Change In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Charles Darwin once claimed that, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” This is easy to say, but to actually be adaptable to change is very difficult. If you fear change you will be unable to develop and thrive, yet most people still fear change. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” not being able to adapt to change is demonstrated. The morning of June 27th in a miniscule town, everyone gathers to continue their yearly tradition of the lottery. The whole village is overwhelmed with excitement, even the children and little Davy, who get to participate. As each family is called up one by one to pick a slip of paper from the ancient black box the

The main characters young son, little Davy, who is about three years old was a very active participant in the lottery this year. Little Davy had the honor of picking a slip of paper from the black box, and then when he found out that his mother was the single winner of the lottery “someone even gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles,” (96) to throw at his mother. Because most children don’t comprehend and remember events before they are three years of age little Davy most likely didn’t even realize that he was participating in his mother's death, for that reason little Davy symbolises the innocence and naiveness that the community's children posses. The lottery custom has been going on for so many years that the children don’t even know that stoning someone to death is barbaric. By teaching little Davy to stone people corrupts his innocents. When the town's children grow up and have their own kids, they will continue to teach them the tradition of the lottery, it will go on forever, and the fear of getting rid of the lottery will keep the town from