Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The box is very similar to traditions. They both grow old. Each year it becomes more useless, and deteriorates with time. The next symbol in “The Lottery” are the stones used to murder Tessie. They symbolize murder. “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use the stones” (Jackson). The stones were used by the ancestors, who were more barbaric the further back they go. “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (Jackson). In the lottery, the children participate in the murder. They even select the smooth stones, which will cause a slower, more painful death. Although they are living in a seemingly sophisticated period in time, they still commit this barbaric action for no other reason than because it is tradition, and they see no wrong in doing so. They will blindly follow the tradition just as their parents had, and they will pass the tradition off to their children. “Mob psychology rules their actions. Though they appear to be sane, sensible individuals, when the time of the lottery comes, they abandon their rational nature and revert to the instincts of the herd” (Mazzeno). A stoning is a crowd generated death. By using stones for the

The village concludes that if the harm is not towards them, then it is acceptable to harm others. The fact that the villagers believe this proves that they justify their evil doing by saying that since they were not the ones chosen then it is alright to cause harm to others. Two men

Some of the audience might be left in a state of mind were they feel incomplete and think the story was poorly told in these fictions. Yet, others left to think about why this ritual even exists, and why Mrs Hutchinson was to be the one chosen. To answer the question about why this lottery even exist the character “old man warner” can explain. He explains that there is some kind of connection between the ritual and the corn in the village. He stated, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”. This tells us that this is some sort of fertility ritual, were if someone dies, it brings great fortune to the land. In order to receive life, they take a life.

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

On the other hand, the villagers stoning the winner of the lottery was used as a symbol of punishment. It is one of the most established and common execution methods. However, in The Lottery, the stones represent victory of the lottery. Shirley Jackson stated that, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (Jackson 291). Stoning is symbolic in “The Lottery” because, “For stoning to be effective it requires a crowd to act together. This reinforces the point that the antagonist of this story it is not a single person but society” (Gahr). For instance, this means that the immorality of the village is so severe that the antagonist is not just one person but society itself. How do you think the villagers feel when their children were caught up in this senseless tradition by collecting stones? It is obvious that the villagers were following tradition that was done every year. “What about allowing a child to be a child?” For example; playing with toy cars and trucks, coloring books and Barbie’s, or getting push by their parents on a swing at a park. Children should not be allowed to partake in an event so gruesome and violent or seen raising anything to aggressively hurt an adult.

«The lottery» is an allegory which was written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. In it, she used an irony to show how inane could be some traditions and people who essentially follow them. The lottery - is the ritual when all people from the small village crowd together and Mr. Summers, who enjoys devoting civic activities, organizes this event. He and his assistant make a small piece of paper and one of these has a black dot. They put it into the shabby black box, after Mr. Summers call head of household to determine who will «win» the lottery. But the winner should not be happy, because all other citizens will stone the winner to death. People do it annually, because they afraid that the harvest could be poor. Everyone must participate, regardless of gender and age. This short story contains a lot of different characters to explain how belief in something abnormal of previous generations can strongly affect traditions and consider morality.

“Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anthing’s being done.” (Jackson). Since the lottery is an accepted annual ritual, the villagers see no reason to end it regardless of the sobering and uncomfortable reality it presents. Unfortunately for Hutchinson (and any future victims), the villagers had accepted the lottery as a part of their lives and would not dare to question its credibility. For example, Old Man Warner (the oldest member of the village) mentioned how those who have discontinued the lottery ritual are a “[p]ack of young fools” (qtd. in Jackson). This suggests that the villagers have accepted the somber reality of the lottery and its authority over them. It is this authority that motivated the villagers to stone Hutchinson to death.

Hutchinson is complaining how her being chosen to be sacrificed is unfair and is a tradition that shouldn’t be carried on. She believes that the box system is unfair because she was chosen from her family to be stoned to death by the village. Because of this, Ms. Hutchinson believes that the lottery is unfair that she is chosen to die. During the beginning of the Lottery, Mrs. Hutchinson is neutral and doesn’t show any expression of the choosing. Her attitude change when she finds out that her family is chosen and is later narrowed down to her. This is shown to be a hypocritical reaction because when others are chosen she doesn't care but, when her family is chosen, she becomes angered. When she was chosen, she is expected by the village to

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 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

In "The Lottery," a small town follows its tradition although it does not even remember how the custom came about in the first place. The town folk do not even remember all the elements of this lottery. The original black box has been lost, but the new one, that is at least 80 years old, was made from parts of the original one. In this grotesque depiction of tradition, it is the custom of the townspeople to sacrifice a member of their community so the corn harvest is plentiful. Even the manner in which the person is killed is bizarre, stoning. No one seems to know why the lottery takes place, but they ridicule other towns that have stopped performing this ritual. Shirley Jackson is clearly letting us know what she

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 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.

They are also not willing to protect their own children for fear of upsetting the other characters in the stories. Mrs. Hutchinson points the finger at her two children because they did not draw from the box. She puts them in harm’s way to save her husband, which is similar to Jig, who is willing to abort her baby to keep her lover. Mrs. Hutchinson never states her true feeling about the lottery until the very end when she is the one picked to be stoned to death. She states “it isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (Jackson. 54). It is the first time she voiced her opinion even though she felt this way all along. Lori Voth states in “Analysis of “The Lottery” “Jackson uses the protagonist, Mrs. Hutchinson, to show an individual consumed by hypocrisy and weakness”. She knew it was inhuman to murder someone but was too weak to say so. Jig also goes along with her lover, not for her own happiness but for his. She states “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me” (Hemingway. 200). She agrees to get an abortion even though it is not what she wants but what he wants. She is also too weak to tell him she wants to keep the baby. She is fearful of losing the man. Both women are cowardly.