Could the lottery ever bring bad luck or even death? "The Lottery" was written by Shirley Jackson. The story begins on a bright summer day with children collecting rocks. Then the villagers all gather for the usual lottery, but this is not the typical modern day lottery. This story ends with a tradition and the winner of the lottery is stoned by the villagers. Shirley Jackson's effective use of symbolism is reflected in the black box, stones and stool. The first symbol that Shirley Jackson uses effectively is the black box. The black box represents death in this story. In this story a black box was the symbol of a coffin, so when they take the paper out of the black box they take out their destiny from a coffin. In the story it says: "When he arrived in the square, carrying the black wooden box, there was a murmur of conversation among the villagers", so it seems that everyone was silent, as if he was carrying a coffin through the village. When he talks about the box he always calls it a black box, because the black color represents darkness, mystery, a...