stand up for what he believes in.

"A & P"

John Updike's short story "A & P" is an interesting insight into the inter workings of a teenage male's mind. Throughout the work, Sammy shows signs of maturity and some utter immaturity. Updike uses the first person the first person point of view illustrate these qualities in his protagonist.

That Sammy says, or thinks, the things he does about the girls that come into the store shows that he has obviously not reached a level of maturity that society may deem acceptable. However, that he quit his job in the interest of upholding his own principles may prove otherwise. It can be argued that this is also a sign of lacking maturity, but I tend do disagree. Yes, Sammy may not have taken some important things into account (like not having a source of income after he'd made his decision) when determining the finality of his actions. But, to me, this is not a reflection of immaturity. I see this as an act of some integrity. Sometimes these things have to be disregarded when the sole aim is to act on one's principles. We would not be able to see this if we weren't allowed to see into Sammy's thought process. I think it is best shown when he says "... and my stomach kind of fell when I knew how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter." This is indeed an admission of maturity. Sammy knows what he did was hard, but, in his own mind, ultimately right.

"A&P"

When reading this story about Sammy and the "A&P", Sammy makes him self sound like a little boy. As you read you soon to find out that he comes off as a teen boy. He works at a grocery store and one hot summer day these three girls walked in. It looked like they just walked off the beach with there swimming suites still on. He starts to describe them like there the best thing he has ever seen, and in a prude way. In a way he makes it sound like he forgets all about his job and is more focused on the teen aged girls. This shows what kind of person Sammy is and how he presents him self.
At the end of the story Sammy decides to quit his job. After all his boss was being rude to those girls that he was watching. Then in the end everyone is happy when Sammy rebels and quits his job after his boss got upset about the girls not dressed appropriately. There was some other factors that motivated Sammy in quitting is the nice warm weather. He also seemed like he did not like his job.

"Story of an Hour"

In Kate Chopin's short story "Story of an Hour"a young woman is thrust into a short-lived, however violent, emotional roller coaster. The same feelings would be reflected by anyone going through the same ordeal she does. Learning of the death of your husband is enough to send anyone into a very long period of depression and grief, but the main character in the story deals with it wholly differently. The author uses imagery as a way to show how the character does feel, hopeful and free.
The fifth paragraph in the story is one that shows the true feelings of Mrs. Mallard. When she looks out the window, she sees a picture of absolute renewal. This shows that her husband's death acts in this way, a certain rebirth. This is further explained when Chopin uses the phrase "suspension of intelligent thought" to show how Mrs. Mallard is looking forward into her bright future, rather than considering her married past. These thoughts are later addressed in paragraph ten when she realizes that freedom has entered her life. The last line of the story sums up just how the human condition is represented throughout. It seems the people in Mallard's life assumed her happiness in her marriage and were too ignorant to see that she wished to be freed from it all.

A&P

Sammy was always talking about the girls from the moment they walked into the "A&P", which tells me that he is in that adolecent part of his life where girls may be his main priority. Instead of paying attention to his job he was focusing on what the girls were wearing and trying to figure them out. He also comes off as a bit shollow when he says, "and the plump one in plaid, that I liked better from the back." Throughout the whole story he makes comments about the "A&P" such as,"I could see Lengel in my place in the slot, checking the sheep through." and "I bet you could set off dynamite in an A&P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists." By him making these comments it give me the feeling that he feels isolated and has become bored with his job.

I think that Sammy's primary motivation for quitting his job was to impress the girls, which is why he said it loud enough for them to hear and he looked back to see if they had heard him. I also think that there was more to it than just trying to be a "hero" for some random girls. Like i said before it seemed that he maybe felt isolated and bored with his job. I think that throughout the story Sammy began to find himself and realized what he really wanted out of life. Ever since the girls walked in there was one that stuck out and that he admired (Queenie). At the end of the story when he saw how she stood up for herself, I think it gave him the motivation to stand up for himself and do what he has been wanting to do for a long time....quit his job.

The Story of an Hour

In paragraph 5 Chopin uses imagery to explain what is happening in the outside world. I think it is one of the first times she has taken the time to look around herself when she is not in the grips of her husband. "The suspension of intelligent thought" simply means there is nothing else going on in her head besides the things she views in the outside world. Her eyes are the only things that are processing information to her brain. I believe the one sentence that epitomizes the human condition in this story is , "There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself". All humans should always live for themselves and never try to live for another or be under the control of any one person.

"A&P"

"A&P" is a story of an experience in which a teenage boy makes a decision which does, and will continue, to allow him to grow as an adult. Sammy's ignorance, dislike of his job, and modest upbringing are all vital pieces of information which provide motivation for his rash decision.

In the beginning of the story we learn that Sammy is young at age nineteen. He is attracted to these girls, and because of this makes a rash decision to quit his job. However, he makes it clear from the beginning that this job is unpleasant. On page 220, he describes a customer, "She's one of those cash-register-watchers... and I know it made her day to trip me up." We also know of his modest upbringing, which Sammy describes on page 222, "when my parents have somebody over they get lemonade..."

His initial motive may have been to impress these girls. On page 223 we experience his decision through his young, naive mind. "I say 'I quit' to Lengel, quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero." However, I feel there are deeper, underlying factors which cause Sammy to make this decision. Perhaps he feels stuck in a rut, not wanting to live a modest existence as his parents do. He may want to branch out, and although he feels fear in doing this, stated in the final phrase of the story on page 224, "My stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter." he doesn't turn back. I feel this is admirable, and will allow him courage in future decisions.

"A&P"

Sammy gives the readers information about himself throughout the story through his descriptions of others and situations that take place in "A&P." We learn that he is interested in women through the distraction he describes the girls that entered the store had caused for him. We also see his interest through his detailed descriptions of the three girls as they move through the store. In the middle of the story, we learn that his family is of a lower class than the leader of the girls through his description of serving lemonade versus serving herring snacks to guests on page 222 of the text. We also learn that Sammy has this job because of his parents' friendship with Lengel, which is described on page 223 of the text. We see that Sammy has a lot of respect for his parents and does not want to hurt them. All of these descriptions of Sammy tell us that he is a boy struggling with the emotions and hormones of a boy, which is consistent with him telling us that he is nineteen. Hormones can cause us to do crazy things when our beliefs and morals are challenged in the presence of those we are attracted to. This type of situation is unraveled for Sammy through the story's progression.
Sammy's primary motivation for quitting his job seems to be the urge to impress the three girls that were embarrassed by Lengel. We see this because he says that he watched for them to stop and look back at him, but they keep walking. Another reason he quits seems to be that his beliefs were challenged in the way Lengel publicly embarrasses the girls. Finally, we see his belief to always go through with your actions as his final motivation to go through with quitting his job.
Overall, we see Sammy struggle with his own personal beliefs being challenged and how to handle it without disappointing his parents. In the end, he quits his job regardless of how his parents will feel about it.