Is The Lottery Right Or Wrong Essay

“To err is human,” indeed; nevertheless, it’s important not to be so utterly ignorant to not even consider the possibility of making a mistake by blindly submitting to a tradition. People are fundamentally evil and if we don’t control and suppress that side of ourselves, if we stop questioning and simply give in to that evilness, disastrous results are bound to follow. The simple fact that a certain tradition has been observed for a long time justifies neither that it should continue nor that it should be protected. If we don’t pause to think about and question whether what we are doing is right or wrong or even worse – if we endorse something that we do not even fully comprehend and advocate others to conform, we are doomed to be stuck in
The black box used for the lottery represents the whole tradition of conducting lottery. It was “made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it,” and it “grew shabbier each year.” Mr. Summers, who conducted the lottery, talked about making a new box, “but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything’s being done,” because “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” However, the original tool used for the lottery was lost long ago; Mr. Summers successfully substituted the chips of wood, which were used for the lottery for generations, with slips of paper; “the proper swearing-in,” the recital performed by the official of the lottery and the ritual salute – all of these traditions have been forgotten by the villagers. The villagers have never dared to question the meaning of the lottery, at least not in public. They all assumed that they must, and was encouraged by the older generation, carry on the tradition, no matter what the tradition is. Never have they ever attempted to understand the tradition that they are so determined to