Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Traditions in many cultures is what defines and warps cultures into what they are. The importance of tradition differs in each region of the world and individual traditions have major differences. Traditions may come from a long line of generations that continue practicing or rituals. Furthermore, there are traditions that are slowly being discontinued and possibly forgotten. More importantly, people should protect and honor traditions rather than abandon them. The absence of tradition will make it difficult to distinguish the difference between each’s own tradition. The characteristics that make up Asian cultures and European cultures are very distinctly different. With the fading of defining traditions, it is critical that the new generation

The tradition of stoning is still exercised in many parts of the world. The rules in each place can be diverse, but the method is universal in these countries in which stoning is a method to kill someone by repeatedly throwing stones at the individual until he or she is dead. Stoning is typically done by a group and often used as a punishment. Interestingly, the village in The Lottery does not use stoning as a punishment but more as a ritual. The stoning in the story is said to improve on crop production. Although the ritual is done annually in the village, mentioning the ritual is seen as a taboo. When two characters had a conversation about neighboring villages discontinuing stoning, Old Man Warner quickly warns them that stopping their tradition will be unpleasant. Warner seems to believe that without this tradition, the town would be lost. Similar to modern culture, many people are abandoning their old ways because they may seem uneasy on the details of their tradition but Old Man Warner’s statement stresses the importance of tradition in the village and why is it necessary to preserve tradition even if it involves the killing of an individual. Old Man Warner is what is necessary for traditions to

This is similar to the villagers in The Lottery in the sense that people don’t want to continue to do the lottery system, but they just follow in fear of being hated for upsetting tradition in a similarly low-key manner. The thought of upsetting tradition has caused the villagers to act like sheeps in a system where they have no choice but in reality, they do. The fear of disappointing from not following tradition is missing from the younger generation nowadays and needs to be restored. In Chinese culture, the elders are to be respected highly for their age and wisdom and a lot of times they are responsible for passing on old traditions that they have followed. Not just in Chinese culture, the lack of connection between the old and young generations makes it difficult for the youth to have an understanding of their background. That missing connection is what is lost and essential to retain the essence of important