Society's Traditions In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

In “The Lottery” by “Shirley Jackson,” we are introduced by the author telling us about some of the society's’ traditions such as ‘The Lottery.’ The lottery is an ancient tradition that has been going on for several years in this small village. They each pick a slip of paper which determines if they have won the lottery or not. This lottery is not like most but, let's just say it’s not a very rewarding prize. By the end of the story, the reader can see that hurting others is never entertainment. In this community, you will see a lot of inequality, as a result, the less fortunate or women get mistreated because the other is “higher” than them. As the story goes on, you see less and less equality and some deal with it but others do not appreciate it. For example, where we first start seeing inequality is when the text says, “They greeted one another and exchanged lots of gossip and went to join their husbands” (Jackson). This is proving my point because the author kept emphasizing that the women were by the men. Also, you could tell the women don’t truly respect the men “how they should.” Another instance where you see inequality is when the author wrote, “The wife draws for her husband… ‘Don’t you have a

However, at the beginning you don’t see too much cruel things happening until you get to the end. The author wrote, “A stone hit her on the side of the head…’Come on, come on everyone” (Jackson). This supports my theme because as you can whoever “won the lottery” were killed by the community throwing rocks at them. They are killing someone for fun/ for their own entertainment. Jackson also writes, “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right, Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.” Mrs. Hutchinson is right it isn’t fair. They are killing an innocent human being just for their own well being. Obviously, this is cruel and a very unusual