In the story that the Jackson version tells us of a small town that has a lottery every year. The person chosen by this lottery is stoned to death by the inhabitants of the city. The person is described as the scapegoat, which we can relate to the purification ritual described in the Old Testament, is a person who is punished for the sins of others, which plays a thematic role in the development of history. Currently in our society, the lottery is only used as a means of luck to win awarded as a prize in the form of money, so many people who play it have a clear and obsessive goal to win.
Most people know the lottery as a contest to win money. But in the short story, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, the lottery is not a simple game competing for money. In this small village’s version of the lottery, everyone must draw out of a box, and if their family is chosen then the whole family must redraw and the death of a member is decided. After the fate is decided, the rest of the village throws stones at him or her until he or she dies. The villages reasoning of this process is they believe it guarantees a plentiful crop season.
In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” the townspeople participate in the heinous tradition, the lottery, to gain social belonging within the group with no regard to the death that ensues. With Tessie’s immediate reaction to her family and herself being chosen by the lottery, it seems obvious that she had these opinions beforehand but was not willing to speak out. There are a few different reasons as to why Tessie could not voice her opinion. One could speculate that many if not all of the townspeople also have the underlying opinion that the lottery is no longer useful. The town is so willing to kill whoever the lottery chooses, so why wouldn’t they agree to killing anyone who deviates from the group’s decisions.
Imagine a society where killing somebody for the sake of a tradition is acceptable. In the short story “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson describes an ordinary village with normal people, but as the story progress the details of their yearly practice known as “the lottery” unravels to be more disturbing. The author subverts the readers’ expiations by persuading the reader into assuming “the lottery” is a ordinary tradition until unusual details and the behavior of the characters come into place. In her short story “The Lottery,” Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear so, it is inherently barbaric.
All through history, certain traditions and traditions have had the ability to direct human beings, even to the point where the individual loses their own moral standards. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" describes to us an account of this in the short story, in an American town, set in the past around the twentieth century. Things being what they are, this settlement seems, by all accounts, to be extremely customary. It had around three hundred people, most by far of whom were agriculturists. The postmaster, Mr. Graves, was the pioneer of the town, bolstered just by Mr. Summers, who owned the area coal business.
Why does an individual follow a blind tradition in hopes of achieving “sameness” with the public eye or society? One is unconsciously trained to follow mindless tradition without knowing what it’s deeper meaning is. “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, represents a long lost sacrifice ritual, now morphed into a blind tradition that people follow. A fictional village struggles with this concept, holding a voluntary “lottery” every year, where the “winner” is stoned to death. The villagers hold the lottery because they believe that the crops will be bountiful in the event that they do as such.
Conformity is a powerful and influential behavior that can drastically affect a society’s circumstances. The morality and wellbeing of the individuals’ in a society are shaped by the everyday traditions and customs of that culture. Shirley Jackson, an award-winning author for her works in horror and mystery, unveils the perturbing effect of conformity on a society and its people in her short story “The Lottery.” In her thought-provoking story, a village situated in a warm area of England prepares to partake in a traditional crop fertility ritual that involves a paper drawing to elect a ‘winner’ who will be stoned to death. The societal conformity to continue this brutal tradition causes the life of a person to be insensitively taken away each
“The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson. The story commences with a vivid description of the summer day in the town, giving us the idea that the day will be good. When the lottery begins, families begin to draw slips of paper from the black box. Finally, when Bill Hutchinson withdrew the slip of paper with the black dot, his wife Tessie starts yelling that it wasn 't fair. When the second drawing was held only among the Hutchinson’s family, Tessie gets the same piece of paper with the dot and is stoned to death.
“The Lottery” is an realism/horror story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about some villagers of a small New England town who follow the tradition of making a lottery every year. When it comes, they like to celebrate it with the correct rules and the correct objects so they can feel more comfortable. Everyone need to take a slip of paper from a small black box, and the paper with a black dot in it means that the family is the winner, then they raffle again; Bill Hutchinson, who was the husband of the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson picked a paper with a black dot in it, that meant that Tessie was the winner of the lottery, then she starts complaining because the drawing was not conducted properly. At the end, the townspeople moved off to a cleared spot outside the town and they begin stoning her to death (Jackson).
Four years ago, I left the shores of Nigeria to pursue a higher education at the University of Ottawa. I know most people when they are younger are not sure of what career path to follow, ye I always knew I wanted to be a lawyer. Ever since I could remember, I have always felt deep compassion towards other human beings. It is disappointing to watch people lose their basic human rights. My program has educated me and changed my worldly views.
Coldly seizing the paper to reveal that she possessed the marked ticket indicates a lack of empathy, not of a friend and a spouse, but as a participant removed from any loyalty to family, instead loyal to the lottery tradition. By holding the slip of paper Mrs. Hutchinson had drawn, Mr. Hutchinson seals his wife’s fate knowing full well what will come next. Mr. Hutchinson had made the choice to essentially betray his
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.
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?
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.
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is an account of a tradition gone awry. In this short story the villagers of this town have a tradition where they have a “lottery” to see who gets stoned to death. The characterization and symbolism used in the story makes the reader feel as if society has crumbled with the inhumane tradition that ultimately lost its meaning. Throughout the story, Jackson uses characterization and symbolism to imply a message to society about the meaning of tradition. Through the use of characterization and symbolism Jackson establishes that blindly following traditions can be hazardous
