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The Dangers Of Blindly Following Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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For this learning journal, I have selected the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. This is a short story published in 1948 in “The New Yorker”. The story is set in a small village where local community has an annual tradition lnown as “the lottery”(Jackson, 1948). The lottery involves selecting one individual from the village just to be stoned to death by the other villagers with a purpose to ensure a good harvesting and to to cleanse the city of bad omens. The story is a commentary on blind adherence to tradition and the dangers of mob behavior, when people may abandon reason and act violently if they are part of a large group. I chose this story since I it’s an interesting story that inspired many horror movies we know today. The …show more content…

The stones used to kill the lottery winner represent the collective responsibility of the villagers for the murder. In my opinion, "The Lottery" is a powerful critique of the dangers of blindly following tradition. The story illustrates how easily individuals can become complicit in violence and injustice when they are part of a group. Jackson's use of irony and foreshadowing heightens the impact of the story's shocking ending. Similarly Nebeker 's article provides a useful framework for understanding the significance of tradition in "The Lottery." Her analysis of the story's themes and symbols deepened my understanding of the story. Overall, reading "The Lottery" and Nebeker 's article has reinforced my belief in the importance of critical thinking and questioning authority and traditions, instead of blindly following what others do. It is essential to examine the origins and effects of traditions and cultural practices to ensure that they are not harmful or oppressive to certain groups of people, and to determine if they are still relevant in modern society. Without questioning these practices, we risk perpetuating harmful ideologies and limiting progress towards a more inclusive and just world. Examining traditions with a critical eye allows us to preserve those that hold value while discarding those that no longer serve a positive

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Tradition is a way in which anybody can express their beliefs and creativity in any way they want. In the short story, The Lottery, Shirley Jackson shows how blindly following tradition can sometimes be atrocious to morality. Every year, there’s a lottery held to decide the next sacrifice to the gods. It was the sunny morning of June 27th; people of a small town were gathered in the square of the village. In this small village, only two hours are needed to conduct the lottery while other villages need days, for they had larger populations.

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Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Lottery

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Andrew McManus Mrs. Erlbaum Ela January 17, 2023, Blind Tradition The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once said “tradition will accustom people to any atrocity.” In Shirley Jackson's “ The Lottery” a small village blindly follows a crazy tradition that accustoms people to terrible and unreliable ways. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a story about a terrible tradition when people of a small village follow a blind tradition that they don’t know anything about. The people of this small farming village have a lottery every year and they sacrifice one person to get stoned every year in a lottery drawing.

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Tradition In The Lottery, By Shirly Jackson

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The Lottery, by Shirly Jackson, is a short story that depicts a tradition that leads to an absurd result. Specifically, the members of a town conduct a lottery to decide who is killed by a mob of people. The story shows that thoughtlessly following a tradition can be dangerous. The characters in the story are unable to explain why they follow this lottery tradition. The only purpose they provide is that the tradition exists and has always been kept.

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Destruction by Conformity: An Analysis of Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'

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It may be surprising to find out how many dangerous traditions are practiced throughout the world, where people are willing to risk their lives in order to continue these traditions. Such an example is the Running of the Bulls, a tradition where a herd of cattle is let loose onto the streets. The tradition has resulted in hundreds of injuries and over a dozen deaths since its start in the 14th century. Shirly Jackson’s “The Lottery” paints a picture of such a tradition in her short story, where a small village performs an annual tradition of a lottery. Initially appearing pleasant to the reader, it eventually takes a darker turn and reveals the fact that the winner is stoned to death.

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Throughout centuries, traditions and rituals have had the ability to control one’s behavior. In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, she tells the reader of a small village. On the surface, this community may seem relatively normal. However, despite the picturesque appeal, this falsely serene village has a distinct deceitful flaw. On June 27th, every year, a lottery takes place.

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In her story "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson implies the negative consequences of blindly following tradition through the acceptance, by the villagers, of the tradition of the lottery. Jackson suggests that the people of the village are afraid to give up the little tradition they have, even if it is not good. Every year after the lottery, the conductor of the lottery, Mr. Summers suggests that they should build a new box but, “No one [likes] to upset even as much tradition as [is] represented by the box.” (Jackson, 1). The black box symbolizes ritual and tradition.

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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.

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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?

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“The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a lottery that takes place in a small village. The story starts off with the whole town gathering in the town square, where Mr. Summers holds the lottery. Once everyone gathers, every family draws a slip of paper out of an old black box, and the family with the black mark on their paper gets picked. After that, each family member older than 3 years of age re-draws a slip of paper again and this time, the person with the black mark on their paper gets picked as the “lucky winner” of the lottery. In this short story, after the Hutchinson family gets drawn, Tessie Hutchinson is declared “winner” of the lottery, with her reward is being stoned to death.

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At a time when basic religious beliefs and traditions were being questioned by academia, author Shirley Jackson penned a poignant attack against those who blindly accepted values and traditions in her short story, “The Lottery.” The Lottery is presented as an event that has always occurred throughout the region's history without any opposition. Nonchalantly, the entire village commits homicide at the finale. Finally, aspects of the traditional lottery evolved without notice or were forgotten by the villagers. Within “The Lottery,” author Shirley Jackson embeds the theme of blindly accepting traditions as illustrated by the actions of the villagers.

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The villagers on “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson are afraid to let go of their tradition, the lottery. They are concern of unknown consequences that will happen if they change their old customs. So, for every year, the villagers gather at the square to do the lottery at 10 AM . The villagers are afraid to quit their outdated tradition because they think that changing their old customs will only bring trouble.

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