Analysis of the Tradition in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson illustrates the struggle between choosing personal morals‚ versus blindly following the masses. When you stop questioning authority‚ you relinquish your individuality and the tools that you’ve been given to rationalize your decisions. Traditions and customs often lose their meaning and value once it becomes a game of follow the leader. In Jackson’s short story‚ the tradition of the lottery began with the first village
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“The Lottery” is a short story written by a woman named Shirley Jackson. The story takes place on the 27th of June in a small nameless town. The lottery is a tradition in this small town and has taken place longer than any of the townspeople can remember. In fact none even remember why there is a lottery‚ but take part in it because there has always been one. Part of this tradition is an old black box. Of course it is not the original box but some in the story say that it was
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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
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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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women’s civil rights in the 1900s all serve as prime consequences of humans not willing to change. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson‚ she use the black battered box as a way to illustrate that human kind must continue to evolve and not always conform to unethical traditions. This is important because if the town members evaluated their beliefs and did not conform to unethical traditions; traditions which subjected people to succumb to fear‚ perform barbaric activities‚ and
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The dangers of Following Traditions Blindly Symbolism is the application of symbols to signify things or bring them to mind. In her story "The Lottery"‚ Shirley Jackson expresses her emotions towards man ’s carelessness and violent practices of traditions. This is shown when the lottery takes place in the story and the "winner" is stoned to death to help crop growth in the village. Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to represent a sequence of events that occur throughout the story. She uses symbolism
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The Lottery Perspective on Mortality and Tradition. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is nothing less than a powerful story about a society that gathers once per year and holds a lottery. But this is not a lottery with a winner; it is a lottery with a loser. “The Lottery” is a chilling story because it depicts a sense of normalcy among the towns’ people when they randomly decided to kill a neighbor by practically just drawing straws. This story really asks the question‚ are rituals always a good
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Violence and tradition are the major themes in "The Lottery." Drenched in horror‚ the story focuses on the outdated ideas and rituals performed by villagers who gather once a year to decide who will be stoned to death in a ritualistic sacrifice. Old Man Warner states “Lottery in June‚ corn be heavy soon” meaning the village people sacrifice one of their own to ensure a fruitful corn harvest. If there is any real reason meant to be conveyed by the story for the stoning‚ I believe it is no doubt the
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Jackson’s "The Lottery" she argues that traditions lead to the destruction of society through desensitizing people to the gratuitous infliction of pain to their fellow villagers. For example‚ the traditions the villagers continue to follow cause them to turn against each other despite having lived with each other for nearly their entire life‚ “Mrs. Graves said‚’ All of us took the same chance.’ ’There is Don and Eva‚’ Mrs. Hutchinson yelled. ’Make them take their chance!’" Since the lottery takes place
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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. Tradition becomes evident in this society when the narrator mentions that
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