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Tradition In The Short Story The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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In the short story, “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson, Edgar Award Winner for best short story, the plot mainly surrounds tradition. The small village in the story is preparing for their annual “lottery”. The author uses dialogue to convey the fact that this lottery has been a tradition in their village for many years. The reader soon realizes the dark turn on this lottery. The “winner” suffers the fate of being brutally stoned to death by the rest of the villagers. Obviously, this is not a just or fair tradition. This is why the message the author is trying to convey is the value of questioning tradition. The story never really explains to the reader the “why” behind the lottery. Just that it has been happening for a very long time.

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