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Essay On The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” is a story where it is powered by tradition where someone wins the lottery to be stoned to death. It is an annual event where family members or friends are randomly selected to be stoned to death for a tradition where it will bring the harvest to their village. Though no one remembers the reasons, everyone in the village acts confident of the kind of practice and welcomes it. The short story focuses mainly on the power of tradition and ritual. Having tradition and ritual is dangerous; it can cost them ethical and moral responsibility. The townspeople's action and their attitude towards the tradition that they have is a cheerful welcome but can change when they win the lottery. The short story focuses …show more content…

The theme of the short story is tradition and ritual. The village has a tradition that gathers every family and friend to see who will be chosen to win the lottery. Everyone would gather around the town square and the kids would be running and gathering stones and putting it into their pockets which are for the lottery winner. Though many of the villagers forgot the tradition of stoning the lottery winner to death, the villagers would watch for fun. In the short story it states that “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones” (Jackson). The people don't remember the tradition that they had nor the ritual but simply do it since the ritual has always been there and they always did it. Ithean article “Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’: Key Themes Explained” by Dr. Oliver Tearle also states that tradition is the theme of the short story. Tearle states that “Towards the end of the narrative, as the villagers are picking up stones ready to carry out the stoning of Tessie Hutchinson, the narrator reveals that they ‘had forgotten the ritual’’ (Tearle). This means that the people …show more content…

The characters show a great cheerful welcome to the tradition of the lottery but change after they have won and some have a fearful greeting towards the ritual. Tessie Hutchinson from the short story mostly shows a change in her attitude towards tradition after she has won the lottery. Everyone would gather to prepare and get the lottery over with, but some also just want to see another person being sacrificed and have fun or be relieved than being sacrificed themselves. Many also want to get rid of the tradition but others don’t. The article “The Lottery Summary and Analysis” by Nikola Champlin summarizes the characters that are more involved and what was their reaction toward the lottery. Champlin states “The details of the lottery’s proceedings seem mundane, but the crowd’s hesitation to get involved is a first hint that the lottery is not necessarily a positive experience for the villagers” (Champlin). This shows that the villagers don’t have a positive outlook toward the lottery and that they don’t want to be there. (Champlin). She also states that “It is also clear that the lottery is a tradition, and that the villagers believe very strongly in conforming to tradition—they are unwilling to change even something as small as the black box used in the proceedings” (Champlin). The villagers are uneasy about the lottery being taken in place but don’t want to change it since it has “always” been that

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