The Significance Of Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery
“Tradition is a guide not a jailer.” (W. Somerset Morgan) This quote shows how people take pride in being part of a tradition and ritual. Similarly, in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, a human is sacrificed every year to follow and honor an old custom that was stamped ever since the town was established. This year out of a village of 300 people, Bill Hutchinson's family won the lottery, and in the second round of the raffle, out of all five members of the family, Tessie Hutchinson had the card with the black mark meaning she was going to be sacrificed. Shorty after winning, Tessie was stoned to death as a sacrifice to the gods. The lottery was conducted because the villagers want to follow an old ritual and tradition which
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These lines state, “ The original paraphernalia for the lottery… faded or stained.” This shows that little change has happened through a lot of years because the villagers are so adamant to keep the tradition as original as possible. Also, there were only few changes that had happened in the lottery like the old black box was lost, paper was used as lottery, and there was no tuneless sound anymore. This shows that the people had a close “bonding” to the lottery and the reason the villagers did not want to change the lottery because they wanted to keep the old ritual and tradition. In fact, the reason the villagers kept a close “bond” in conducting the lottery and its tradition was because they were scared if the gods were not pleased, they would not get a good harvest, because it was what superstition said. Moreover, another reason that the villagers did not want to change the equipment needed to conduct the lottery tradition and ritual was because they were afraid that their crops were not going to grow because the gods might not be pleased with the sacrifice and how it was conducted. Again, that shows that the villagers are close minded and do not accept new beliefs. Also, because the villagers were afraid of the gods and wanted to please the gods that took charge of their
These lines state, “ The original paraphernalia for the lottery… faded or stained.” This shows that little change has happened through a lot of years because the villagers are so adamant to keep the tradition as original as possible. Also, there were only few changes that had happened in the lottery like the old black box was lost, paper was used as lottery, and there was no tuneless sound anymore. This shows that the people had a close “bonding” to the lottery and the reason the villagers did not want to change the lottery because they wanted to keep the old ritual and tradition. In fact, the reason the villagers kept a close “bond” in conducting the lottery and its tradition was because they were scared if the gods were not pleased, they would not get a good harvest, because it was what superstition said. Moreover, another reason that the villagers did not want to change the equipment needed to conduct the lottery tradition and ritual was because they were afraid that their crops were not going to grow because the gods might not be pleased with the sacrifice and how it was conducted. Again, that shows that the villagers are close minded and do not accept new beliefs. Also, because the villagers were afraid of the gods and wanted to please the gods that took charge of their