The Importance Of Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

All of the foreshadowing represented in this short story expresses all that is wrong with the traditions of the lottery. Growing up generation after generation they do not know that the lottery is a bad choice. Taking Tessie for example, her only protests came after she was revealed to be the winner of the lottery. She did not want to die by the hands of friends and family, but in the instance, she was not picked she would not speak up. Testing the morality and ethics of the villagers’, the tradition has blinded them to the point they do not know it going against morals and

The Lottery is a short story by Shirley Jackson that describes a small town’s “lottery.” In the story, paper slips are placed inside a roughed-up black box around the middle of the town. The kids are picking up rocks while adults are normally socializing. One could only assume that the lottery is a great event that everyone enjoys due to the jovial-like nature they exude. Later, after all the ballots have been counted for, everyone leaves.

It was his 77th time participating and he is threatened by change. When he hears that the village next door does not do it, he states, “Pack of crazy fools. Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them” (Jackson 423). He accepts tradition and is superstitious. He believes that if the lottery is not done, then the villagers will have to be hunter-gatherers, “The ritual is the cement that keeps the society from slipping back into a brutish nature” (Barlow).

Throughout centuries, traditions and rituals have had the ability to control one’s behavior. In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, she tells the reader of a small village. On the surface, this community may seem relatively normal. However, despite the picturesque appeal, this falsely serene village has a distinct deceitful flaw. On June 27th, every year, a lottery takes place.

Traditions have been sought after and passed on for generations; with no questions asked, whether humane or not, traditions are hard to break and diminish as they are often what a culture or community stands for. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, a story about the tradition of a small village, is painted in impeccable details of peace, and serenity on a warm summer day, as everyone follows the tradition they have known since a long time ago despite the true intentions and meaning of it forgotten. The Lottery taking place annually is like no other lottery, it paints the true picture of the horror that epitomizes the tradition that none of the villagers dare to question, despite it creating separation between gender and families and ruining

The town from “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, is the epitome of how a society can be torn apart through the practice of blind tradition. For example, when the rules are being read for the lottery and all the townsfolk are standing by, they “had done it so many times that they only listened to half of the directions” (3). This shows that the townspeople ignore many of the rules, not wanting or willing to challenge authority. Through the practice of blindly following tradition, the villagers don’t have the confidence to question what is rights, since they have always done the same thing. In addition, certain people develop doubts about the lottery, as Old Man Warner says “’It ain’t the way it used to be… people ain’t the way they used to

“The Lottery” story that was written by Shirley Jackson has various characters which confuses me at first, but when I gave it a second try I understood it. The story is mainly about people who live in a village and they wait the whole year to attend an important event which is the lottery. The villagers in the story are strongly stick with their traditions and customs, which no matter whether they make sense or not, so they could be passed to the next generation. Unfortunately, the story has not had a happy ending as I wished, however, the lesson that could be taken or the meaning behind the story is that sometimes we follow some traditions, ideas, thoughts that have an ambiguous meaning or no meaning at all. For example, in my family there

Conformity can make people do cruel things without reason. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” highlights a village that continues a senseless tradition of stoning the winner of a lottery. Although all the villagers initially seemed innocuous and welcoming, as soon as the winning ticket was drawn, everybody quickly turned against the winner, Mrs. Hutchinson. Through a stark, cold tone, Jackson brings attention to the dangers of unquestionable loyalty to old traditions. Jackson starts the story with antiquated characters that contribute to the blunt tone.

Jackson gives an impression that the shabby, black box is a personal and constant reminder to the people so that they must remain faithful to the tradition of their forefathers and never ponder on the notion that those customs might be wrong or immoral. In addition, the villagers’ behavior towards the box embodies their assessment on the entire system of the lottery. They seem to be frightened by the lottery and the box, but they are even more petrified to alter or doubt one or the other. Pressures, traditions and longstanding beliefs may potentially guide that society to an extensive ignorance and sanctioned malevolence that is directly strengthened by

Many people would die to win the lottery; in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson you would do anything NOT to win this lottery. This annual lottery reveals the negative aspects of this town’s Tradition, Savagery, Barbarism, and cold-heartedness. In this paper I will show why this town blindly follows these customs, not because it’s a tradition but because of the accepting wickedness that can be shown. Why does the town follow this foolish tradition? Throughout “The Lottery” the narrator tells that the people do not remember how the lottery began, and that some of the older people believe the lottery has changed over the years, that now people just want to get it over with as fast as possible.

At a time when basic religious beliefs and traditions were being questioned by academia, author Shirley Jackson penned a poignant attack against those who blindly accepted values and traditions in her short story, “The Lottery.” The Lottery is presented as an event that has always occurred throughout the region's history without any opposition. Nonchalantly, the entire village commits homicide at the finale. Finally, aspects of the traditional lottery evolved without notice or were forgotten by the villagers. Within “The Lottery,” author Shirley Jackson embeds the theme of blindly accepting traditions as illustrated by the actions of the villagers.

“The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a lottery that takes place in a small village. The story starts off with the whole town gathering in the town square, where Mr. Summers holds the lottery. Once everyone gathers, every family draws a slip of paper out of an old black box, and the family with the black mark on their paper gets picked. After that, each family member older than 3 years of age re-draws a slip of paper again and this time, the person with the black mark on their paper gets picked as the “lucky winner” of the lottery. In this short story, after the Hutchinson family gets drawn, Tessie Hutchinson is declared “winner” of the lottery, with her reward is being stoned to death.

The black box that is old and “[grows] shabbier each year,” represents the old traditions that are held with high esteem (540). The box has been repaired multiple times. There are talks about creating a brand new black box but those always fade away being as everyone wants to stick with the old box. The people do not want to break tradition. Everyone keeps “their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool” where the box sits (540).

Old Man Warner conveys the idea that the lottery is essential for the villages progress. Accordingly, this statement speaks to the importance of a useless and harmful practice in the minds of the villagers. The murderous tradition of the lottery is a normality for all the villagers, especially the children and displays their blind acceptance of an idle practice. When the winner of the lottery, Tessie Hutchinson, is revealed, “ The children already [have] stones. And [...]

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is an account of a tradition gone awry. In this short story the villagers of this town have a tradition where they have a “lottery” to see who gets stoned to death. The characterization and symbolism used in the story makes the reader feel as if society has crumbled with the inhumane tradition that ultimately lost its meaning. Throughout the story, Jackson uses characterization and symbolism to imply a message to society about the meaning of tradition. Through the use of characterization and symbolism Jackson establishes that blindly following traditions can be hazardous