Dead Men’s Path

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Shakespeare once wrote, “The common curse of mankind, --folly and ignorance” (Tro. .; Shakespeare). In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to point out the folly and ignorance associated with mankind’s ability to justify their actions with superstition and tradition. “The Lottery” is a short story that without the symbolism of its characters would amount to little more than an odd tale about a stoning. The setting is an almost festive day in the town square. Jackson describes the children bursting “into boisterous play, and their talk still of the classroom” (78). Yet beneath the normality of the setting there is an undertone of reservation. For example, she describes the men standing around telling jokes yet she states that “their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed” (78).

One of the leaders and most important men of the town is Mr. Summers, who runs the lottery and other civic events. Summer is the season of growing, the season of life. Mr. Summers’ name may symbolize life but instead of awarding life to the winner of the lottery he sentences death. Mr. Graves is the man who carries the black box and swears in Mr. Summers to make the lottery official. The symbolism in his name is quite apparent; by bringing the black box he is equivocally digging someone’s grave. Old man Warner, as his name indicates warns the crowd of the danger involved in breaking tradition. Tessie Hutchinson’s name reminds one of the historical name, Anne Hutchison. Anne Hutchison was a Puritan who became a willing martyr for her religious beliefs and was ran out of her small community. The irony in using the name Hutchison is that although Tessie Hutchinson at first appears to be a light-hearted and good-natured person that believes in the lottery, once her family name is chosen she fears only for herself. Instead of protecting her family and standing up for her beliefs, she tries to lower her own odds of being chosen by insisting that her married daughter also be included in the second drawing. Bill Hutchinson also foregoes any attempt to protect his family by forcing his wife to show her piece of paper and unquestioningly accepts his wife’s fate.

Jackson shows that the lottery has become a meaningless dog that the townspeople ignorantly follow driven only by their own sickness. The symbolism of the characters, especially that of Tessie Hutchinson provides considerable information on the theme of the story. Tessie Hutchinson is the perfect example of how evil exists in everyone. When people are brought together by fear and tradition and led with ignorance and folly there is sure to be terrible consequence.

Works Cited




Achebe, Chinua. “Dead Men’s Path.” Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth

McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ

Prentice Hall, 00. 1-.

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