The Significance of Changes in The Lottery In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson shows that times change and that people, sometimes, get trapped in tradition, forgetting to update their rituals to make them apply to their present lives. She uses Old Man Warner as a symbol of tradition that will not change. The black box with paper slips and the “lost” “original paraphernalia” for the lottery symbolize the trapping of tradition and the changes over time. The comments made by Mrs. Delacroix and Mrs. Graves to Tessie symbolizes the meaning lost over time. Another method that Shirley uses to show the loss of meanin