Preview

The Importance Of Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
536 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Importance Of Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson
THE LOTTERY People are like sheep and will obey other people’s laws or rules even if they are cruel and unjust. In Shirley Jackson’s fiction story, The Lottery, the story centers around a small town where they practice an unusual tradition every year known as “ The Lottery ”. The story mainly focuses around the Hutchinson family (which are the main protagonists of the story) and them being selected in The Lottery. The Lottery is held by Mr.Summers (which is the antagonist of the story) and is mandatory by law. The Lottery works likes this, Every man of the family is to go up and pick a small card out of a box, whoever has a card with a black circle wins the lottery, and the prize given is a very cruel DEATH by stoning. People are like sheep and will blindly follow and practice traditions that are inhumane and unjust. People are like sheep and will obey laws or traditions even if it's inhumane and or morally wrong to them. “ ‘ It isn’t fair ’, she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head ”. This quote shows how even though Tessie Hutchinson pleaded with the people to not kill her they still did. This is a clear example on how people can act like sheep and obey certain laws or traditions that are just WRONG and INHUMANE. …show more content…

The Lottery is held by Mr.Summers and nobody ever questions it or stands up to this system. “ There was the proper swearing-in of Mr.Summers by the postmaster, as the official of the lottery ”. This quote shows how only one man is in control of this lottery and even though the people of the town can outnumber and overthrow their government and protest against “ The Lottery ” they choose not to, and just keep acting like sheep by following the orders of one man, and by still practicing this horrendous tradition known as “ The Lottery

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    This is a story about a small rural village that holds its annual lottery. Families in the village participate and the lottery starts by one representative from each family pulling a piece of paper from the black box the one who gets the paper with the black spot is stoned to death as per tradition of the lottery. This world that is created by Shirley Jackson in “The Lottery” is a dystopia.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through her ability to display the grim reality of a small idealized town, Shirley Jackson unmasks the evil of tradition in “The Lottery.” She repeats that mindless rituals are unacceptable practices. Jackson begins her writing with, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (715). This first sentence gives us clues that there is not an extreme amount of emotion; it hints that the style reflects the attitudes of the villagers. The townspeople picture the lottery as normal and have no more emotion towards it than they do the flowers or the warm sunny day. The children begin collecting rocks as they are playing, and the adults…

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ““It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and they were upon her.” (Jackson)Even though the community is following traditions that they happen every year. The traditions are still wrong. This book has a very dark theme, and things within the community that symbol many things. The short story is also very similar to the known movie The Hunger Games.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There have always been horrid traditions that many people blindly follow because they live in a society that practices them. In Shirley Jackson's short story, “The Lottery,” Tessie Hutchison becomes the unlucky victim of a brutal and merciless stoning which questions our contemporary ethical values. Although the setting in “The Lottery” is not specified, we can assume that it is centered in small-town America in a time era resembling present day. There is a lot of evidence that the people in the story are not from a specific culture but represent a generic culture that can be applied to many facts about culture and even to civilizations worldwide. The people of “The Lottery” blindly follow the traditions of their culture, even when it is taking away their morals.…

    • 766 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    People are influenced by a variety of different sources – their parents, their friends, and their communities. While everyone must learn to make their own decisions, they often follow the beliefs of the people around them. Teenagers register to vote as a “Democrat” merely because their parents call themselves Democrats. Sometimes blindly following another’s influence can result in something much more severe, such as becoming a slave owner due to the influence of the surrounding society. Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery” uses the color black to symbolize how irrationally adhering to a tradition when its origin is neither remembered nor understood can result in people performing ignorant actions.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    According to the story, the town’s people have no complete understanding of the origin of lottery. They were not aware how the lottery was run compared to recent lotteries. This proves that the villager’s blind faith in the lottery portrays the dangers of fervor; not challenging to change or remove unethical traditions. During the story, some of the town’s people talk about how other towns are abolishing the lottery process. However, still no one challenges the lottery process because it may result in an individual being exiled from the town. It is stated clearly in the text that, “every year, after the lottery Mr. Summers began talking about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade without anything being done”. A black box older than Old…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Usually, when one hears anything about a lottery, it is perceived as being a great fortune brought down upon whoever wins it, even if the person has done nothing to actually deserve it. After all, it is won only by a stroke of luck, an unforeseen and unexpected circumstance. But even so, it is supposed to bring wealth and luxury into the winner’s life. Not one person in today’s society would ever see the lottery as an unfortunate event that winning it would bring serious repercussions such as execution and death. On the contrary, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, uses irony to exemplify how people can illogically follow senseless traditions and ultimately demonstrates how society can blindly persecute innocent individuals.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is a tradition really a tradition if it’s meaningless and hollow? The original purpose of the lottery was to make corn growth heavy, but over time it was forgotten, and just done for the sake of doing it. At first, The lottery was actually for religious purposes, and many events followed and preceded it. Then it turned into a hollow tradition nobody really cared about. “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, turns to a less observed topic, and gives us a very good example of what many of us do today.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author of the short story, The Lottery, is Shirley Jackson. In the lottery, the villagers of a small town gather together on the 27th of June for the annual tradition of the town lottery, which is conducted by Mr. Summers. In which, every year they select a random person to be stoned to their death, as they are the winner of the lottery. Emphasizing the theme of the dangers of blindly following traditions. This is shown through characterization, tone and dialogue.…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Shirley Jackson’s fictitious story entitled “The Lottery” is an allegorical examination into the underpinnings of societal rituals and traditions as well as how these rituals affect both social and political cultures. Although Jackson presents her literary work as a somewhat simplistic story about a village that holds an annual lottery every summer, the themes governing the story’s plot and underpinnings delve into a deeper analysis regarding the effects and consequences of a political oligarchy on its citizens. Rooted in long-standing tradition, the lottery is conducted in a way that illustrates the hierarchy of an organization of people controlled by [misguided] ideology—albeit somewhat lost in translation over the many years—and outcome.…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lottery, a short story written by Shirley Jackson explains two of the most important aspects of humanity: traditions and rituals. The story takes place in a small town in New England where every year a lottery is held, most people would relate lottery to wining cash. In this lottery one person will be randomly choose to be stoned to death by the people in the village including their own family members. The lottery has been practiced for over seventy years by the townspeople and even though the villagers do not know the purpose of this tradition or the origin of it, they keep it to show respect to their ancestors ignoring the fact that is cruel and it is turning the whole village into murderers.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” it is evident that conforming to society and sticking with tradition can lead to outweighing personal morals./be a burden on the lives of people. Although The Lottery was a tradition that has been occurring for years, nobody sticks up to support their morals to challenge The Lottery. Not only does The Lottery limit the rights of many, but many other expectations in their society do too.…

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Are you part of the societal norm? Some people believe once a law has been passed that you may exercise you rights despite going against the societal norm. Normally, a little piece of expensive paper won’t inhibit opposition from intervening. When groups differ from us they will almost always face opposition.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story by Shirley Jackson “The Lottery” serves as a mirror to see our own society and rituals at an extreme. Throughout the story the author normalizes the characters’ inhumane ritual so the reader would be able to understand the underlining meaning of the story. In our society there are rituals that we do not dare to question because they have been embedded into our lives. The character Old Man Warner justifies such rituals by saying, on page 142, “There’s always been a lottery.” he himself not entirely understanding why it is done. Shirley Jackson wants the reader to understand how oblivious society is to itself, and shows how it would be if it were to be looked upon in an outer perspective.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lottery is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, yet still, leaves a mark on any person who gets their hands on it today. The story starts out by setting an enjoyable atmosphere at the beginning of summer. The community gathers and the story almost fulfills the reader’s idea of a perfect town activity. However, the story has a sharp twist at the end that leaves the reader in shock. Jackson wrote the story to leave an impact and whom how quickly human nature can change. Shirley Jackson shows the duality of human nature in the characters of the children, Tessie Hutchinson, and Mr. Summers.…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays