Symbolism in Literature Essay

This essay analyzes the symbolism employed in Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." In "Omelas," the suffering child symbolizes societal injustice, selfishness, and the conflict between individual morality and societal norms. The citizens' acceptance of the child's suffering represents their prioritization of collective prosperity over individual conscience, while those who leave Omelas demonstrate a commitment to moral principles. In "The Lottery," the lottery itself symbolizes blind adherence to outdated and irrational traditions, the black box represents death and the decay of these traditions, and Old Man Warner embodies the stubborn resistance to change. Both stories highlight the dangers of unquestioning acceptance of societal norms and the importance of individual moral responsibility.

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Symbolism
The symbolism in literature is a widely used practice in the literature. Using symbol, the deeper
meanings are expressed in writings (Chadwick 35). In these cases, the symbol is used in two
ways. Firstly, it can be represented by a figure of speech in which a person, object or situation
reflects different significance other than the literal one. The symbolism can also be represented
by the actions of a character in literature. In this case, the actions or words of the character add a
deeper meaning to the context. The stories “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and “The
Lottery” are two such literary works where symbolism is used extensively. The discussion
focuses on analysing the symbolism used in these stories.
In the story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, Ursula Le Guin, the child symbolizes
the injustice, selfishness and the inhumanity. It is reflected in the quote “But to praise despair is
to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else”. The conscience of
human being suffers at its expense (Benson 68). It is reflected in the quote “Sometimes also a
man or woman much older falls silent for a day or two, and then leaves home”. As indicated in
the story, the child was kept in the dark to maintain the prosperity of the city. It is an act of

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inhumanity and injustice. The story also indicates that most of the citizens accepted the treatment
to the child. It represents selfishness as the citizens have not considered the wellbeing of the
child for their interest. The act also indicates that individuals have not used their morality for
being prosperous. However, the latter part of the story indicates that some of the citizens were
able to distinguish between right and wrong. So, they left the city instead of supporting the cruel
act towards the child. It represents that every member of society knows moral behaviour.
However, often they are unwilling to go against the social norms despite being aware of its
inappropriateness. On the contrary, there are so people who have the courage to speak the truth.
“The Lottery” is another story where Shirley Jackson has represented irrational traditions of the
society using the actions of the villagers. The lottery, black box and old man Warner are three
symbols in the story.
The lottery in this story represents obsolete customs and irrational behaviour associated with it
(Landau 18). The obsoleteness of the lottery is reflected in the quote”. The original paraphernalia
for the lottery had been lost long ago” which indicates it is no longer able to serve its primary
purpose. As stated in the story, the villagers arrange a lottery every year in June. The tradition is
being followed every year unquestionably. The villagers do not know why they perform the
same ritual. The lottery box is broken but they do not replace it as the same box is being used for
the generations. The acts of the villagers are completely irrational as there is no specific reason
behind their actions.
The black box represents death (Landau 15). It is reflected in the quote “The black box grew
shabbier each year” which reflects its poor condition. At the end of the story, the villagers are
about to kill one of them. The actions symbolize the impacts of practising any ritual

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unquestionably. In modern society also, many rituals are followed for generations. The people do
not want to evaluate the significance of the rituals but simply support those because their
predecessors also have done the same. In a society, new ideas should be accepted. It leads to
social progress. Having unquestionable faith in the old beliefs cause damage to the society and it
is presented through the incidents mentioned in the story.
The old man Warner is described as the “Oldest Man in the town” and he is participating in the
lottery for seventy-seventh time . He is representing oldness of the ritual and its unquestionable
acceptance among the villagers.

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Works Cited
Benson, Haley. "Into the darkness: the erosion of empathy in the age of connectivity." (2018).
Chadwick, Charles. Symbolism. Routledge, 2017.
Landau, Samantha. "Occult Influences in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery." Gakuen 936 (2018):
11-21.