The Black Box: Symbolic Of Death And Faded Traditions While the setting of Shirley Jackson’s, The Lottery, takes place on a clear, sunny, June day, it does not take long for the skies to turn gray as she introduces the readers to the black box. The black box is the central symbol of the short story. It suggest both death and necessity of change due to a combination of the passage of time and population expansion. The reference to the black box as a symbol of death can be seen in many instance’s throughout the story. For example, when the box is first introduced, “the villagers kept their distance,