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Tradition Illustrated In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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“The Lottery”, a horror story created by Shirley Jackson, is about a moderate sized village that sacrifices innocent villagers in a forsaken lottery for the sake of tradition, and for their belief of good fortune that will arise. This story presents a lot of themes that relate to the real world, and these themes revolve around the negatives of society such as shunning, and forced indoctrination. One theme demonstrated was the theme of tradition versus progress. Tradition is not always right because it prevents society from progressing forward. Shirley Jackson vividly presents that theme through the characters’ malicious actions.
In the beginning of the story, the tale introduces a fresh, summer setting, and a seemingly innocent village, that has sinister lottery behind it. The lottery has been a tradition that the villagers cling to. “Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody works any more, live hat for a while. Used to be a saying about lottery in June, corn …show more content…

The fact that also the children are indoctrinated to the ritual ever since birth shows how corrupt the tradition really is. Children are supposed to represent innocence, and it is unjustifiably cruel for their purity to be destroyed like that. This conveys a wrong message to the youth and it brainwashes them which can prove detrimental in their life. When a child is only taught how to participate in tradition, especially if it’s wrong, it only makes them ignorant to new ideas and to the world around

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Within “The Lottery,” author Shirly Jackson embeds the theme of blindly accepting traditions as illustrated by the actions of the villagers. For example, the Lottery is presented as an event that has always occurred throughout the region's history. Likewise, the author states multiple times that parts of the traditional Lottery have changed unnoticed by the villagers. Finally, the “murder” of Tessie Hutchinson is nonchalantly committed by the entire village. To start off, a brief history of the lottery is given to the reader which quickly implants the idea that the Lottery is an event that has occurred annually for hundreds of years within the village and surrounding area without any disruption.

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All of the foreshadowing represented in this short story expresses all that is wrong with the traditions of the lottery. Growing up generation after generation they do not know that the lottery is a bad choice. Taking Tessie for example, her only protests came after she was revealed to be the winner of the lottery. She did not want to die by the hands of friends and family, but in the instance, she was not picked she would not speak up. Testing the morality and ethics of the villagers’, the tradition has blinded them to the point they do not know it going against morals and

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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.

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‘The Lottery’ is a story about tradition and sacrifice. However, even though the NY times article is about sacrifice, they are for different things. Such as money vs. good luck. ‘The Lottery’ talks about this small, peaceful village that have no problems and has mainly positive dialogue. But this village has this really weird tradition.

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Tradition is a sacred way to pass down the customs or beliefs of one generation to another. It is sometimes used to celebrate certain occasions, pay tribute, or remember the fallen. But in some cases, it can be used to sate the deep dark thoughts humans keep hidden inside them. For example, in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, it is common to hold a lottery annually in every town. At first, it sounds like a chance to get lucky and win some serious cash.

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Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”, carries a powerful message about environmental factors, and how these factors shape human behavior. In Jackson’s story, the people live in a rural setting. The beautiful nature surrounds the tiny village where only three hundred people reside. Here, there are no filthy streets. Yet, in such a small, claustrophobic environment, it appears the villagers cannot exist without a yearly tradition.

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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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The Lottery itself represents a primal example of loss of innocence; portrayed through the young boys who gather at the town square to collect rocks for the horrors soon to follow. An illustration of how traditions can lose their true meanings and come to represent violence and warfare. Furthermore, “The Lottery” also represents the decaying characteristics of traditions, as symbolized by the town’s black box, in this case where every year, someone’s name is drawn out of the black box and they are stoned to death, by other members who may or may not end up to be family. Nonetheless, it ends up to be the villagers who

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Many people would die to win the lottery; in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson you would do anything NOT to win this lottery. This annual lottery reveals the negative aspects of this town’s Tradition, Savagery, Barbarism, and cold-heartedness. In this paper I will show why this town blindly follows these customs, not because it’s a tradition but because of the accepting wickedness that can be shown. Why does the town follow this foolish tradition? Throughout “The Lottery” the narrator tells that the people do not remember how the lottery began, and that some of the older people believe the lottery has changed over the years, that now people just want to get it over with as fast as possible.

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“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is atypical of any other story from its time. Jackson utilizes a shift in tone that is emphasized through the event’s location, attendees, and rituals found within her work to take readers on a wild ride. What begins as an average day on June 27, unfolds into a situation that never could have been expected. Jackson’s use of tone in “The Lottery” functions as a way to distract readers from the overall mood of the gathering. The pleasant and easy-going tone, presented throughout the beginning of Jacksons’s work aims to deter readers from questioning the villager’s initial motives.

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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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To start off, a brief history of the lottery is presented to the reader, which quickly implants the idea that the Lottery is an annual event that has occurred for centuries within the village and surrounding area undisturbed. One example of this is the statement regarding how the original equipment for performing the Lottery was lost decades prior to the oldest villager's birth, thus implying a history that dates back over a hundred years. In addition, Old Man Warner states to Mr. Adams “There's always been a lottery.” These two examples establish the idea that the Lottery has been carried out for centuries in the village unchallenged.

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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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