Themes The Danger of Blindly Following Tradition The village lottery culminates in a violent murder each year‚ a bizarre ritual that suggests how dangerous tradition can be when people follow it blindly. Before we know what kind of lottery they’re conducting‚ the villagers and their preparations seem harmless‚ even quaint: they’ve appointed a rather pathetic man to lead the lottery‚ and children run about gathering stones in the town square. Everyone is seems preoccupied with a funny-looking
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The Lottery opens with the details of the day of the lottery as s Sunny‚ warm‚ summers day. Summer thrives on having days described in the opening sentence and sunny day signifies how normal the lottery is in their society. Despite the fact someone is going to be killed and stoned to death that day. Children gathering stones and also participating in the stoning show that everyone can cast judgement on people. The old black box could represent conservative views government or religion. Mr. Summer
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Just before 10 a.m. on June 27th‚ the children came to the village square‚ where the boys began to make a mountain of smooth stones and the girls talked about school days that had just concluded. Husbands came and talked about taxes and wives gossiped about the town. In some towns‚ the Lottery could take two days‚ but in this town‚ there were no more than 100 residents and the Lottery only took two hours. If the Lottery began at 10 a.m.‚ families could be home for their noonday meals. Each
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“The Lottery”: An analysis “The Lottery” is a story which has a twist in it. As you read the story you are not really sure what exactly the Lottery is. It is very vague and the term is used loosely. It is somewhat misleading you to think that the Lottery is something good. The author uses Tess to give foreshadowing. By Tess’s behavior and words you know that she is nervous. Tess is the protagonist in this story. The author leaves us believing that Tess gets killed by the townspeople. The Lottery
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“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
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by saying‚ “...and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before old man Warner‚ the oldest man in town…” (Jackson 1). Therefore supporting that this tradition has been happening for many consecutive years. The final way Shirley tells us that it is a tradition is by writing‚ “Mr.Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box‚ but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” (Jackson 1). This coincides with the claim
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The analysis of the short story “The Lottery” In “The Lottery”‚ Shirley Jackson brings readers to an old traditional rite in 1940s New England. Jackson is a famous writer and “The Lottery” is one of her most famous article which was published in 1948. Jackson narrates this story about people live in a small town gather together in order to take part in the lottery. It seems to be harmony and the scenery description at the beginning give audiences a feeling of relaxation: “[T]he flowers were blossoming
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Rituals and traditions can define a society. Old ways of thinking and cultural traditions are embedded into every society and can have a drastic impact on the way of life within those cultures. In Shirley Jackson’s‚ "The Lottery‚" Jackson depicts a tradition on which life was founded on within a culture. In this particular society‚ a dominant ritual‚ passed down throughout many generations‚ continues to be the driving force of actions within the society. This lottery consists of an annual ritual
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In the story "The Lottery‚" the community attitude toward this story is that you have some of the most loyal people out there that were once family turns their backs on one another all over a cruel tradition. On the other end you have some people just didn’t feel it was right. It was like a no win situation. You must participate no matter how bad you feel. Family turn on one another and betrayal seek vengeance in this story. The characters that refused to question the tradition of the lottery in
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The Lottery by Shirley Jackson tells us about the absurdness of blind obedience. The story begins when the people of the village began to gather in the square. Some of the children are gathering stones. The narrator was like making a warning earlier in the story by mentioning the pile of stones and the way the older people distance themselves from it. "They stood together‚ away from the pile of stones in the corner‚ and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed
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