Question My Odds In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Question My Odds If I asked if you were serving sushi for your next Thanksgiving dinner, you'd give me a puzzled look and think to yourself, "who is this idiot?" Like millions of others, you'll likely enjoy turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and all the other traditional trimmings. You follow tradition so there's no need to invent a special menu. By definition, you simply comply with the prescribed formula from the past. No need to think, whatsoever. If you think about it, the whole idea of a tradition causes us to turn off our brains. It is the easy, lazy thing to do. Just blindly follow the past so you don't have to do the hard work of critical thinking in the present. The lottery represents any tradition that is inherited from one generation
to another that’s followed blindly, no matter how dumb, weird, or dangerous.
The lottery has been taking place in the village before old Warner was born. The lottery is an approved unquestioned tradition, an annual custom that no one has enough courage and bravery to challenge. The lottery is an indispensable part of the village’s culture. As said by Old Man Warner, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon”. Although the way of running the lottery has changed over the years, the lottery continues each year. The obvious consequence is a terrifying crime carried on the behalf of annual tradition. Shirley Jackson made clear that following any tradition blindly can create violence between the people of the society. The lottery emphasizes on the destructive result of following unquestioned traditions that can destroy a society. Jackson uses the bloody lottery as a horrifying example of when tradition defeats our logic and common sense. There is nothing wrong with following a tradition; however, tradition merely for tradition's sake can lead to the
worst kinds of injustice. India is an enigmatic land of different culture and religions. It is also home to some of the ancient civilizations on earth. And not-so-ironically, it is also a place where some of old rituals took birth. While some of the religious rituals backed by logic, there remain a few which are quite unexplainable and outright bizarre. These are often practiced locally and signify regional beliefs and faith. One of the most weird and violent traditions I have ever heard about was baby tossing in India. The controversial ritual begins with a devotee climbing high roof-tops of the shrines with a baby in his arms ( Singh, Dhananjay).
The height of the roof-tops from where the ritual is carried out may vary from 30 to 50 feet. Once the devotee reaches the top, he hands over the baby to few men waiting to carry out the task. Often these men are local priests and their disciples. The priest and other men hold the baby out over the edge of the roof. They shake and swing the baby rigorously, to supposedly ward-off any fear and evil, all the while chanting phrases to please god to bless this child. And suddenly, without any hesitation, the baby is released from the grasp of the priest. Free-falling, the baby lands on a blanket held tight by a group of 10 to 15 men at the ground. Immediately the baby is picked up and passed around for the blessing before returning to the mother. This ritual is carried out on the premise of a belief that it brings good luck, health and prosperity to the child. This similar to the lottery where poor Tessie Hutchinson sacrificed to the gods of a fertility religion to make sure that the crops will grow and the village will
prosper. Many of our traditions are inherited by our ancestors. Sometimes we don’t know their meanings. Many of the traditions we follow can be harmless, such as Thanks giving, but others can be much more dangerous if we follow them without reasoning. According to Old Man Warner, who has been attending the lottery for long time, towns would be ‘crazy’ to give up the lottery. When Mr. Adams told Old Man Warner that the north village was talking about giving up the lottery, Old Man Warner snorted, “Pack of crazy fools. Listening to young folks, nothing’s good enough for them” (369). Old Man Warner believes in the lottery and thinks that if other villages give it up things would be bad. This statement makes me think that this is the only reason they have one. Sometimes superstitions go on for such long periods of time and we do them so often, they become traditions, a have to.