The Significance of Symbols in Literary Works by Jackson and Behr Risha Ghosh 10th Grade

A symbol in the story is like a souvenir from a travel destination. It holds meaning beyond what is actually being seen. Every author has their own deft way to instill thematic meaning into a seemingly inanimate object, which then grows to become a powerful symbol. In horrific stories about reality such as The Lottery, Jackson uses the black box as a strong representation of tradition, whereas in books inspired by sociocultural situations such as The Smell of Apples, Behr successfully uses apples and whales to portray child-like innocence. The more we start comparing and contrasting these works to one another, the more interesting and real the conclusions we derive become.

To begin, Jackson's Box symbolizes the fear of change. We read that the box is so broken and worn out that it had to be reconstructed into a newer one by its old parts. Still, the villagers have been using it since decades even though its opening rituals have been forgotten due to the increase in population with every passing generation. This fact clearly states that the most prominent elements of the past, according to the villagers, must be preserved as much as possible despite of the dark, ugly and defective aspects. Evidently, the Box plays quite a...