The Significance Of Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Tradition; it is the back bone of every culture and civilization. It is what keeps the beliefs, philosophies, and activities of societies alive, to be passed down from generation to generation. However not all traditions are practiced with pure intentions.  Some activities become so routine, people don’t know a life outside of them. Societies become so accustomed to “tradition” that they will participate in pastimes without  questioning the ethics or morals of the situation. Ultimately when tradition takes the place of a rationalizing mind the outcome can be incredibly dangerous. The role of tradition is an underlying theme in the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, forcing readers to ask themselves “At what point do

Thesis: After a long period of time passes people forget the true meaning of their traditions by slowly disregarding as the years pass.

Americans day after day live much of their lives following time-honored traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. From simple everyday cooking and raising children, to holidays and other family rituals, tradition plays a significant role on how they go by there everyday lives. In Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," the citizens of a small farming town follow one such tradition. A point is made regarding human nature in relation to tradition. The story begins on a beautiful summer afternoon. The town's citizens are eager, gathering in the town square in order to take part in the yearly lottery. With the story focused around one particular family, the Hutchinsons, who

Everyone has their own way of solving problems; however, ritual is a form that people doing one thing in the same way. It defines as “the prescribed form of conducting a formal secular ceremony.” However if the meaning of ritual is mistaken, the consequence could be unpredictable." The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson gives us a lecture about a tortuous ritual. The story takes place in a small village with 300 citizens, they gather for a yearly lottery which everyone should participate. The story leads to a horrific ending by people forgetting the concept of ritual.

Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) was an American writer from upstate New York who published over 60 literary works and raised to four children; she published her most famous story, “The Lottery,” in 1948 (Kellman 1213). After her death, New Historicism developed as a form of literary criticism focusing on viewing works based on the important events and societal factors during the time it was written and published. It also seeks to understand aspects of society through the literary works it produces (Brizee). With an agrarian village setting, “The Lottery” is an exceptional story to understand societal conditions through New Historicism analysis because it draws parallels to Jackson’s life through its descriptions of gender roles, family units, and cultural traditions similar to those of American society following World War II.

There are many things that people do every day without questioning why they do them. These are our habits and traditions, and though for the most part they are unimportant they can be a crucial part of our culture and our interactions with each other. Sometimes there are traditions that can cause harm or are morally unacceptable. What should be done in this case? Edmund Burke, a nineteenth century politician and author, argues that it is best to stick with tradition rather than causing dramatic changes in people’s behavior. This is a key component in his argument against the French Revolution in his essay “Reflections on the Revolution in France.” In this essay he argues that the revolution will only lead the

“The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, reflects blind conformity by the villagers with a hint of rebellion. Every June 27th the lottery takes place; the prize for winning is death. The

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

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" satirizes barbaric traditions in a supposedly civilized village. As the story begins, the villagers appear to be fairly civilized and carry on fairly modern lifestyles. This is assumed by the men's discussion of planting, rain, tractors, and taxes. The lottery was outdated to such a degree that some may think that the tradition is primal competition of anthropoid beasts. On the other hand, some think that carrying on the tradition was necessary. The question that must be answered is: Was this a barbaric tradition or was this ritual an honest attempt to better other villager's lives?

Shirley Jackson's story, The Lottery is about a group of towns people who meet every year on the 27th of June. On this day a stoning takes place, as it washes away the sins of everyone that lived in the village. However, should the tradition of the stoning be changed when it becomes your time?

In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, Mrs. Hutchinson’s words at the end of the story, “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” are credible. The tradition of this ancient ritual of the lottery in the short story is extremely barbaric. The villagers do not even question the purpose of their actions and continue the sinful decision of stoning the winner of the lottery to death on the 27th day of June each year. The act is so inhumane that even the children of the village and the son of the victim, Davy Hutchinson, participates in the ritual by throwing stones at her. There is no meaning and goal behind the ritual of the lottery, the villagers just blindly obliges the repetitive monotony of unquestioned traditions and practices, meaning

Shirley Jackson?s insights and observations about society are reflected in her shocking and disturbing short story The Lottery. Jackson reveals two general attitudes in this story: first is the shocking tendency for societies to select a scapegoat and second is the idea that communities are victims of social tradition and rituals.

The Lottery In the story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, it’s about a village tradition where they come together to do a lottery. It’s been a tradition that was created by the villagers’ ancestors and since the creation, it has been a yearly get-together. The villagers repeatedly go to the lottery yearly, without even knowing the reason behind the fact that it was created or why it feels like they need to go. They never question themselves on the reason they go, what they are doing during the lottery, or what they do to “celebrate” the person that wins the lottery.

As the reader begins to read Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, we see nothing but an innocent town that is full of people beginning to present a ritual or traditional ceremony. We see that they present themselves to be a small town who loves each other and wants to have a good time, as well as a town who follows closely to each other no matter what. While reading the story it presents two very different questions, why people in this town work solely on tradition and follow it roughly even if that means that they must kill their own and why the people of the community are so quick to kill someone even if they are guilty of nothing, a unfortunate fact even in the real world today with the death rates. Could it be that Shirley Jackson was presenting the readers with a mirror experience to show that at times we can be blinded by the gratification that tradition leaves us, the feeling we

In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the characters seem to have many feelings about the lottery that is held once a year. All of the villagers, strangely enough do not seem to have any problems with what goes on in the lottery. As a result, everyone just acts as if it is a usual event and proceed with it just like any other day. According to the text, when some women are talking, one of them says “Seems like we got through with the last one only last week” (Jackson). This basically proves that the villages do not mind the yearly annual tradition at all, yet they appear not to be too excited about it. Another woman says “Seems like there’s no time at all between lotteries any more” (Jackson). She is saying that the lottery gets