Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a story littered with warnings and subtext about the dangers a submissive society can pose. While the opening is deceptively cheery and light Jackson uses an array of symbols and ominous syntax to help create the apprehensive and grim tone the story ends with. Her portrayal of the town folk as blindly following tradition represents the world during World War II when people’s failure to not mindlessly accept and heed authority lead to disastrous consequences. . Shirley Jackson uses a large array of techniques to help convey the idea that recklessly following and accepting traditions and orders can lead to disastrous consequences.

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.

In Shirley Jacksons story, The Lottery, a small town is stuck in a deadly tradition. A tradition that was continued in the hopes that the towns crops will be plentiful. The character Old Man Warner even talking about the old saying “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon“ when talking about the lottery to Mr. and Mrs. Adams. The story shows a small town stuck in old ways, and the victim of mob mentality.

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

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?

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is the story of a town where they hold an annual lottery within the town, where the winner is stoned and killed. In the time span of the story, a woman named Tessie is the winner of the lottery, but earlier in the day was following this tradition blindly. She only protests when her family is picked. The overall message in the story is that tradition is not always good, and you should stop what is not right.

The word lottery is often associated with winning prizes and money. Those who participate will sometimes visualize themselves winning and are disappointed when they don’t; they pray that their number gets called up or that their ticket has the winning number in order for them to win the grand prize. But imagine in an alternative world where people pray their card doesn’t get called up; that instead of winning a prize, that person will be killed in the cruelest way possible. In “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, it focuses on a small town who conduct a lottery every year, bringing the whole community together, and instead of winning a prize, the name drawn gets stoned to death. This story takes place in the present, so finding out that a village conducts this horrifying tradition every year is bizarre.

People love to win lotteries, right? Well, probably not so much in this small farm town, who treats their winners a little different. In this small town, not all lotteries are for the good of the people. The townspeople perpetuate unnecessary traditions and with these traditions, punish those who do not deserve the punishment. Through the depictions of the nervousness of the adults and children, as well as her descriptions of the objects associated with the lottery, Shirley Jackson, in her short story, “The Lottery," suggests the horror of the violence that concludes the story.

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” A lottery sounds like a drawing of a prize that is given away at the end of the drawing to the winner. At least that is how it works today. In today's society a lottery is used as a mean of selling numbered tickets and giving the cash or prize to the winners of the tickets. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery” the term lottery is somewhat similar but used in a very different manner.

A tradition is a belief or behavior passed from generation to generation with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. The lottery is a savage tradition for more seventy-seventh years that ends with the death of a member in the village.

Tradition plays a very big part in the short story “The Lottery”. The people of “The Lottery” will go far to keep the tradition going… even if it kills them. The story “The Lottery” doesn’t have many characters who show two sides from beginning to end or as the story progresses. The main characters who show two sides as the story progresses is Mrs. Hutchinson and Mrs. Delacroix. Mrs. Delacroix shows two sides as the story progresses.

“The Lottery” is about a town and their tradition. Each year everyone from the community gathers in the town square and the head of each family goes up to the front and draws a piece of paper (Jackson). Once every family has drawn a paper they are allowed to look at it. This particular year the Hutchinson family received “it”. The Hutchinson family then goes to the front and each member draws another card. Tess Hutchinson received the card with the black dot and the reader then finds out Tess’s fate. Since Tess drew that specific card she will be stoned to death. The theme of “The Lottery” is tradition and society.

Theme is the main subject that is being described or discussed in a writing. The theme of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson could be seen in many ways. The Lottery is about a town that comes together and persecutes a person based on the random selection of names. There is no real reason to continue with this crazy tradition and yet the townspeople keep it going, because they believe it helps their crops grow. One of the themes is how dangerous tradition can be, another is the way a society and culture act, and the last is how quickly people are to act without thinking.