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Tradition is a theme found in both the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and the play Antigone by Sophocles. In both stories tradition is used as a tool to force people to conform to the “norm” of society. In “The Lottery”, the people of the town revolve around their annual lottery. Everyone is quick to help each other get ready for the event and also show no remorse for the end of the ritual. Nobody objects to the continuation of the lottery, although Mr. Adams brings up the rumor that a nearby village were talking about giving up the lottery but he was quickly shut down by Old Man Warner.
The world is currently affected by the foulest illness of all: conformity. Many people are nervous to stray away from tradition in fear of being an outcast, even if that means following customs like racism and sexism, which causes chaos among the country. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” displays this morbid reality when a town of villagers gathers to obey their annual tradition. Although this event appears at first to be pleasant and festive, it soon becomes clear that the prize is not something of value. The “winner”, it turns out, will be stoned to death.
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.
The short story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, the plot in the story that it only gives people an account of drawing lots to determine the winner who shall be stoned to death for harvest. However, we get a deep impression of the characters and their fate after reading the story. Jackson indicated a prevalent theme, the indirect of characterization and using symbolism and irony to modify this horror story. The Allegorical story of “ The Lottery” is often regarded as a satire of human behavior and social institutions, and exemplifies some of the central themes of Jackson’s fiction, including the victimization of the individual by society, the tendency of people to be cruel, and the presence of evil in everyday life.
Traditions are beliefs passed down from generation to the next. Customs are not made to be followed and instead, are guidance to help lead your path. In Jackson’s “The Lottery'', the villagers of a town follow the tradition of stoning a randomly chosen resident every June. Why did these 300 people decide to continue a tradition seen as immoral by the public eye? Near the middle of “The Lottery”, Old Man Warner tells us about the benefits of the lottery.
‘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.
Shirley Jackson wrote “The Lottery”, a fictional terror of a town glued to the horific ritual of stoning, in only two hours. The story starts the reader off by exhibiting a senses of community as the town gets together to participate in the Lottery. As the story goes on, the reader begins to see the horific truth behind The Lotter. Jackson’s stoning ritual gives the reader a new orientation of the corruption that rituals can have on a society by show the acceptance and cooperation of the townspeople. Jackson displays the towns people as undisturbed by the stoning to show how we as a society also overlook disturbing events .
The purpose of the lottery is to continue the old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order for a harvest. The scapegoat is chosen at random and then stoned to death by his/her companions. Although “The Lottery” reflects an event from the past, Jackson shows that many of the actions of the town resemble the tribulations that ensue in today’s society. To begin with, like the villagers in the story, our society also partakes in valuing tradition.
Based on these two stories, mankind followed their tradition practices and sacrificed other’s life to retrieve God’s blessing. This emphasizes that younger generation should not believe in traditional practices as some practices are illogical, irrational and will undermine social order as well as harmonious family relationships. Benefits of some of traditional practices over this world are lacking sense or sound, lucid reason as these benefits do not proven by any of the scientist in this world. People observes these old traditions, which have no sanction and were made just for the benefit of a section of society. In the story “The Lottery”, during
In the story, tradition of the lottery is very strong, because everyone follows it. Even if the people in the story had to kill a loved one, they still follow tradition. In most cases, tradition is the way of life. I have some traditions; Eating turkey for Thanksgiving, having ham as a food for Christmas Eve dinner, etc. Lots of people have traditions, even if it meant having to kill
The Reasons Why The Lottery Is Unethical. In Massachusetts the attorney general found that children as young as age nine were able to buy lottery tickets in 80 percent of their attempts (Nelson). The lottery has been around for a very long time. Lotteries date back to around the 1500’s.
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
There was a man named garnish who had a very sad life nothing good ever happen to him. He did everything for the community and got nothing out of it that gave him happiness. Then he won the lottery and the society request more out him because he won money they rioted because he wouldn't give them taking the only good thing that happened to him (SAIF, ATEF ABU). In my own life, i have seen the lottery destroy people lives people get addicted and lose all the money they have. The lottery was originally used for the poor but has grown for entertainment purposes.
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.
The lottery is an unethical way for states to raise money. They should be ended. Two reason support this. First, lotteries encourage the bad habit of gambling.