Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

682 Words2 Pages

The Troubles with Tradition
The author of “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson, demonstrates that getting caught up in the flow of society and past tradition may lead to the completion of acts one may regret.

The tradition of The Lottery itself represents the general theory of the people in the town following past morals. The Lottery had been occurring prior to the birth of Mr. Warner, the oldest man in town. The story states that certain rituals of the tradition have been lost throughout time, although the event itself has remained for years. For example, the black drawing box had remained the same wooden box for as long as Old Man Warner had been alive, but Mr. Summers substituted pieces of paper for the wooden chips which were previously used …show more content…

This shows how quickly her friends and family were able to turn against her, as if it was nothing. Throughout the years of the lottery they had been so caught up in following the past morals and practices of the town that they had no trouble turning against their own family or friend. After her name is chosen from the drawing, the unquestioned actions of Mr. Summers and the rest of the townspeople show their loyalty to previous morals.“‘Alright, folks.’ Mr. Summers said. ‘Let's finish quickly.’” Mr. Summers was more concerned about finishing the lottery in a timely fashion, than the fact that one of his friends was about to be stoned to death. Also, the good friends that Tessie had been joking around with as she arrived to the square had seemed to forgotten the laughs they were sharing moments before her name was chosen. “Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Hurry up.’”. Mrs. Dunbar seems hesitant about hurting her own friend, whereas Delacroix is very quick to react and does not seem to think twice. The two of them are so used to following the tradition of the lottery that they complete the actions without thinking twice; because this is all they know. Finally, an example fulfilling the theory that the people were so caught up in rituals is when Tessie’s own son is handed pebbles. Dave is described

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