Analysis Of Tradition In The Lottery

A Brief talk about tradition

The Lottery is one of the most widely known stories in American literature and American culture. Widely acclaimed as Jackson 's masterpiece, The Lottery combines elements of horror, irony, domestic tranquility, and convention, all of which are often found separately in other short stories in this collection. (Catherine Sustana, 2015) over past 70 years, this horrific novel has impressed thousands of people. Under the author’s careful reading, the author came up with an imperfect analysis of this article. The author attempts to analysis this article from three parts: I.the explanation of "The Lottery”, II. How to view the tradition. III. the tradition in modern society.

I

The setting of

Though "The Lottery” is just the most extreme story, it reflects the times. "The Lottery" was first published in 1948.At that time, China was suffering from the controversy over moribund customs, which Appeared some outstanding authors which against outdated tradition, such as Lu Xun, Xiao Hong. However, in modern society, tradition affects our life in different forms. There still reserves some outdated tradition, some of the tradition are inconceivable. There is a terrible tradition named baby tossing in India. It is common practice to toss newborn babies off the side of a 15 meter temple. According to tradition, this gives the children good luck into their adult years and strengthens intelligence. (BuzzFeed Staff, 2012) it sounds astonish! Does not society today have its superstitious traditions, so traditional that we do not even see their irrationality and evil? Some people in modern society accept this outdated tradition blindly and loyally. They think follow the old saying is better than that they are unmoved, so they prefer to carry out the outdated tradition without any reason. These people view the outdated tradition as normal, even necessary. We can find some outdated tradition and superstitious people anywhere. Though this phenomenon is less horrific than "The Lottery", it puts up thinking that they cannot see outdated tradition is senseless .however, we can’t deny the value of the

Without innovation, it is a corpse. ’’ Tradition is a basis of the development of the society. Shirley Jackson 's short story The Lottery was published in 1948 and is not in the public domain. When first published the short story was harshly citizen for its works. Many subscribers canceled their subscriptions to the New Yorker for the lack of not understanding the story. Though this story is undesirable during that time, it brings us a worthy thinking about tradition. In my opinion, like a coin has two sides, there is a positive aspect and a negative aspect of tradition in modern society. Tradition has its special charm if we apply for it in the correct way. We should pay attention to the value of tradition. In addition, the glamour of tradition will never be replaced by the modernization; these two must harmonize and complement each other in modern society.

Reference：

Catherine Sustana.（2015, March 13）. The Lottery and other stories. Grade saver. Retrieved May 11, 2016, from http://www.gradesaver.com/the-lottery-and-other-stories/study-guide/summary-the-lottery

Zhang lihua. (2013, November 21). Chinese national psychology and identity. Carnegie-tsighua. Retrieved May 11, 2016, from