For example, the text says, “so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded” and, “some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery.” It also claims that “There had been, also, a ritual salute.” So they just host the lottery off ancient beliefs of their ancestors.
The events of "The Lottery" border on the absurd. However, history clamors for interpretation on several levels. Shirley Jackson has skillfully used the elements of various ancient rituals to create a story that touches the character of the ritual itself and the devastating effects of mafia psychology. At the heart of history is one of the oldest concepts of humanity: the notion of the scapegoat. Ancient civilizations used to hold a ceremony in which the ills of a whole society were transferred symbolically to a member of the group, be it human or animal, and that member was killed or banished.
Starting off, our relationships with other people tells us who we are and how we act towards one another. Sometimes you act nice with someone, but other times you may act in a heated or angry manner with another person. On the outside, a person could be really nice, but when you truly get to know them, they may change into a new person. Other times, people act like the way they do because of their past. The reason why they act like that is because of what they have been through or what they have witnessed.
In the short story The Lottery, the theme of the dangers of blindly following traditions is strongly depicted. The short story leads up to a town that participates in a brutal murder each year, by sacrificing one person by stoning the person to death. It is a ridiculous ritual that proves the point of the dangers in following traditions blind. In this story, before the kind of lottery they’re conducting is known, the towns people and participants seem harmless, even charming in a way. An example of this would be how they appointed a sort of pitiful man to be over the lottery, and another being the kids running around gathering up stones.
Essay 1- The Lottery The Lottery Author Shirley Jackson who wrote the short story The Lottery outlines the dangers of participating in traditional rituals and free thinking. This short story is set in a small southern town where a lottery pick happens every year, and the winner is stoned to death by the civilians of the town. The public execution is not known until the very end of the story.
Early in the story, the author wrote: “their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.” This inquires why they chose not to laugh indicating it may be a somber occasion. There is also mention of tuneless chants and ritualistic salutes. Lotteries are usually for money and money symbolized greed. This questions why there would be ritualistic chants and salutes as a lottery if lotteries provide greed when most times religion tells its followers not to be rapacious.
The whole purpose of the lottery was never truly stated but the why this village continues the lottery is because tradition is tradition. That is why Mr. Summers always runs the lottery, the lottery is always drawn from the same black box, the lottery always takes place on June 27th, and the winner is stoned. No matter how cruel this tradition is, as Old Man Warner (a villager) says, “there’s always been a lottery” (Jackson 375). Just like how there's always been a mingi in Ethiopian culture. According to the article, “Is the tide turning against the killing of ‘cursed’ infants in Ethiopia” the author, Matthew D. LaPlante, states that a mingi is “cursed, according to their [the ethiopians] ancient superstitions” (2).
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.
Irony may appear in difference ways within literature. Irony changes our expectations of what might happen. It can create the unexpected twist at the end of a story or anecdote that gets people laughing or crying. Verbal irony is intended to be a humorous type of irony. Situational irony can be either funny or tragic.
Traditions should not be blindly followed. For some reason, People seem to enjoy the event shown in The Lottery. The whole town visits this event. Most of the time, the lottery takes two days.
Traditions have been sought after and passed on for generations; with no questions asked, whether humane or not, traditions are hard to break and diminish as they are often what a culture or community stands for. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, a story about the tradition of a small village, is painted in impeccable details of peace, and serenity on a warm summer day, as everyone follows the tradition they have known since a long time ago despite the true intentions and meaning of it forgotten. The Lottery taking place annually is like no other lottery, it paints the true picture of the horror that epitomizes the tradition that none of the villagers dare to question, despite it creating separation between gender and families and ruining
In both We Have Always Lived in the Castle and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, tradition plays a very significant part in the meaning and theme of the story. Both works, although by the same author, show tradition in different ways. One theme shared by both stories is: People use tradition to mask inhumane actions. My artwork showcases this theme by using a mixture of colors and flowers to symbolize the way society can trick it 's people into doing bad things by simply using a word like “tradition” to mask it.
The tradition of the lottery has been carried out for so long in this village that nobody even knows the reason for its occurring in the first place and nobody questions it. When Old Man Warner, the oldest man in the village, is told about other villages giving up the tradition of the lottery, he says that they are, “[A] pack of crazy fools [...]. There [has] always been a lottery [...]” (Jackson, 4). There is no reason why there has always been a lottery except that every year on June 27th, they held the lottery.
The characters’ behaviors don’t exactly scream “I love the lottery!” The most logical reason for doing something that makes them unhappy is they are doing it as a tradition. But why not break the tradition? After digging a little deeper, it is easy to see that the lottery has been going on for a long time: “There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here (p. 16, lines 78-82).” Since the original black box was made when the village first settled, the lottery is an ancient tradition that is generations old.
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.
