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Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

593 Words3 Pages

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. Through her use of setting, …show more content…

Using the the setting of men talking about their daily lives, Jackson conceals the horrific ending. Also Jackson describes the setting of the day to be pleasant and soothing.Shirley Jackson illustrates"The morning of June 27th, was clear and sunny" and indicates "flowers were blooming profusely and the grass was richly green". Jackson describes the day as winsome and typical.Jackson also specifies the day the of the tradition was June 27th, which also induces the reader that the tradition is ordinary. Jackson shows the boys are making a big pile of stones in the corner of the square. Shirley divulges"Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones", and they and rest of the boys "made a great pile of stone s in one corner of the square". The boys making a pile of stones is a troubling detail Jackson describes in the short story. Jackson betokened the eventual ending that the reader could possibly portray. Another disturbing fact is that a distressed black box is placed in the center of the square. Shirley Jackson says "the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr. Summers but the black box on it". This is disturbing detail that makes the reader wonder what is in the mysterious box .This detail ultimately leads to the terrifying ending. The people choosing from the box is another disturbing fact. Jackson writes “Mr. Summers declared the box to be open" and adresses "There had been a ritual

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Traditions: Proceed With Caution Blowing out the candles on a birthday cake or waiting for presents on Christmas eve are harmless rituals, but not all traditions are so benign. In the 1948 short story, “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson establishes that traditions can often be presumed to be virtuous; however, they can involve unethical practices which have no place in society. Through the use of archetypes, Jackson highlights this concept by displaying patterns and symbols in an ancient and barbaric tradition. In this world, citizens gather once a year to choose a single person from the community to be stoned to death, in hopes of receiving bountiful crops for their sacrifice. Brutal as the ritual is, the public remains aloof to the cruelty involved.

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This proves that blindly following tradition can be dangerous. The author supports this theme by using symbolism in the black box and stones. First of all, Shirley Jackson uses symbolism by describing the black box. Black usually symbolises death and hardship which proves true in this story. It was also described as splintered and faded.

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(Jackson, 411). The purpose of the box was to contain the names of the townsmen in it for the day of sacrifice. Instead, it was thrown from place to place as one person became in charge of where the box was to be kept safe until the next annual event. The people used to draw chips of wood but as the town grew the inconsistency of the ritual grew as well. This box symbolized the villagers’ connection to the lottery and it’s tradition.

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How Does Shirley Jackson Follow Tradition In The Lottery

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The connotation of this story is mellow, calm, and happy. “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day: the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” (Jackson 1). This citation reveals that the setting is very calm and good. The connotation affects the theme because as one reads the story, the reader keeps thinking the story will end out good because of the words used to make such a positive connotation, but in the end, it turns out to be bad.

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Similarities Between The Lottery And The Rocking Horse Winner

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The black box is the manifestation of such conformity. It is described as old and worn, but the villagers do not want to “upset events as tradition as was represented by the black box.” (The Lottery, pg. 222) It was long used, and the villagers believed that some of the pieces from the original lottery box were used to create that one. The symbolism Jackson uses is relative to life while the symbolism that D. H. Lawrence uses in “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” is purely fictional.

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695 Words | 3 Pages

“It isn’t Fair” The word tradition is defined as “the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.” Traditions may be the backbone of every culture, however; not all traditions are practiced with pure intentions. “Some places have already quit the lotteries.” Shirley Jackson wrote The Lottery using symbolic references and foreshadowing to depict personality, characterize the background and portray the conflict to show how blindly following tradition leads to disaster, and what will come to be after The Lottery is conducted.

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She again backs this up by stating, “The villagers kept their distance…” providing insight in that they didn’t want to be close to the box where they draw for the lottery. The people didn’t want to be associated with what the lottery and box represented and seemed to hesitate when it was their turn to draw from the black box. Jackson’s use of diction and the way she set the tone throughout the story clearly led the reader to believe that what the box and the lottery represented was negative and represented

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There are other symbols in this short story like the black dot on the slip of paper means that, that person is sentenced to death by the village people battering that person with rocks and pebbles until they die. Another symbol in this short story is the rocks and pebbles that mean, death and sorrow because the whole village including the person’s family has to throw rocks and pebbles at them to kill them. The black box is battered because the box is extremely old and has been around for a long time, in the story the villagers explained that the box has been around since the 1st settlers settled on that land, the black box has been replaced once and has some of the places of the old box in it but that was an extremely long time ago. Mr. Summers keeps suggesting to make a new box but no one wants to do it because everyone wants the traditional lottery to disappear forever but, Mr. Summers insects that

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In Shirley Jackson’s short story,” the lottery” the author uses the box as a symbol to convey the underlying message that, traditional rituals can cause fear in people which affect their actions of an individual or a community and make them afraid of breaking traditions. For instance, the text states when Jessie was screaming that, “ you didn't give him enough time to pick out the paper he wanted.” This is showing how the fear of winning the lottery affected her actions by screaming that the whole lottery is not fair and then that is also in a way denying tradition or questioning it. The after effect of the action she took lead to her death either she screamed or not she was still going to die because it is their tradition and that what she

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Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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Traditions are meant to be symbolic, as well as, sacred and are mainly used to share significance with the past-however in this small town, it is determined otherwise. In the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, it has been proven that traditions can leave one blindsided. This becomes clear when Old Man Warner thoughtlessly and mindlessly disagrees to the idea of quitting the dreadful lottery; When Tessie and Bill willingly wish to place their daughter and son-in-law in the lottery- knowing that if they had been put in the lottery, one of them would have stoned; and; When Tessie was chosen to be stoned, she suddenly became a victim and everyone (including her kids, husband and friends) was against

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The Negative Consequences Of Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

467 Words | 2 Pages

In her story "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson implies the negative consequences of blindly following tradition through the acceptance, by the villagers, of the tradition of the lottery. Jackson suggests that the people of the village are afraid to give up the little tradition they have, even if it is not good. Every year after the lottery, the conductor of the lottery, Mr. Summers suggests that they should build a new box but, “No one [likes] to upset even as much tradition as [is] represented by the box.” (Jackson, 1). The black box symbolizes ritual and tradition.

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Symbols In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery Jackson

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Other symbols that are connected in the story are the slips of paper and the black box. In the story, the slip of paper symbolizes equality among the villagers, “All of us took the same chance.” (Jackson 423). This means that all the villagers take the same chance to win on the lottery. On the other hand, the black box symbolizes death and evil.

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1060 Words | 5 Pages

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

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Traditions, passed down from generation to generation, are typically seen in a positive and memorable way. Whether that is gathering around the table every night for dinner or participation in a cultural tradition, most families have some type of tradition that is held onto. But when does tradition become dangerous? Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, gives readers a look into when people conform to a tradition that is gruesome and unnecessary. The narrator, who is one of the villagers, is a flat character who tells the story in an objective third person point of view.

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Shirley Jackson made a Fictional Short Story called The Lottery That was published in the year 1948 in The New Yorker magazine. The setting is a small town/village, a farming community, with about 300 people in it. It was a bright, sunny day of June 27th, Lottery day. The flowers were blooming through the rich green grass. Families gathered in the Town Square by the bank and post office, as the children gathered rocks.

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