Tradition Exposed In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

“Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay"(Jiddu Krishnamurti).The lottery is a story about horror and what can happen about having tradition for too long. What I think Shirley Jackson wants us to learn about this story is to not have a tradition for so long, be smart about my choices and not to do things that I know that are not good. Shirley Jackson wrote poetry and kept journals throughout her life. “Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco on December 14, 1919. She grew up in California until 1933, when her family moved to Rochester, New York. In 1934 Jackson enrolled at the University of Rochester.”(Moss, Wilson). The villagers woke up on the day of the lottery. They all meet at the town center and

Have you ever been in a situation where you witnessed someone being hurt? Did you do anything to stop them? Most times, we are afraid to help someone else in order to not risk our own lives. Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” uses Tessie as a symbol to explore the idea that fear can lead to the collapse and corruption of a community. In "The Lottery" we are introduced to an unusual lottery in where one person gets unfortunately chosen and stoned to death. In the short story, we process Tessie, the unfortunate that gets stoned to death. In the community, Tessie is surrounded with has proven to be a community that fears to speak up for others in order to not risk their lives. Jackson illustrates Tessie calls out "it's not fair"(33).

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.

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.

Dehumanization of society ultimately comes from traits passed on from generation to generation. History repetition is implied throughout the text. Jackson demonstrates history repetition by showing the audience how the oldest member teaches the youngest member of the community the stoning ritual before he or she is old enough to understand what is taking place. “The Lottery” perfectly illustrates through text how the past affects the present world, and how history repeats itself over

Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” tells us how the people of the town get together on June twenty seventh every year to perform a ritual that was started back in the day by their ancestors. The children would gather to the town square first and start piling up rocks in a corner. After the children the men would show up and then the women would show up last. Mr. Summers would call each family in alphabetic order to draw a slip of paper from the box, for the ritual. Once everyone had a piece of paper in their hands, they would look at the slips, who ever had the black dot got stoned to death. The theme of the short story is cult ritual, cause the entirety of the story reflects on their ancient ritual they have carried from the ancestors.

Shirley Jackson uses rhetoric in her fictional short story “The Lottery” to criticize the perpetuation of outdated traditions. She creates a fictional example that includes enthymemes, intrinsic appeals, and extrinsic proofs between characters as well as in the narration to make her thematic argument that mindlessly keeping traditions is foolish. The lottery example is deliberately exaggerated to accentuate her argument and to present an honorable case that her audience will support. In doing this, Jackson establishes a strong kairos and demonstrates her ability to aptly use rhetoric to make an argument through fiction.

Although many who read Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” believe it to be about a crazy town viciously slaughtering an innocent woman for the ritualized sacrifice to bring them a feastful harvest of corn, it very clearly demonstrates Jackson’s hope to educate readers of the horrors of society’s blind following using social conformity, tradition, and general acceptance.

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. The purpose of the lottery is to continue the old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order for a harvest. The scapegoat is chosen at random and then stoned to death by his/her companions. Although “The Lottery” reflects an event from the past, Jackson shows that many of the actions of the town resemble the tribulations that ensue in today’s society.

“The Lottery,” a short story written by Shirley Jackson, takes place in a small, simple town. The main characters are Tessi, Bill, Old Man Warner, and Mr. Summers. This town is very strict to tradition. Annually this town holds a “Lottery”, is actually a drawing where people get stoned. Not everyone gets stoned to death. It depends on what paper you draw. They can’t get out of it, they are all forced. A major issue to this story is social conformity, this means that people do something because it seems like everyone else is doing the same thing. Social conformity really hurts people because it blocks people from seeing the real you, this happens basically throughout the entire story.

An example of characterization used by Jackson to help communicate the theme is when Mr. Summers is presenting the black box to the villagers. He suggests, “making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” His claim of stating an obvious but well thought response shows how Jackson put Mr.Summers as an innocent man trying to convey his idea that the tradition should be gone. Since, the general populace did not want the tradition to change, it would explain the events that further led to a malicious murdering.

Human nature can be characterized as being positive, capable of altruism and goodness which sets humankind apart from savage animals; however, human nature possesses a dark side, namely cruelty, and it is capable of barbarism like any beast. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, cruelty is part of human nature, and the participants of the lottery demonstrate human cruelty through violence towards one another; markedly, by exhibiting desensitization to violence and the acceptance of violence resulting in internal dysfunction which is perpetuated yearly.

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.

From the villagers’ words to their actions to their lack of value placed on life, Jackson shows a society that conducts a ritual killing in the same manner that it conducts “square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program” (Jackson 1). While most are unaffected, some of the villagers call for change by saying the Lottery is unfair; others say that a few towns have quit the Lottery altogether. In a powerful way, Jackson shows the reader the importance of saying the right thing, doing the right thing, and valuing human life by not being ashamed to stand up against

This essay contends that the convention of the lottery speaks to the discriminatory stratification of the social order along lines of gender and financial position. The story sets put in a residential community in New England. Consistently a lottery is held, in which one individual is to be randomly decided to be stoned to death by the individuals in the town. The lottery has been practiced in excess of seventy years by the townspeople. By utilizing imagery, Jackson uses names, items, and the setting to hide the genuine importance and expectation of the lottery.