Blindly Following Traditions In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

The Dark Side of Tradition: An Analysis of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" might not be realistic, but it packs a powerful punch with its themes. The story explores the dangers of blindly following traditions, the power of social pressure, and how ordinary people can do terrible things just by going along with the crowd. Through this chilling tale, Jackson tries to teach us some important lessons about human behavior and the society we live in.

One of the major themes in "The Lottery" is the danger of following traditions without questioning them. The story takes place in a small village that seems normal, but every year they have a lottery where the "winner" gets stoned to death. The villagers

Jackson shows how people might do things they know are wrong just to fit in with the group. The villagers’ participation in the lottery is driven more by fear of breaking away from the collective norm than by a belief in its necessity. This is clear when Tessie Hutchinson protests the lottery only after she is chosen as the "winner." The scholarly journal notes that "the villagers' participation is almost automatic—'actors' anxious to return to their mundane, workaday lives" (Griffin). The way Tessie’s friends and family turn on her at the end shows how strong social pressure can be. Even though they know her and probably care about her, they still join in the stoning. Jackson is showing us how powerful social norms can be and how they can make people do things they wouldn’t normally

The villagers aren’t monsters; they’re just regular people who have normalized a terrible tradition. Their willingness to stone Tessie to death, despite knowing her personally, shows how evil can be done by everyday people just following the rules. The journal highlights that "on the individual level, the two women regard each other as friends, on the group level, they betray that relationship, satiating the mob mentality" (Griffin). Jackson’s depiction of the lottery as just another community event emphasizes how violence can become normalized. This portrayal serves as a warning of how easily we can become desensitized to brutality when it’s cloaked in tradition and