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In the story that the Jackson version tells us of a small town that has a lottery every year. The person chosen by this lottery is stoned to death by the inhabitants of the city. The person is described as the scapegoat, which we can relate to the purification ritual described in the Old Testament, is a person who is punished for the sins of others, which plays a thematic role in the development of history. Currently in our society, the lottery is only used as a means of luck to win awarded as a prize in the form of money, so many people who play it have a clear and obsessive goal to win.
Most people know the lottery as a contest to win money. But in the short story, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, the lottery is not a simple game competing for money. In this small village’s version of the lottery, everyone must draw out of a box, and if their family is chosen then the whole family must redraw and the death of a member is decided. After the fate is decided, the rest of the village throws stones at him or her until he or she dies. The villages reasoning of this process is they believe it guarantees a plentiful crop season.
In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” the townspeople participate in the heinous tradition, the lottery, to gain social belonging within the group with no regard to the death that ensues. With Tessie’s immediate reaction to her family and herself being chosen by the lottery, it seems obvious that she had these opinions beforehand but was not willing to speak out. There are a few different reasons as to why Tessie could not voice her opinion. One could speculate that many if not all of the townspeople also have the underlying opinion that the lottery is no longer useful. The town is so willing to kill whoever the lottery chooses, so why wouldn’t they agree to killing anyone who deviates from the group’s decisions.
Imagine a society where killing somebody for the sake of a tradition is acceptable. In the short story “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson describes an ordinary village with normal people, but as the story progress the details of their yearly practice known as “the lottery” unravels to be more disturbing. The author subverts the readers’ expiations by persuading the reader into assuming “the lottery” is a ordinary tradition until unusual details and the behavior of the characters come into place. In her short story “The Lottery,” Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear so, it is inherently barbaric.
The Lottery: Winner Loses All Envision a summer day in a quaint, peaceful town full of flowers and green grass. Everyone participates in a town meeting in this picturesque village, where flowers bloom, and families enjoy each other's company. However, there is a catch: one random person will be stoned to death on the town square. " The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, explains this dark and sinister story, first painting a picture of a charming, tight-knit community. Jackson continues, explaining that every year, the townspeople participate in an event known as "The Lottery.
Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” tells us how the people of the town get together on June twenty seventh every year to perform a ritual that was started back in the day by their ancestors. The children would gather to the town square first and start piling up rocks in a corner. After the children the men would show up and then the women would show up last. Mr. Summers would call each family in alphabetic order to draw a slip of paper from the box, for the ritual. Once everyone had a piece of paper in their hands, they would look at the slips, who ever had the black dot got stoned to death.
Why does an individual follow a blind tradition in hopes of achieving “sameness” with the public eye or society? One is unconsciously trained to follow mindless tradition without knowing what it’s deeper meaning is. “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, represents a long lost sacrifice ritual, now morphed into a blind tradition that people follow. A fictional village struggles with this concept, holding a voluntary “lottery” every year, where the “winner” is stoned to death. The villagers hold the lottery because they believe that the crops will be bountiful in the event that they do as such.
n Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, the author constructs a story full of symbolism, permitted horror, and a traditionalized ritual that serves as a front for an evil purpose, and ultimately reveals a towns ignorance in blindly following tradition. In small towns like the one in “The Lottery,” it is customary to uphold traditions. It functions as a way to bring together generations of community and family. The town is busy preparing for their tradition called the lottery.
The story of “ The Lottery ” by Shirley Jackson is a very surprising story especially towards the end. It causes great consternation and shock when we learn that the winner of the lottery - Tessie Hutchinson, does not win an award, rather finds herself stoned to death. This somewhat shows the role that superstition played years ago. It was widely prevalent and as we progressed in terms of science and technology, we have come to break apart from such harmful traditions. It is precisely due to these superstitions, often many an innocent life has been taken without just cause.
Traditions, passed down from generation to generation, are typically seen in a positive and memorable way. Whether that is gathering around the table every night for dinner or participation in a cultural tradition, most families have some type of tradition that is held onto. But when does tradition become dangerous? Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, gives readers a look into when people conform to a tradition that is gruesome and unnecessary. The narrator, who is one of the villagers, is a flat character who tells the story in an objective third person point of view.
In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, each year the people of the town had a lottery. And every year another person dies to the lottery. The lottery has little meaning left to the people of the town and now they are only doing it for the sake of tradition. Now it is different for the settlers of the town. Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’
The purpose of the lottery is to continue the old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order for a harvest. The scapegoat is chosen at random and then stoned to death by his/her companions. Although “The Lottery” reflects an event from the past, Jackson shows that many of the actions of the town resemble the tribulations that ensue in today’s society. To begin with, like the villagers in the story, our society also partakes in valuing tradition.
A ritual is a ceremony or action performed in a customary way,like a tradition for a group of people. Human nature is the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” the ritual is pulling the papers out of the black box which has been the same for years and their human nature is the way that they react to the outcome of this ritual. The story implies that traditions and ceremonies are extremely important to the survival of the town as a whole. In the morning walking into town everyone is calm and having conversations with each other.
Shirley Jackson’s “The lottery” is a story based on tradition. When hearing the word tradition, most people think of team rituals before games, or something families do together annually. However, Jackson is obviously not like most people. She builds up a fair amount of tension around this ritual that is taking place to make readers wonder what is going on. She uses many different techniques to show that sometimes, traditions are not always meant to go on forever.
Shirley Jackson: The Lottery When you think of a tradition what comes to mind? Perhaps it is linked with your family’s core values, beliefs, or has significant meaning. Specifically, traditions are beliefs passed down from generations, they are not declared righteous or sinful, why they were born or still exist. Why do people follow traditions so mindlessly without knowing the purpose of it?
