Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” (Twain). The Lottery begins during the summer. A small, seemingly normal, town is gathering to throw the annual “Lottery”. In the end, the townspeople—children included—gather around and stone the winner to death, simply because it was tradition. The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective. “I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (Jackson). As humans develop as a race, their practices should develop with them. Shirley Jackson develops the

Almost every person in the world holds a set of traditions which have been established and practiced for a long period of time. However, some traditions often cause us to not see the rationality despite of the destructive nature it may have. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”, a sacrifice of one’s life becomes the “jackpot” of an annual event held in a small town. This society’s traditions have caused the people to do away with their rational thoughts and the values of their lives as they have become so stuck in their own cultural beliefs.

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 short story about the annual gathering of the villagers to conduct an ancient ritual. The ritual ends in the stoning of one of the residents of this small village. This murder functions under the guise of a sacrament that, at one time, served the purpose of ensuring a bountiful harvest. This original meaning, however, is lost over the years and generations of villagers. The loss of meaning has changed the nature and overall purpose of the lottery. This ritual is no longer a humble sacrifice that serves the purpose of securing the harvest but instead is a ceremony of violence and murder only existing for the pleasure found in this violence.

Traditions are widespread among many different people and cultures; It is an explanation for acting without thinking. Not all traditions are a good thing, though, and blindly following them can lead to harsh consequences. The villagers in a small town in “The Lottery” gather together annually to participate in this tradition, where one person in the town is randomly chosen in a drawing to be violently stoned to death by citizens. It has been around for seventy-seven years and everyone partakes in it. People always attend, showing the importance of tradition amongst the society. However, in the short story, “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses many literary devices to show that traditions are not always meant to be followed.

It is human nature to uphold tradition. Shirley Jackson’s  “The Lottery” display’s the issue with society unquestioning approach to institutions. The shocking tale, which takes place in a fictional unnamed town in America, convey’s the dangers of clinging to tradition and not questioning the the institutions that practice them, and just how common they occur. Accordingly, these dangers manifest in the way the characters of the story accept the process of the lottery, but do not comprehend its purpose, the older generation’s disdainful view of noncompliance with tradition, and the townspeople’s callous demeanor in stoning Mrs. Hutchinson.

The annual ritualistic stoning of a villager in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" parallels tradition in American culture.  This paper will inform the reader of the effect tradition has on characters in the short story "The Lottery" and how traditions still strongly influence people's lives in america.

A couple months ago on June, 27, in the town of Rumbale was no ordinary day. They had a special tradition that goes by the name of The Lottery. But this lottery isn’t like no other. You don't want to win. Why is that? Because the ‘winner’ gets stoned to death. You might be wondering why is this even a tradition? No one knows, traditions are like unwritten laws, you go with the flow if the people you surround yourself with are doing a tradition or cultural habit then they expect you do it as well.

Does thoughtlessly obeying tradition justify senseless and violent murder? The setting of the story takes place in a small fictional village around the time an annual event dubbed “The Lottery” is being conducted, which garners the attention of the entire community. The tone in the beginning is presented with a jovial and positive atmosphere sharply contrasting the gruesome ending and revelation of just exactly what “the lottery” is; Exploring themes such as the potentially harrowing effects of blindly following tradition, the impersonal randomness of prosecution, as well as the fear of change and the stagnating effect it can have. This paper intends

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 Shirly Jackson’s “The Lottery” the people of a small village all partake in what is called a lottery. While the reader studies this story, it is concealed what the winner receives for a prize. After all the villagers talk among themselves the winner is revealed and rewarded with a beating by rocks from the people. After this shocking prize is discovered by the reader a question begs to be answered, “why do they continue this inhumane ritual?”

Sometimes when a certain group of people have a tradition, no matter what the tradition is, they follow it. They don’t know how it started or who started it, which is the main reason why that is a tradition. For example, why is turkey the main food at Thanksgiving dinners? Why not other meats like, beef, or lamb? We follow this tradition every year because that's how it's always been.

Traditions are often associated with having a positive influence on a culture. However, some traditions can have the exact opposite effect. One such case is in Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, in which an old-school small town holds a lottery every year. Ironically so, this lottery’s prize is not presumably money, it’s death by stoning. The unfortunate “winner” is Mrs. Hutchinson and family, friends,neighbors stone her: “ ‘It isn't fair, she said’ ‘A stone hit her on the side of the head’...

Throughout the course of human history, people from a variety of cultures have crafted their own cultural, religious, and familial traditions based on communal beliefs. To this day, people from around the world continue to carry out rituals from hundreds of years ago that their ancestors held to be both beneficial and necessary in maintaining a thriving society. These practices, however, have the potential to be malicious and harmful to society. As one of the most famous short stories in American literature, The Lottery provides the reader with a tale about the practices of a small, fictional town that holds an annual lottery each year. Through Shirley Jackson’s use of irony, symbolism, and setting in The Lottery, I found the main theme to

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.