In the book The Pearl and the short story “The Lottery”, the topic of morals is provoked in the reader/watcher’s mind. In The Pearl, people try to steal a valuable pearl, yet in “The Lottery”, people randomly choose a member of their community to brutally murder, or stone. This makes people think of themselves, whether about money or hoping not to be stoned. In the lottery, the moral debate has to do with tradition. It is implied that traditionally, doing the lottery would cause a bountiful harvest. However, in modern times, some people are against it. Mr. Adams said, “They do say, that over in the north village they 're talking of giving up the lottery.” He does this before anyone is picked, maybe trying to get out of the current chances of
To start off, a brief history of the lottery is presented to the reader, which quickly implants the idea that the Lottery is an annual event that has occurred for centuries within the village and surrounding area undisturbed. One example of this is the statement regarding how the original equipment for performing the Lottery was lost decades prior to the oldest villager's birth, thus implying a history that dates back over a hundred years. In addition, Old Man Warner states to Mr. Adams “There's always been a lottery.” These two examples establish the idea that the Lottery has been carried out for centuries in the village unchallenged.
The reason why the villagers follow the lottery is because the lottery has essentially been around longer than everyone in the village. So the villagers are just following their custom blindly because others did before them. Shirley Jackson even states that the villagers don’t really know much about the origins of the lottery but they preserve the tradition. It is also stated that the other traditions that use
Jakob Klein Ms. Gazzara/Mrs. Ruggiero LA, Pd 2 28 Feb 2023 The Giver and “The Lottery” have a lot of similarities. In the novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry there is a boy named Jonas and he becomes the receiver of memories.
Many people would die to win the lottery; in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson you would do anything NOT to win this lottery. This annual lottery reveals the negative aspects of this town’s Tradition, Savagery, Barbarism, and cold-heartedness. In this paper I will show why this town blindly follows these customs, not because it’s a tradition but because of the accepting wickedness that can be shown. Why does the town follow this foolish tradition? Throughout “The Lottery” the narrator tells that the people do not remember how the lottery began, and that some of the older people believe the lottery has changed over the years, that now people just want to get it over with as fast as possible.
The world is currently affected by the foulest illness of all: conformity. Many people are nervous to stray away from tradition in fear of being an outcast, even if that means following customs like racism and sexism, which causes chaos among the country. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” displays this morbid reality when a town of villagers gathers to obey their annual tradition. Although this event appears at first to be pleasant and festive, it soon becomes clear that the prize is not something of value. The “winner”, it turns out, will be stoned to death.
Traditions are something that influences generations connected to one individual being and when human beings follow them blindly because everyone is following them. This is the main theme in the “Lottery” as there is a tradition regarding a lottery in which whoever turns out to be the “lucky” one to get a blank paper, they are stoned to death. The author describes this tradition to be tiringly old which is why it has lost importance. However, nobody is willing to change it as people are so comfortable changing this long-going culture. When this is performed again, the people stone an innocent person to death because that’s how it has always been.
The Lottery itself represents a primal example of loss of innocence; portrayed through the young boys who gather at the town square to collect rocks for the horrors soon to follow. An illustration of how traditions can lose their true meanings and come to represent violence and warfare. Furthermore, “The Lottery” also represents the decaying characteristics of traditions, as symbolized by the town’s black box, in this case where every year, someone’s name is drawn out of the black box and they are stoned to death, by other members who may or may not end up to be family. Nonetheless, it ends up to be the villagers who
A lottery is usually an occasion for celebration but this one is a ritual that involves stoning a person to death based on the lottery’s results. Old Man Warner’s explanation offers insight into why utilitarianism and superstition blend together : "Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon." ( para. 33 ) . It seems that the villagers believed that in order to have a good harvest of corn for the village, they would have to sacrifice one person in the guise of a lottery. They assumed that trouble would follow if they didn’t go through with the lottery and they might even find themselves living in caves again like the ancient men.
This tradition was encouraged by a man named Old Man Warner, who convinced everyone that the lottery must never be changed, as he said, “Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’ First thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There’s always been a lottery” (Jackson 30). This shows how much Old Man Warner opposes the idea of the lottery, which causes the other civilians to believe that it is a much needed thing too. In addition to that, it also shows what a huge role Old Man Warner plays in this
Tradition is a theme found in both the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and the play Antigone by Sophocles. In both stories tradition is used as a tool to force people to conform to the “norm” of society. In “The Lottery”, the people of the town revolve around their annual lottery. Everyone is quick to help each other get ready for the event and also show no remorse for the end of the ritual. Nobody objects to the continuation of the lottery, although Mr. Adams brings up the rumor that a nearby village were talking about giving up the lottery but he was quickly shut down by Old Man Warner.
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.
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. To begin with, like the villagers in the story, our society also partakes in valuing tradition.
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.
The Lottery is a story by Shirley Jackson. It is about a town that has a type of stoning event called the lottery. It is basically like gambling with your life. Each person has to pull out a slip of paper out of a black box. There are enough slips for each member of the town.
Based on these two stories, mankind followed their tradition practices and sacrificed other’s life to retrieve God’s blessing. This emphasizes that younger generation should not believe in traditional practices as some practices are illogical, irrational and will undermine social order as well as harmonious family relationships. Benefits of some of traditional practices over this world are lacking sense or sound, lucid reason as these benefits do not proven by any of the scientist in this world. People observes these old traditions, which have no sanction and were made just for the benefit of a section of society. In the story “The Lottery”, during