The Lottery Shirley Jackson Blind Tradition Analysis

Symbolism in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson: The Danger of Blind Tradition When it comes to tradition, nearly everyone has some tradition that he or she follows in one form or another. Whether it be a tradition of how to spend the holidays with family, the tradition of passing on a family name, or even religious traditions, nearly everyone will participate in at least some tradition during his or her lifetime. However, if not carefully understood, these traditions may become blindly followed for no good reason. Traditions may even become obsolete and no longer beneficial or useful, and instead, cause harm to their participants. In “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, tradition is a major theme illustrated. Shirley Jackson reveals the theme

Warner is a symbol of the old age and tradition as it is revealed that he is “the oldest man in town” (Jackson 313). Warner is an advocate for the tradition as when people of the town mention that other villages are, “talking of giving up the lottery,” he replies by calling the younger progressives a, “pack of crazy fools” (Jackson 316). This reveals that he is adamant for tradition, and through this adamancy, coupled with his seniority of age, this makes Warner a great symbol of tradition. He further continues his advocacy for tradition by stating that, “there’s always been a lottery” (Jackson 316). This is an interesting concept as it appears that no one in the village, not even the oldest man, has a good reason for when and why the lottery began. This symbol of tradition, Old Man Warner, is designed to show that even the man with the most experience and arguably most knowledge about the tradition, since he has gone through the lottery for 77 years, just blindly follows it because it has always been that way (Jackson 316). We see that even Warner is merely a victim of blind tradition as it is revealed that, “the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago…before Old Man Warner,” showing that even Warner was not around when the tradition began. Warner, the symbol of tradition itself, is used by Jackson to reveal how even the most experienced people can still fall into blindly following established