Old Man Warner's Essay 'The Lottery'
Lauren Petruskie
Lit and Comp. pd.2
The Lottery essay
9-17-12
Old Man Warner doesn’t want to do away with the lottery because it’s part of his life and tradition. He has been in the lottery seventy-seven times and he wants to continue that tradition of the lottery. When Mr. Adams told him that in the North village they want to give up the lottery, Old Man Warner says that they are crazy fools. He also says that nothing’s good enough for the young folk. Old Man Warner thinks that they represent changes and he doesn’t like that when it comes to tradition. He also says that young people can’t change it because there’s always been a lottery. A theme that the story teaches is that traditions can change but for the people who have lived
them out for so many years, it’s very hard to change. Like when Old Man Warner gets told they might give up the lottery he doesn’t like it and says, “… they’ll want to go back to living in caves…”(4). He also says, “First thing you know we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns.”(4). He obviously likes to stay with his traditions and if anyone wants to change or interfere with that, they would have to go through him to change it. The black box also symbolizes the lottery, so when they talked about getting a new box no one wanted to because they didn’t want to upset the lottery.
Lit and Comp. pd.2
The Lottery essay
9-17-12
Old Man Warner doesn’t want to do away with the lottery because it’s part of his life and tradition. He has been in the lottery seventy-seven times and he wants to continue that tradition of the lottery. When Mr. Adams told him that in the North village they want to give up the lottery, Old Man Warner says that they are crazy fools. He also says that nothing’s good enough for the young folk. Old Man Warner thinks that they represent changes and he doesn’t like that when it comes to tradition. He also says that young people can’t change it because there’s always been a lottery. A theme that the story teaches is that traditions can change but for the people who have lived
them out for so many years, it’s very hard to change. Like when Old Man Warner gets told they might give up the lottery he doesn’t like it and says, “… they’ll want to go back to living in caves…”(4). He also says, “First thing you know we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns.”(4). He obviously likes to stay with his traditions and if anyone wants to change or interfere with that, they would have to go through him to change it. The black box also symbolizes the lottery, so when they talked about getting a new box no one wanted to because they didn’t want to upset the lottery.