Examples Of Stoning In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

The Way of Humans
Tradition and customs have been within our society and still happen today. Some traditions and custom are as long as before Christ Jesus was born. In the story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson we see that tradition and customs are important to the people’s lives in the story. I will be discussing traditions and what ways can be used and how they can be forgotten. First, in the story “The Lottery” we see that their tradition of stoning is forgotten by the people. This is highlighted in the story when Mr Summers says, “Because so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded…” (Jackson 566). The quote shows how some traditions are forgotten even though they are practiced for a long period of time in the past. From an

The meaning of stoning is a way of throwing stones at a person for something they have done wrong as a punishment. From the past we see that stoning is a way of punishment that has been within our society for a long period of time. In the famous book the Bible it says, “A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:27). This shows how long stoning has been within our society as we see here in the book of Leviticus from the Old Testament in the Bible. In the story, “The Lottery” stoning is highlighted in the story when Tessie Hutchinson is about to stone her, “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her… A stone hit her on the side of the head” (Jackson 573). This just shows how stoning was the tradition in the village in “The Lottery”. A tradition does not have to be violent but it can be a ritual such as in the church. From a Ted article named “Death is not the end: Fascinating funeral traditions from around the globe” this article explains about funeral which is a ritual for humans and can be done religiously. The article says, “The funerals I’ve attended have all been very much the same. Relatives and friends arrive in all black and take seats in the church or synagogue pews for a somber ceremony where prayers are said, memories are shared and tears are shed” (Kate Torgovnick May). This just shows how humans naturally create funerals which can be a religious ritual. Overall, traditions can come through different