Tradition in Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful and Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Without it, we would always act the same. Not many people would be different. The traditions we bring help other people be different. We learn from each other and find something new that’s fun. Traditions show what was important to others before us, which helps the new generations learn more about themselves, and where they came from. Sometimes it can be a very weird tradition, but every activity has a certain meaning that most times people don't get, beliefs are almost the same way. My family likes to be very religious, and sometimes I don’t enjoy it. The way I like to enjoy things like traditions is to know my past and to always embrace what I have. If we had not remembered the past through writing, or just the stories we tell through generations, we wouldn’t be different from each other. We learn from different cultures to find what our true selves are like. Maybe the person, learning the other culture, would like what they do or maybe even what they eat. We would make the same mistakes over and over again because the past isn’t past without the writings or stories. Traditions tell the stories we have to know to not forget the past, or the

Would you stone your neighborhood to death for the sake of tradition? Shirley Jackson wrote The Lottery in 1948 to tell a story about how savage people can be for tradition. The story is about a small town who has a yearly lottery and the winner gets stoned to death by their neighbors. The thought is that if you have a lottery, then you will have good crops that season. This short story tells the tale of poor Tessie Hutchinson who is stoned by her own town, her son helps too. In the short story The Lottery, Shirley Jackson argues that all people, regardless of how civilized they may seem, are capable of great evil by contrasting seemingly pleasant and relatable details of the town with the shocking barbarity of their tradition.

It is clear that cultural tradition delivers set foundations into a person’s lifetime, giving identity and sense of belonging to a person and their social group. It allows individuals to feel part of something and understand their ancestral values and customs. Several people believe that it is very important to preserve cultural traditions because they feel as if tradition is the main enabler to a shared identity and to a construction of social consistency and unity. People also believe that conservancy of cultural traditions forms exclusive bonds within members of the community, holding people with the same background together to pass on cultural values, and excluding those who aren’t part of the culture. They think that the actual preservation of traditions means not to change the customs and traditions, to not grow from our culture, for example not learning another language because you already know your mother tongue. It is a way to group up and tag everyone in a form of an alliance, and to have better organization and awareness of where everyone comes from.

These types of beliefs and strong traditions have been good examples for western civilization absorbing their rules and respect. This has been ideal to help restoring their family values.

Traditions typically can be described as noble and based on morality. There are many benefits to following and keeping traditions, and traditions generally survive through generations because they bring a community together and are a proud part of a community’s identity. Through time, traditions and cultural norms change as beliefs change, and sometimes they can stray away from their moral foundations and become dangerous. When this happens, younger, innocent generations are at danger of blindly adopting these toxic traditions.

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, we observe a community that is absorbed in their rituals and traditions. In this society, they feel bound to their traditions and are even willing to abandon some of humanity’s deepest morals. The basic question of right and wrong is presented as our morals are disregarded in Jackson’s tradition based society. Their past is what they look towards when regarding their future. This community feels tied to their fading tradition and refuses to evolve even when everyone around them is. Consequently, they have become numb to the acts they commit countless times. Every generation is ingrained with these ideals and are expected to never waver from them.

In my culture traditions are very important in your life. For example, one tradition that has been in my family for many years is going to the park and celebrating Easter with the family. We barbecue, play sports, and then at the end of the day we have an Easter egg hunt for the young children. Another tradition of ours is to do a Christmas Eve dinner at my great grandma’s house. During this event you are with your relatives and close friends for dinner and for a social gathering until the early morning of Christmas day. Many of our traditions revolve around getting all of our family together and spending time with them.

Traditions are common part of culture and religion in the world today; almost everyone has a tradition that they follow. The traditions you practice can be new and only just have started with your generation or the generation before yours. The traditions could also have been old, spanning many generations before your generation and your parents’ generation. Some traditions could be small and last for a few generations; an example of this would be like a yearly family cookout. One would invite their families to their house or local park to have fun and eat. It could be something small

Tradition (culture?) plays a huge role and the start of The Good Earth and later diminishes. People believe that you should respect your elders, listen to the gods, and follow what life is planned for you. If one were to speak against their elders, they would no longer earn

Are the any any disadvantages to traditions? Society is heavily influenced by many ideologies. Some includes, religion, politics, economy, and moral/culture. However, all the ideologies that affect the society has one thing in common, which is tradition. Tradition makes up the very fabric of society. It is a practice that was established in the past and it is still continuing to be celebrated to the president day. For example, the lottery in the story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and the imprisonment of the child in the story “The Ones Who Walks Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. LeGuin. Tradition helps establish the social norms of what is accepted and what is not. The outlook in life that an individual has is heavily affected by their tradition, shaping their own life in turn. Although, tradition plays a key factor in society and in everyday life, it could be also be tremendously disadvantages if the tradition in itself is harmful/toxic to the community that holds the believes.

Tradition is an important part of everyone's life. Some people follow traditions so deeply rooted in their everyday life that they don't even recognize them as such. Why do you cook rice a certain way? Well, that's the way Grandma always did it. Others hold tradition above anything else. They feel that it is very important to follow these established customs and cannot even imagine rebelling against them although they may be hurtful in some ways. They may not even remember the reason for these customs in the first place. In the short stories "Everyday Use," by Alice Walker, and "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, the authors both express their attitudes towards tradition.

Introduction A short story is “A prose narrative too brief to be published in a separate volume – as novellas and novels frequently are. The short story is usually a focused narrative that presents one or two main characters involved in a single compelling action.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013, p. 1493) Short stories have all the dynamic characters, interesting settings, suspenseful plots and conflicts, and the surprising resolutions as full length novels.

In the stories “The Lottery written by Shirley Jackson and “The Sisterhood of the Night” by Steven Millhauser both talk about the consequences that someone or the entire village can go through by going against the rules and regulations of a tradition. Observing a tradition is a form of togetherness among every individual and it must be practiced in the right way. Tradition plays an important role in the lives of villagers and it also shines light on how customs and tradition should be practiced according to the way our ancestors have done it in the past. However, it is not one person or a group of people’s idea, it is a laid down rules and laws that can never be changed by anyone regardless of what the situation might hold on to. Most people tend to invent laws that some traditions do not allow, which can lead to conflict and disorderliness in such land. Just like the way at the village square. But not knowing that the majority of the villagers knew the story about the presentation box that is used in conducting the lottery and also have the knowledge of what traditions that was passed to them by their parents, ancestors or Gods of their land. Some people had the belief that tradition is based on “spiritual power” and magical power” to carry out any kind of tradition in the right way. The way the sisterhood believed in magical power and also took a vow of silence to protect their secret and those are the symbols and tradition of their group.

Does a society just pick and choose which part of a tradition they want to keep? One tends to remember the actions and the objects necessary to proceed with a ritual, but one may forget the purpose or the reason behind it. Is one correct in continuing a tradition even though there is a victim involved? The individual, as part of a society, is afraid of ridicule.  If one ends a tradition, and society still behaves in the manner they were taught, then ridicule will be the result. "The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions," shows that the meaning and purpose behind the ritual had been lost and the society just acting it out through repetition. The villagers, who remember some bits of history about those forgotten aspects of the ritual, ARE NOT even definite about the accuracy of

In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, tells the story of a small town that gathers once a year to do a lottery. This isn’t your typical lottery. In this lottery the winner loses instead of winning. The winner is stoned to death as a part of “tradition”. The town people blindly follow this tradition and are unwilling to change. Tradition is one of the main themes in this story and it should be left alone.