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The Theme Of Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

569 Words3 Pages

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the author uses many themes throughout the story while using the third person. Most of these themes are universal in a sense. Examples of a main theme that brought attention in “The Lottery” would happen to be tradition. It so happens that tradition in “The Lottery”, takes place very deeply. The so called the tradition that the town has in happens to be in a stoning to death by the draw of a piece of paper. If the paper that is drawn from the box and has the black mark he/she would be stoned to death. Everyone in this village follows the tradition of the lottery every single year even other villages although other villages take longer than usual, because of a population issue they start on June 2nd.
With tradition being the main theme of the short story “The Lottery” it provides the reader with an idea of how the small town has been running for years and will continue to do so. Jackson comes across the short story with her views of tradition being negative, by having an outdated tradition to choose weather they will live or die. The short story explains how the lottery works and how it happens every year and how people follow it blindly. Before the lottery was described it seemed harmless and safe. They choose a man that isn’t very great to be the leader of the so-called lottery. …show more content…

She provides the reader with the time of day and year the story happened to take place which was on Clear and sunny day on June 27th. She states how school is out for summer. Furthermore, she describes the grass as “richly green” and that “the flowers were blooming profusely”, not only do these descriptions give off to the reader that a serene feeling about the town, but also as if there was nothing wrong with the town. Shirley Jackson describes the setting in a way to catch the reader to picture it in their head as what the day and town would look

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