Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

There are many things that people do every day without questioning why they do them. These are our habits and traditions, and though for the most part they are unimportant they can be a crucial part of our culture and our interactions with each other. Sometimes there are traditions that can cause harm or are morally unacceptable. What should be done in this case? Edmund Burke, a nineteenth century politician and author, argues that it is best to stick with tradition rather than causing dramatic changes in people’s behavior. This is a key component in his argument against the French Revolution in his essay “Reflections on the Revolution in France.” In this essay he argues that the revolution will only lead the

I think that the village is very grim about the tradition because they know that they have a chance of being stoned to death, but after the victim has been picked, everyone is relieved. Their respect towards the tradition is fading, since after every generation, the reason that the lottery is still carried out is only known by a few people, such as Old Man Warner. They are really starting to disrespect the lottery. Near the end of the story it says: Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box… I am pretty sure they will drop the tradition when Old Man Warner dies, meaning that almost no one knows why they do it, just like the other villages who don’t have a person to encourage everyone to keep the

    "The Lottery," a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale about a disturbing social practice.  The setting takes place in a small village consisting of about three hundred denizens.  On June twenty-seventh of every year, the members of this traditional community hold a village-wide lottery in which everyone is expected to participate.  Throughout the story, the reader gets an odd feeling regarding the residents and their annual practice.  Not until the end does he or she gets to know what the lottery is about.  Thus, from the beginning of the story until almost the end, there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the Jackson's effective

?The people had done it so many times that they only half-listened to the directions?? The villager?s passiveness towards the lottery shows, not only that they don?t want to be there, but that the lottery is just another task they need to mark off of their to-do lists. In actuality, the lottery is a tuned-way of choosing someone to die, but the villagers are so desensitized to it, that they fancy the lottery as nothing more than an errand that they must complete.

Americans day after day live much of their lives following time-honored traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. From simple everyday cooking and raising children, to holidays and other family rituals, tradition plays a significant role on how they go by there everyday lives. In Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," the citizens of a small farming town follow one such tradition. A point is made regarding human nature in relation to tradition. The story begins on a beautiful summer afternoon. The town's citizens are eager, gathering in the town square in order to take part in the yearly lottery. With the story focused around one particular family, the Hutchinsons, who

Shirley Jackson's story, The Lottery is about a group of towns people who meet every year on the 27th of June. On this day a stoning takes place, as it washes away the sins of everyone that lived in the village. However, should the tradition of the stoning be changed when it becomes your time?

On the morning of June 27th, a primitive town gathers in the town square to follow a strange tradition that has been around for years; The Lottery. The children gather stones to put into a pile in the middle of the square, and then go stand with their families. A household name is drawn out of a box, and then family members’ names. One villager is selected to win the lottery – the brutal prize is being stoned to death by the town. This tradition is paralyzing their town from moving forward because it normalizes murder for the supposed greater good of the town – a theory which has no evidence. THESIS

The story opens on “a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (604). The depiction of the weather at this time of the story gives the reader the feeling of radiance and a joyous occasion. However, the happiness being felt branches from the villagers disregard to what will take place in just a few moments. As the lottery progresses, further images are given to portray the seriousness of the upcoming drawing. Once the first drawing was complete, the papers no longer needed were dropped to the ground, “where the breeze caught them and lifted them off” (609). The blowing away of the paper slips creates the image and mood of an oncoming storm. After all of the drawings are complete, the final imagery given is a flashback to the previous pile of stones. However, the stones are now lying on the ground, with the drawing slips being blown about all around them. This flashback provides the reader with the imagery needed to infer the upcoming chaos. The villagers “had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones” showing the significance of that particular scene, and the lack of knowledge as to what they were doing or even

Shirley Jackson?s insights and observations about society are reflected in her shocking and disturbing short story The Lottery. Jackson reveals two general attitudes in this story: first is the shocking tendency for societies to select a scapegoat and second is the idea that communities are victims of social tradition and rituals.

people who blindly follow tradition do so without ever considering the purpose behind the tradition, a tradition that appears to be as vital to the villagers because they believe that this tradition helps their crops to grow. Its apparent the lack of history which makes tradition so powerful, and the people of the village can't even imagine rebelling against it. Also, the story begins by making the reader think the lottery has some prizes and that’s why the beginning of story was tricky thorough the story.” The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o’ clock; in some towns, there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 26th”.

In “The Lottery “ by Shirley Jackson, the purpose of the lottery is to continue a tradition created long ago, when the village just started out. Mr. Hutchinson chose a piece of paper from an old black box for his family and ended up getting the black dot. He and his family had to each draw a paper again from the black box. Mrs. Hutchinson got the black dot, and she was stoned to death.

The tradition known as “The Lottery” is an old one that almost every village would do, but by the time that the story is set in most of them had stopped doing the lottery already. Nobody in the village knew why they would do this tradition or what it meant at all. They would just stone people each time someone won for no particular reason except that its “The Lottery.” The black box used in the lottery itself was also not even the original one which shows you that the villagers didn't even know the real meaning to the tradition.

Tradition; it is the back bone of every culture and civilization. It is what keeps the beliefs, philosophies, and activities of societies alive, to be passed down from generation to generation. However not all traditions are practiced with pure intentions.  Some activities become so routine, people don’t know a life outside of them. Societies become so accustomed to “tradition” that they will participate in pastimes without  questioning the ethics or morals of the situation. Ultimately when tradition takes the place of a rationalizing mind the outcome can be incredibly dangerous. The role of tradition is an underlying theme in the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, forcing readers to ask themselves “At what point do

It is the matter-of-fact tone and benign cadence of the narrator that sets the atmosphere for this story, and matches perfectly with the perfunctory attitude the villagers have toward the lottery. The narrator is going about his or her business -- explaining details, recording conversations, revealing the history of the lottery -- while the villagers are going on with the routine business of the lottery. This banality lulls the reader into a lowered sense of expectation, while the story slowly builds to the climax.

Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) was an American writer from upstate New York who published over 60 literary works and raised to four children; she published her most famous story, “The Lottery,” in 1948 (Kellman 1213). After her death, New Historicism developed as a form of literary criticism focusing on viewing works based on the important events and societal factors during the time it was written and published. It also seeks to understand aspects of society through the literary works it produces (Brizee). With an agrarian village setting, “The Lottery” is an exceptional story to understand societal conditions through New Historicism analysis because it draws parallels to Jackson’s life through its descriptions of gender roles, family units, and cultural traditions similar to those of American society following World War II.