The Theme Of Blind Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

“When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow” - (Anais Nin). We practice many traditions without putting much thought into it. Giving testimony in court requires an oath on the Bible; although it descended from an old English customs, it is still in place in the U.S courts. Many people become so disciplined to their tradition that they will follow it without questioning its morals. In Shirley Jackson’s novel, The Lottery, Jackson begins the story off in a sunny village, where tradition plays a significant role in keeping the village peaceful. To take part in their yearly tradition, the eager villagers gather together, waiting for the arrival of Mr. Summers and the black box. The

A tradition or idea that is followed and not questioned by some could potentially be dangerous or illogical. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, the dangers of blindly following a tradition is portrayed. In “The Lottery,” a village gathers around every year on June 27th to hold a lottery. Mr. Summers leads the tradition every year. This lottery is very unusual; the winner will become the loser. The Hutchinson family is chosen at this year’s lottery. The mother, Tessie says it is unfair and she is ultimately the chosen winner of the lottery. The winner of this lottery is stoned to death by their neighbors. Whether a tradition is immoral or not, some follow traditions for no apparent reason other just following what they were taught.

Traditions are an important part of our culture and what makes us individuals. They are passed down from generation to generation through following what our parents and grandparents have done. This shows our respect for our ancestors. However, there are some traditions that have no logical need to be followed, but still are blindly followed. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the villagers follow the tradition of the lottery, even though they question why they still do it. To properly understand our traditions, we need to know the origin, what it symbolizes, and usefulness.

Imagine a society where killing somebody for the sake of a tradition is acceptable.In the short story “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson describes an ordinary village with normal people, but as the story progress the details of their yearly practice known as “the lottery” unravels to be more disturbing.The author subverts the readers’ expiations by persuading the reader into assuming “the lottery” is a ordinary tradition until unusual details and the behavior of the characters come into place. In her short story “The Lottery,” Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear so, it is inherently barbaric.

People have always had an overwhelming desire to be accepted by others, and will even adopt the morals of their peers in order to conform to society. In the story “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson depicts the danger of ignorance and the extent in which it influences society. Not only is this applicable to the story, but is also relevant to the real world and historical events such as witch hunts.

The villagers on “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson are afraid to let go of their tradition, the lottery. They are concern of unknown consequences that will happen if they change their old customs. So, for every year, the villagers gather at the square to do the lottery at 10 AM .

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

In the short story, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, the characters have a different type of normal. June 27, lottery day, marks the day of the death of an innocent person. As I read this story, I was very puzzled. This story made me think about the death of a person, whether be young or old, liked or disliked. The death on lottery day was thought to be normal in these towns, but it was not normal to me. This tradition is gruesome and made me uncomfortable that this could be normal to anyone, fictional or real.

Questioning Traditions     Traditions can be part of one 's culture but should they be changed? The author’s purpose is to make the reader’s question some traditions. In the story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, uses tone and mood to make the reader question the tradition of stoning people. In the story, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseni uses person vs person conflict to make the reader question the tradition of calling unwanted kids harami. In the story, “2BR02B” by Kurt Vonnegut, uses person vs society conflict to make the reader question the tradition of population control.

The author Shirley Jackson wrote “The Lottery;” a village conducts an inhumane lottery to pick out one individual. The quote unquote “winner,” in this case, Mrs. “Tessie” Hutchinson, gets stoned heartlessly to death by all the 300 villagers, including her kin. This lottery began as a ceremony long ago to choose a villager to be sacrificed to Earth in exchange for a large harvest. Now, it became an annual tradition, a tradition that is too deep to be changed.

Tradition is something everyone in the world has gotten to experience. These types of traditions may be good and some may be bad. The short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson shows us the dangers of blindly following tradition and how Black Friday and The Short Story both set an example of blindly following tradition.

Traditions have been around for as long as we have been on the earth. As humans we don’t like change, so having a ritual that we repeat every year is the sense of normalcy we crave. People will go through the same hurtful cycle, even though they know it’s wrong or not working, simply because it is all they know. Unlike common belief, giving up harmful practices is not the same as giving up culture. People hold onto tradition because they feel that giving it up is taking them away from where they came from. What they don’t realize is that their practices can be harmful and demeaning, which can end up making people resent where they came from. According to Lauren Hersh, an advocate for youth, “While many traditions promote social

Symbolism in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson: The Danger of Blind Tradition When it comes to tradition, nearly everyone has some tradition that he or she follows in one form or another. Whether it be a tradition of how to spend the holidays with family, the tradition of passing on a family name, or even religious traditions, nearly everyone will participate in at least some tradition during his or her lifetime. However, if not carefully understood, these traditions may become blindly followed for no good reason. Traditions may even become obsolete and no longer beneficial or useful, and instead, cause harm to their participants.

“The Lottery” is an realism/horror story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about some villagers of a small New England town who follow the tradition of making a lottery every year. When it comes, they like to celebrate it with the correct rules and the correct objects so they can feel more comfortable. Everyone need to take a slip of paper from a small black box, and the paper with a black dot in it means that the family is the winner, then they raffle again; Bill Hutchinson, who was the husband of the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson picked a paper with a black dot in it, that meant that Tessie was the winner of the lottery, then she starts complaining because the drawing was not conducted properly. At the end, the townspeople moved off to a cleared spot outside the town and they begin stoning her to death (Jackson). In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses characterization, symbolism and themes to develop the action of the short story.

“The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson. The story commences with a vivid description of the summer day in the town, giving us the idea that the day will be good. When the lottery begins, families begin to draw slips of paper from the black box. Finally, when Bill Hutchinson withdrew the slip of paper with the black dot, his wife Tessie starts yelling that it wasn 't fair. When the second drawing was held only among the Hutchinson’s family, Tessie gets the same piece of paper with the dot and is stoned to death. Jackson uses imagery and irony, as well as symbolism to make us aware of the custom, and violence and tradition as the themes of this short story.