Examples Of Tradition In The Lottery

When Tradition Takes Over “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story that brings to light the problems a society faces when blindly following traditions. Due to a tradition as old as the town itself, every year someone is forced to draw the “black spot.” This black spot means that person is stoned to death, regardless of family status or even age. Communities have a tendency to stick to traditions, regardless of how logical it may or may not be, how old it is, or even whether or not everyone understands why they continue it; and traditions should always have their importance reevaluated. The logic used to continue this tradition is due to the tradition itself. “Old Man Warner” as he is called in the story, is the oldest man of the

Within the lottery, the men are forced to gather first, and draw, as heads of the households. This is because of the patriarchal system which is evident in the community and carved into the lottery. While the host is accounting for all the people who are present at the lottery, they ask about one particular citizen, Mr. Dunbar, who broke his leg and is not able to show up and draw for his family in the lottery. When Mrs. Dunbar says that she will draw for the family, it is the job of the official to make sure that she doesn’t have a son to draw for her. They would rather see a man draw for his family because traditionally, the men needed the appearance of holding the power in the family. The women did the housework and childcare because they still believed that men needed to be the ‘breadwinners’ and must be accountable for the whole family, which is evidenced by the tradition of drawing for the family. This is merely another example of a tradition being held without it’s value and relevance being tested for the

This happens even when it is outdated and when there can be no one found who still understands the reasons behind keeping the tradition. When traditions reach this point, it is usually time to step back and reevaluate how useful they are to the community as a whole. This is usually out of fear of losing the community (or fearing losing civility) even though, losing a tradition may help the community grow as a whole. If there can be found no reason behind keeping the tradition, such as the lottery not actually helping the harvest, then it is time for the tradition to be lost, much like the meaning has