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Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

615 Words3 Pages

Most people know the lottery as a contest to win money. But in the short story, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, the lottery is not a simple game competing for money. In this small village’s version of the lottery, everyone must draw out of a box, and if their family is chosen then the whole family must redraw and the death of a member is decided. After the fate is decided, the rest of the village throws stones at him or her until he or she dies. The villages reasoning of this process is they believe it guarantees a plentiful crop season. Many people in the village have fluctuating opinions with this violent tradition, and it has created tension within the village. The people of the village do not want to risk the growth of the crops, therefore, they will not question if killing someone is the right or wrong thing to do in order to grow crops and not starve. …show more content…

The oldest man around is Old Man Warner who is 77 years old. Warner hears “young folks” in the village discussing about getting rid of the lottery and altering the tradition. He does not want to alter this tradition because he believes it truly helps crop growth.Because he is old, he has been cemented in his ways of supporting the tradition. Because Warner has no family, ha may have the msot to lose; if his name is chosen, he automatically dies. He is a very opinionated man and does not hold back from voicing his thoughts to the people in the crowd around him. Most of the village is aware that Warner thinks it is a horrible idea to get rid of this annual

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