Following Blindly In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Following Blindly
The people in the village where Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” takes place keep the lottery going because it is a tradition, without any thought of why they do this, or whether they should continue. It is just an ordinary day for Tess until she shows up late to the lottery drawing, through which she is later chosen to be stoned to death:
Mrs Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her sweater thrown over her shoulders, and slid into place in the back of the crowd. ‘Clean forgot what day it was’ she said to Mrs Delacroix, who stood next to her, and they both laughed softly. ‘Thought my old man was out back stacking wood,’ Mrs Hutchinson went on, ‘and then I looked out the window and the kids were

This idiocy was created somewhere along the way. Most people celebrating this holiday probably do not even know what its origins are. I myself did not know the actual reason for celebrating Valentine's Day, or the history behind it, until doing research for this assignment. It seemed to me that it was idiotic, and must be something that people celebrate without thinking. Who needs a day to celebrate love by giving gifts? Firstly, that is not what love is about. Secondly, love should be something you celebrate every day, rather than having a single day that fails to express the infinite boundless love one can have for those around them, and that concludes afterward with a distance and coldness, because the respective people's love has been “celebrated” to its fullest. According to “A Holiday Loved and Loathed: A Consumer Perspective of Valentine’s Day,” this holiday has been commercialized and is used in the consumer industry just to make money the one day a year when everyone stays glued to their partners and demands gifts (Close, Zinkhan 356), and after which just goes back to being in a relationship where they do not look twice at each other or express their