Tradition Depicted In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

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

The reader, in turn, is oblivious. As the reader reaches the end, there view on this tradition is shattered by what it truly is to the villagers. This is no happy event, and the

In the film “The Lottery” we are shown just how much the villagers have been desensitized to the idea of killing one of their own for the sake of tradition. The initial scenes show children light-heartedly gathering stones about the town. They giggle and joke with each other while collecting an arsenal. A group of men nearby engage in their own jokes and small talk, as if it was just another day. The most remarkable exchange occurs between the eventual victim, who almost missed her date with destiny while washing her dishes and the head of the lottery. Banter exchanged between the two and there were actually chuckles throughout

Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’ First thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There’s always been a lottery” (Jackson 4). The lottery has been around for many years and only some villages realize that it is bad. Unlike the village that Old Man Warner is in, they think that the lottery is perfectly fine. “Some places have already quit the lotteries.” Mrs Adams said. (Jackson 4). “Nothing but trouble in that,” Old Man Warner said stoutly. “Pack of young fools” (Jackson 4). Old Man Warner thinks that the lottery is okay, it seems as if he doesn’t care about the villagers in his village, he seems to only care about tradition and the

Coulthard describes the attitude of the villagers like this: “the others are willing to risk their own lives for the sheer pleasure of an unpunished annual killing” (226). The fact that they are risking their lives for the lottery ritual pushes the nature of it from simple meanness to sadistic malice. The failure to remember the real reason for the ritual has caused this shift in human nature and motive. The ritual of the lottery should have been discontinued at this point because no real reason exists for it.

?The people had done it so many times that they only half-listened to the directions?? The villager?s passiveness towards the lottery shows, not only that they don?t want to be there, but that the lottery is just another task they need to mark off of their to-do lists. In actuality, the lottery is a tuned-way of choosing someone to die, but the villagers are so desensitized to it, that they fancy the lottery as nothing more than an errand that they must complete.

In that village there is an old man who was so committed to their belief that they follow about, therefore he fears that the villagers will return to primitive time and stop following the ritual of the lottery. The family has the bond that is a significant part of the lottery because they are so against one another. In that village through the lottery family stand together in a group, and every family member is required to present there if not then they are not obeying the tradition correctly. Head of the family first gets the chance to take the paper and rest of them follow. The family relationship is essential to living, it meant to support us, protect us, love and understand us. The family relationship is meant to protect us from external influences and help us to make better decisions after all family is the one who promotes our inner growth and supports us. When

The small village in this short story contains “only about three hundred people” (Jackson 2). Such a small population doesn’t allow for much class stratification; however, the villagers can be divided into four groups. The children who innocently run wild and talk amongst themselves make up the first class. They don’t have much purpose at all during the lottery; in fact, during the first part of the lottery process, Jackson doesn’t even mentioned them. The women who gossip and stand by their husbands make up the second class. Even though they don’t draw during the first part of the lottery (with the exception of Mrs. Dunbar), they provide commentary in the form of gossip such as “[t]ime sure goes fast” (Jackson 3) and “[t]here goes my old man” (Jackson 4). The men who lead their families and act maturely make up the next class. They don't talk much, but have a higher class that of their wives and children. Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves who control the lottery make up the final class. They act as the leaders of the village, while the men act as leaders of their families. This class structure gives the village minor divisions that influence the short story.

Their quest to hunt and kill the other led to nothing of importance or progression, they became trapped in peril as the force of mother nature became a bigger conflict than their ultimate enemy. In The Lottery the characters are emotionless towards others, they feel no empathy or remorse. As Tessie was put to death the characters remained calm, sort of relieved it wasn’t them on the other side of the pebbles being put to death by the “community” because of a draw. Even Tessie Hutchinson wasn’t one to complain before her fate of being stoned to death had become reality. After it was her who was chosen, she objected the tradition. The villagers are narcissistic and completely oblivious to the transgressive June 27th tradition. This is a direct insight into how people in our real world operate. We only seek action and justice once the problem begins to affect us firsthand. The lack of empathy prevents us from creating an amicable world.

The people of the town were so unbendable when it came to their humble tradition that they did not even bother to question the reasoning behind the tradition. All they needed--perhaps all they wanted--was the comforting assurance that it had been around for a long time and would continue to be as long as they lived. People are far less willing to break traditions that have established themselves than traditions that have just begun. It is as if longevity is placed upon a golden pedestal, unable to be touched by the hands of human beings. It is a mandatory fact of human existence that the status quo must be questioned, for the majority of eminent men in centuries past have said or done things which no one will now justify. The villagers should have questioned the beliefs of their town in order to rectify the wrongs of years past.

there is quiet conversation between friends. Mr. Summers, who runs the lottery, arrives with a black box. The original box was lost many years ago, even before Old Man Warner, the oldest person in the village, can remember. Each year Mr. Summers suggests that they make a new box, but no one is willing to go against tradition. The people were willing to use slips of paper instead of woodchips as markers, as the village had grown too large for the wood chips to fit in the box. A list of all the families and households in the village is made, and several matters of who will draw for each family are decided. Mr. Summers is sworn in as the official of the lottery in a specific ceremony. Some people remember that there used to be a song and salute as part of the ceremony, but these are no longer performed. Tessie Hutchinson arrives in the square late because she has forgotten what day it was. She joins her husband and children before the lottery can begin. Mr. Summers explains the lottery’s rules: each family will be called up to the box and draw a slip of paper. One of the villagers tells Old Man Warner that the people of a nearby village are thinking about ending the lottery. Old Man Warner laughs at the idea. He believes that giving up the lottery would cause nothing but trouble, and a loss of civilized behavior. A woman responds that some places have already given up the lottery. Everyone finishes drawing, and each

After the first few years it happens, it becomes a tradition, so people will think that is what the town should do. Each year a person dies from this said "tradition" and it could lead to more than just one death a year. Here is a quote from the story, "it isn't fair, it isn't right," this comes from Tessie Hutchinson. She is the women that is about to die from all the rocks thrown at her. Now, her friends might think "oh no!" Her life is gone and so is mine. So she might kill herself. So think about it this way, more people dying or less people

Another theme that is explored in this story deals with the idea of scapegoat. Many ancient civilizations used to perform a ritual where a human and animal were sacrificed to god in a hope that it removes the evil of the entire society. Sacrificing the person or animal was supposed to bring prosperity and happiness to the society. The same concept is used in this story. Every year, an innocent person is stoned to death by the villagers in a hope that it will flourish the crops. They don’t care who that person is. The whole village immediately turns against that person who picks the paper with a black spot on it. Even children aren’t spared. The year when

There are several details given about the villagers’ tradition. It’s not the same tradition as it was a long time ago. For instance, numerous objects that are used in the original tradition are lost or renewed and/or replaced. The narrator tells that “Because so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been

Usually, when living in a small town, the townspeople always have something in common, which is hope. For the villagers in this story, they have no hope left. The land was so little that mothers “fear that the wind would carry off their children.” Villagers live in “twenty-odd wooden houses” and they had “stone courtyards”