The use of symbolism and narration point of view in stories

Various styles are used in different stories to capture and sustain the attention of the reader. A symbol is something that stands for an idea or has a deeper meaning than itself. In Shirley Jackson’s lottery story the black box is one of the most prominent symbols used in the story. The black box symbolizes the traditions of the villagers making it to be respected to be more than an ordinary box. The story A Rose for Emily uses the second person narration perspective to recount the events experienced by the character in it. In this essay, the use of symbolism in Shirley Jackson’s story The Lottery has been analyzed. Additionally, the narration point of view used in the story A Rose for Emily has been identified and discussed.

The black lottery box in Shirley Jackson’s story can be understood as a symbol because it was revered by the villagers as something in the center of a significant village custom. In the story, the villagers give the three-legged stool placed at the center of the square a wide berth due to the respect they accorded the black box on it. The villagers were even hesitant to assist Mr. Summers when he called for volunteers to hold the box steady as he shuffled the papers inside (Jackson 1). The villagers were also hesitant to replace the box with a new one because by doing so they feared violating the tradition represented by the black box (Jackson 2). The black box was a relic to the village because it was believed to contain some of the pieces of the box preceding it. Even when the black box became increasingly worn out as the years went by, people were still reluctant to replace it because of the sentimental value it held for the villagers (Jackson 2). The contents of the black box also held some significance according to the village traditions. For instance, some of the original chips of wood that had been used for generations had been replaced with slips of paper with resistance from the villager until the facilitator Mr. Summers explained that the village population had increased necessitating the change. Therefore, the black box in Mary Shelley’s Lottery Story is symbolic of the traditions of the villagers featured in the story.

The narrator keeps referring to themselves throughout the story A Rose for Emily making it a second-person narration. The story is mostly narrated in the past tense which shows that the events happened in the past (Faulkner 1). The few instances where the present tense is used is in the reported speech where the narrator describes events as they happened using the voice of the character directly. The tone used in the story alludes to the segregation era in which whites and people of color were assigned separate amenities (Faulkner 1). The narrator uses this to provide a setting for the story. The narrator is identified as a character in the story but their involvement in the events of the story is indirect. This is because the narrator only acts as a bystander, a spectator or someone who passes on information they get from others. Therefore, because the story has most of the characteristics of second-person narration, it more closely fits this category than any other.

In conclusion, styles that are used to make a story more exciting and interesting for the reader include symbolism and the application of a narrative point of view that best suits the story. The symbol identified in the lottery story written by Shirley Jackson is the black lottery box. The second person narration has been used to recount events that happened in the story A Rose for Emily. Both stories are more captivating and engaging because the authors employed various stylistic devices.

 

Work cited

Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Short Stories and Classic Literature, americanliterature.com/author/william-faulkner/short-story/a-rose-for-emily.

Jackson, Shirley. “‘The Lottery.’” The New Yorker, www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/06/26/the-lottery.