Background
Shirley Jackson's essay, The Lottery, is located in a small village. In this small village, there is a tradition that the whole town participates in. This tradition is called the lottery. The whole town's attention is brought together on the morning of the 27th of June. While they wait for everyone to get there, they are laughing and taking on conversations. They are happy as if this is a once in a year event. Once the whole town is there they start the so-called lottery system. They begin drawing names out of an old black box. Mr. Hutchinson drew first along with his family. Everyone knew that after the whole family had drawn, that Mrs. Hutchinson would have to draw last. She drew the paper with a black dot on it, she had won the lottery. She wasn't too happy about winning though. She had started complaining and yelling about her winning the lottery. Meanwhile the rest of the crowd including her kids and husband started looking for stones. They all gathered around and started stoning her till her death. It turned out that the lottery was a
When one is raised in the city, they learn to like it and nothing else. The nature of the town is normal for the people living there. While in childhood, kids look up to people as mentors and idols. The people of the town were raised with these customs and that is what they are sticking to. The people in the story do not realize that there behavior may be wrong because they do not know that other communities function different ways. But for an outsider it is very strange and may even seem wrong. The only way this culture will change is if someone were to decide that these traditions are wrong. Then there are the people that grow up in the country, and are accustomed to the outdoors and more hands on activities unlike the city folk. The generation that is going to have to stop the lottery will have to realize and learn all over again what is right and what is wrong. For that reason, it will go on until somebody decides they don't like the idea of the lottery. Thus, it can be concluded that the reason for people's behavior today is directly connected to their backgrounds and childhoods. One generation would have to decide that they did not like the custom and work to change it. The only difference is that when people are raised and aged in this nature of life, it is what they believe for the rest of their lives. It may be because of some sacrificial ceremonial, or some religious gospel. They will have to accidentally find out from outsiders that don't have traditions such as the lottery, that it is immoral and wrong and whoever made the dumb law up was out of his mind.
Common topics in this essay:
Shirley Jackson's,
lottery sacrificial,
people story,
people town,
lottery system,
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Acceptance Essays
