Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Abby Conlon

Gilchrist

English 1102

9 April 2023

“The Lottery”

Lotteries can be defined in many different ways; the common theme between them is that within a community, someone becomes chosen. Today's most typical lottery is lottery tickets at the grocery store and gas stations. It's a common addiction today because people are money-hungry. Everyone wants to win the money and be chosen. A more negative and life-threatening version of this is shown in the Vietnam War in 1969 when they held drafts where all eligible men were required to participate, and the men chosen were sent to war. There is a certain awkwardness presented in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. The author begins by describing a quaint, peaceful seeming town and how the lottery

This town, in particular, has a very cruel and weird ritual that holds influence from the past. Maybe perhaps long ago, the town had an abundance of population, and prior generations created this lottery to decrease it. But for whatever reason, this tradition was made; it does not mean it should be in effect now and is needed to keep the town in order. Unceasingly people blindly follow tradition because it is what they were taught that they were supposed to do. But just because that is “how it’s always been” does not mean that it is the right thing to do or bring benefit to the wellbeing of the town. “The Lottery” is a perfect example of this. It is easy to see that this tradition has no apparent rhyme or reason, and the town does it just because. “the warping effect on society of mindless tradition. Old Man Warner, the embodiment of rigid tradition, seems to believe that the sacrifice is necessary to ensure sufficient food for the village, but the other villagers are maintaining the practice out of habit and sheer inertia. They have forgotten why they are doing the ritual and have let it become a corrupt, atrophied shade of its earlier form; still, they insist on keeping the lottery because it has always been done. Simply out of tradition, they unquestioningly stone to death a neighbor whom they were laughing and joking with minutes earlier”(Du Bose). The author also discusses with the audience that the tradition's originality of the tradition needed to be in use for the effect but was not. Yet, the villagers still remembered to use the stones. But the original box and the music was gone. All that is left is the blood