Shirley Jackson wrote the story “The Lottery”, this story begins in a small village where only about three hundred people lived. It was a clear summer day, June 27th. Readers may think of this story as a story with a happy ending. Everyone thinks that the word lottery means happiness and luck. In this case, the word lottery has a different meaning at the end of the story. What happens at the end of the story only happens in modern movies or TV shows. While reading the story, readers may find important symbols from the story. Some of these symbols may mean something other than what readers may think they actually mean. There were five symbols that play an important role in Jackson's story, namely the black box, the stones, the black spot, the stool and the names Graves, Warner and Summers. In Jackson's story, the black box is symbolic. “The original lottery paraphernalia had been lost long ago, and the black now resting on the stool had been in use even before the birth of Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town” (Jackson). The black box symbolized death. The color of the box also represents death or evil. This gives readers a hint that something bad will happen in the story. Another symbol the box has is that it is old and ugly. The fact that the box is old and ugly indicates that it has been used for many years. The black box was used to put all the pieces of paper that needed to be taken out. This black box was placed in the center of the circle created by all the villagers. The next important symbolic symbol in Jackson's story was the stones. “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use the stones” (Jackson). The stones in the center of the card are used when a person dies. Mr. Graves was the second most important person. He was the postmaster. Mr. Graves was the only person who helped Mr. Summers prepare for the lottery. Another thing readers were able to see was that Mr. Graves was the person holding Dave's small piece of paper during the second drawing. Ultimately, readers can see that there are words that mean something else. The story's author, Jackson, wants readers to have clues about what will happen at the end of the story. Some readers will not be able to grasp those symbolic words. All readers will just have to pay close attention when reading stories like Jackson's story. All the clues like the black box, the stool and the names were great clues that the author gave to the readers to find out that some unlucky person would overcome their own death..