The Essay : ' The Trash Lottery '

Traditions are based all around us. Today’s society has many traditions like family traditions, holiday traditions, southern traditions, and so many more. Although most traditions are harmless, it is not always best to follow tradition. Sometimes following tradition can be dangerous. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” villagers participate in an annual drawing, and the winner gets stoned. The villagers are blind to how cruel and brutal it is because of their commitment to this tradition and to that society. Fear is what is keeping this village from breaking such an act. The fear of actually giving up this tradition and society is what is keeping this brutal act existent. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a perfect example that following tradition

Tradition is a central theme in Shirley Jackon's short story The Lottery. Images such as the black box and characters such as Old Man Warner, Mrs. Adams, and Mrs. Hutchinson display to the reader not only the tenacity with which the townspeople cling to the tradition of the lottery, but also the wavering support of it by others. In just a few pages, Jackson manages to examine the sometimes long forgotten purpose of rituals, as well as the inevitable questioning of the necessity for such customs.

The idea of winning a lottery is associated with luck, happiness and anticipation of good things. In Shirley Jackson's story, " The Lottery", this is not the case. The irony of the story is that the winner of the lottery gets stoned to death by everyone else in the town. The story is very effective because it examines certain aspects of human nature.

    "The Lottery," a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale about a disturbing social practice.  The setting takes place in a small village consisting of about three hundred denizens.  On June twenty-seventh of every year, the members of this traditional community hold a village-wide lottery in which everyone is expected to participate.  Throughout the story, the reader gets an odd feeling regarding the residents and their annual practice.  Not until the end does he or she gets to know what the lottery is about.  Thus, from the beginning of the story until almost the end, there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the Jackson's effective

In The Lottery, Shirley explores traditional custom missions and the reason we pass on the legacy to the new generations. As her story describes, families of a small village always gather about the 27th of June each year to attend a town meeting, called the lottery. The old man, Mr. Summer, would “carry the black wooden box” (Shirley 217), to the meeting and distributes the paper ticket to every family while supposedly perform a recital, but people soon forgot how the recital is performed a changed the official rule; whoever has a dot on their pieces of paper will win the lottery. Strangely, the town people do not properly follow the tradition, yet they mindlessly maintain the lottery. Moreover,

Many people have traditions that they hold dear to their hearts. Like putting up a Christmas tree or carving a jack-o-lantern. But what happens when a tradition is not morally correct and is followed blindly by generation after generation? In Shirley Jackson's, "The Lottery" a village's ritual is depicted. Every year a tradition is performed called 'the lottery'.

* The lottery- Author focuses on Tradition of the lottery and how important it is for the

Some of the lottery rituals were allowed to lapse as long as long as the core theme was kept the same. Mr. Summers, the official in the story, tried every year to change the ritual, such as getting a new box, but he was able to substitute the chips of wood for slips of paper (par. 6). Also, there used to be a” ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from the box” (par. 7). And there is confusion about what was used, as some believed that the official performed a tuneless chant, while others believed he stood at the front or “walk among the people” (par. 7). This shows that the villagers follow the tradition blindly, without necessarily understanding why it was created in the first place or the exactly how the ritual took place.

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” published in 1948 portrays a story where people in a small village are stuck on old traditions. Every year on June twenty-seventh the village gathers for the lottery. Children are running around gathering smooth stones shoving them in their pockets. Mr. Summers walks in holding a black square box gathering everyone up, from the little kids to the oldest man in town, Old Man Warner. As soon as everyone is present. Mr. Summers calls everyone’s name as they walk up and draw a piece of paper from the black box. This year Bill Hutchinson was the winner, and out of his family his wife Tessie drew the paper with the black dot. She screams it is not fair as the crowd strikes her with stones. The black box in this story is a symbol for tradition, Old Man Warner is used to as someone who is wise, and the kids are shown as the village peoples arrogance. The author uses the black box, children, and Old Man Warner to display to the readers how people will follow tradition with no explanation out of fear.

In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”, it can be very dangerous to follow traditions blindly without knowing about the horrible consequences. When one follows traditions and laws and never questions or seeks to understand the reason for them, the inevitable outcome often brings sorrow. Indeed blind devotion to complying with rules that destroys the human spirit by removing choice, and continuing rituals with dark consequences, and punishing anyone who objects to following tradition. Complying with rules that helps lead to destroying the human spirit is dangerous because individuals should always have the choice to follow those rules. The blind devotion of the village participating in the town’s yearly lottery is the clear example why all rules aren’t always positive. Rituals can be looked upon as positive but they also can have a negative connotation when they lead to dangerous consequences. The village in the story has a ritual every year to hold a lottery, where the winner is stoned to death and this is a clear example how a ritual can be viewed negatively. Traditions are beliefs passed down between generations of a family or culture. They are things we do by choice because they are enjoyable and meaningful for the people involved. Traditions in the story have a dark side to it because the tradition in this village is to kill one of members of the village using a lottery system. The dark side of “The Lottery”, is substantial with many down falls of

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” there are many themes and traditions from which to choose. There are many traditions that people continue to do that are harmless such as Easter egg hunts, Christmas trees, and church on Sunday, and of course there are also more harmful traditions such as war, sexism, and bigotry. Even though traditions make us who we are, it can be dangerous to blindly follow any tradition. The traditions in Shirley Jacksons “The Lottery” are many, but the fact that they continue this specific tradition into the twentieth century is baffling. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, is a short story written in June of 1948, about an annual lottery drawing in a small town in America.

In today’s society we perceive the lottery as being a great fortune brought down upon you by Lady Luck. It is a serendipitous event, even if the person has done nothing to earn it. One would never see the lottery as an unfortunate occasion that occurred in your life because it is supposed to bring prosperity into your life. Also, one would not dare to think that winning the lottery would bring such repercussions as injury or death. In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the author could have used Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson as the town’s scapegoat due to their reluctance to change traditions, her horrible work ethic, and minority status as a woman.

In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, tells the story of a small town that gathers once a year to do a lottery. This isn’t your typical lottery. In this lottery the winner loses instead of winning. The winner is stoned to death as a part of “tradition”. The town people blindly follow this tradition and are unwilling to change. Tradition is one of the main themes in this story and it should be left alone.

The Lottery is based on the life in a small town in whose residents are so deeply entwined in the old and out fashioned traditional beliefs and practices. The community gathers to play lottery where, before beginning the game they have to engage in traditions and rituals of the game such as chanting, swearing-in, performances and customs.

The Lottery begins like any other day. Clear and sunny skies, flowers blossoming, and green grass. Seemingly nothing out of the ordinary. Then people begin to gather in the town square. What is this lottery that is taking place? Do the people of the town agree with it? These questions can only be answered by exploring the minds of the people in the town.